Footsteps 65

ADDING VALUE TO FOOD

Photo: Richard Hanson, Tearfund

Food is essential to all of us. This issue looks at ideas for simple, low-cost ways from around the world for adding value to our food. We look at adding nutritional value through frying foods and adding vegetables, herbs and legumes. We look at adding value by preserving and processing foods - either to use in the household or to sell. We look at adding value to traditional foods and products that can sometimes be sold in other countries. Good storage techniques not only improve the value of food but can also avoid the risk of poor health due to mouldy grains. We also look at adding value through the marketing of food products.

Please find below articles from Footsteps issue 65 in html.

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Adding nutritional value to food Increasing the nutritional value of available food is often easy to do at low cost, simply by combining foods and fruits in different ways. Here are some useful ideas to improve nutrition for both children and adults. Ideas for healthy eating ... More >>

Adding value through appropriate technology Many women process food using traditional methods, which are often time-consuming. New technologies may improve processing, but are not always adopted, especially in rural areas. Although the technology seems appropriate to the people who design them... More >>

Adding value through storage Effective storage of food helps provide security and nutrition for households. It also enables food to be sold at higher market prices once the harvest period is past. Grain storage For safe storage of grains, thorough drying is essential. Mould ... More >>

Adding value to fruits Most people enjoy eating ripe fruit such as mangoes, oranges, bananas and guavas. Children enjoy the taste so much that they will often eat unripe fruit! However, ripe fruit does not store well or travel well to distant markets. Other people’s fruit ... More >>

Bible study God’s provision of healthy food. Read Genesis 1:11-13 and Genesis 1:29-31. How does God provide for our need to eat? Discuss the main foods that are eaten in our area. How many of these come from seed-bearing vegetables or trees? Why di... More >>

Improving the benefits of the food we eat To add to the nutritional value of a meal, always try to mix the staple food (such as maize, rice, plantain, potato) with some kind of vegetable, beans, meat or nuts as a relish. Even small amounts of relish add taste and nutritional value (vitamins,... More >>

Letters Cooking sorghum. Sorghum is a widely used grain crop in many parts of Africa. It is often used as a grain that bridges the gap at times of food shortage. It is ground into flour and used as a staple food to make into eba, a thick porridge eaten wi... More >>

Market Research by Alison Griffith. Market research is a key tool for helping small producers to sell their products. Marketing is about selecting and designing products that are likely to sell, rather than making products without checking to see if they are likel... More >>

Ojon oil by Osvaldo Munguia and Judith Collins. The Miskito people in Honduras have traditionally always used batana oil – extracted from the nut of the American palm (Elaeis oleifera) – as a skin and hair treatment. It encourages thick, shiny hair and repai... More >>

Resources Small Scale Food Processing – a directory of equipment and methods by S Azam-Ali, E Judge, P Fellows and M Battcock This is a new revised edition from ITDG Publishing of a useful reference guide on food processing and preservation. It is aimed at b... More >>

The immunisation hand Many people have difficulty remembering the schedule for childhood immunisation. This means that children often miss some or all of a series of immunisations that can protect them against polio, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, and other preventable... More >>

Traditional leafy vegetables by Dr Patrick Maundu. The Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK) has documented all food plants in Kenya. Their work shows the potential of indigenous food plants in improving food security. In Africa, around 4,000 species of plant... More >>

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