Safeguarding traditional foodways

28 September 2010   |   Permalink   [1]

Many Kenyans are abandoning traditional foodways and consuming western diets. Photo: Y.Morimoto / Bioversity International

Bioversity International is partnering with   [2]UNESCO  [2] and other institutions on a new project: ‘Safeguarding traditional foodways of two communities in Kenya’.

Traditional foodways are “practices within a community that concern the preparation and consumption of food, including the provision of ingredients and the roles of all people involved” (UNESCO, 2010). Urbanization and modernization lead many Kenyans to abandon their traditional foodways and consume more western diets, often to the detriment of their health.

Supported by the Government of Japan  [3], the project will focus on two contrasting communities: the pastoralist Eastern Pokot of Rift Vallley Province and the agriculturalist Isukha of Western Province.

Drawing from research methods it pioneered in past projects, Bioversity is contributing to the project’s community-based research design and the documentation of local knowledge as a way to promote genetic resources conservation and use for sustainable development.

The research will be managed by a coordinating committee comprising: Bioversity International; the Ministry of State for National Heritage and Culture  [4]; National Museums of Kenya  [5]; and UNESCO, Nairobi.  [6]

For more information:
Safeguarding traditional foodways of two communities in Kenya  [7]

Contact:  Elizabeth Obel-Lawson  [8] at Bioversity’s Kenya Office

Read more about Bioversity’s work on nutrition  [9]


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Filed under: Nutrition  [14], Announcements  [15]See also: Bioversity Projects  [16], Food Systems Approaches  [17], Kenya  [18], Nutrition  [19], UNESCO  [20]

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http://www.bioversityinternational.org/announcements/archived/safeguarding_traditional_foodways.html?tx_wecdiscussion[sub]=1

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