12 - Ethnic foods and concentrates: Its role in health protection

Abstract

Food is one of the basic necessities of life. The world has progressed from an era of agriculture-based development to industrialization and back to the ethnic or local produce to make food more accessible and healthier for all individuals. The best processes developed during industrialization were used for making locally available food into healthier options. There is an increasing interest in slow foods, that is food eaten for pleasure rather than survival, in developed countries. Ethnic foods are those which originated from a culture and heritage with the use of knowledge of local ingredients of plant and animal sources. This chapter deals with the different types of Ethnic foods emphasizing the health benefits for these traditional foods. These include folkloric and traditional grain based, milk based, fruit and vegetable-based health foods. Their advantages over the other food types have also been discussed. An additional description has been given of food concentrates which are mixtures of dried plant and animal products to which fats, sugar and spices have been added, that can be used for quick preparation of dishes. They are light, have high caloric value and convenient for storage and transportation. The era of globalization has brought about health-conscious citizens who would surely benefit by knowing the locally available food and concentrates.