Can Indigenous Foods Play Role as ‘the Food of Survival’?

Abstract

The indigenous foods are ‘the way of life’ of the people in rural Sudan and are considered ‘the food of survival’. Traditional/indigenous foods provide inexpensive, safe, nutritious foods throughout the whole year. These indigenous foods contribute to diversify of the diet of rural people in normal times and alternative foods that crucial to their survival during times of food shortage. Indigenous foods have the nutritional values; are both palatable and enjoyable, in addition to their potential health benefits. Indigenous techniques to process and preserve food materials are rooted in the traditional cultural, are economically practicable and more appropriate for the local contexts. Indigenous foods and traditional processing techniques are based on empiricism and bring to bear a sense of the connections of indigenous people to their surrounding environment. This is important as it enables those people to relate their knowledge to solving problems in their context. It indicates how indigenous people are in ‘harmony’ with their surrounding environments for collective survival. The paper gives a brief description of some indigenous foods from various rural areas of Sudan.