Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs in South Africa
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Institutional Affiliation
Author Note
Introduction
Food taboos and cultural beliefs are often known to contribute substantially to issues of malnutrition, especially in the developing nations, where both cultural beliefs and taboos pertaining to food are more prevalent. An article by Martinez-Perez & Garcia (2013) concurs with the above statement when the authors state that cultural norms play a pivotal part in being a causative agent to malnutrition and that food taboos influence both the quality and quantity of nutrients consumed by infants and mothers. An ideal example is the case of Tanzania, where the consumption of fish is a taboo among the pregnant women (Arzoaquoi et al., 2015) as it is believed to be associated with late deliveries. South Africa is undoubtedly one of the nations where cultural norms and taboos are widely evident. One is the food taboos and the cultural beliefs that bar some of the residents of the nation from consuming particular kinds of foods and meals. The focal point of this paper will be on the taboos and cultural beliefs that are acting as factors that are influencing the consumption of certain foods and meals in South Africa.
Aims of the research
One aim of this research is to figure out the food taboos and the cultural beliefs that inhibit the residents of South Africa from consuming specific species of foods. The primary aim of this research, however, will be to look into the influence that the food taboos and cultural beliefs have on the kinds of food consumed by those in South Africa. Additionally, this research will look into the different impacts that the food taboos and cultural beliefs have had on the health and well-being of the South Africans when considering the non-consumption of other types of food due to the existing food taboos and cultural beliefs.
The hypothesis of the research
It is imperative to note that the hypothesis of this research is that the existing food taboos and cultural beliefs on the consumption of certain foods in South Africa could be linked to malnutrition as they deny the South Africans the chance of consuming some of the most nutritious meals and foodstuffs.
Literature Review
A research conducted by Chakona & Shackleton (2019) clearly depicts some of the cultural beliefs in South Africa that tams the consumption of particular foods as a taboo, particularly among women. The primary aim of the research was to figure out the different food taboos that are prevalent among the women in isiXhosa in five communities at the Kat River Valley, South Africa. It is instrumental in pointing out that the authors made use of a mixed-method approach where; questionnaires interviews were incorporated among 224 women and nine focus group discussions comprising of 94 participants. The findings depicted that about 37% of women indicated their food consumption was dictated by cultural beliefs, where some kinds of food were tamed as a taboo in their communities. The research points out that the most common foods that the culture of the communities at the Kat River Valley depict to be a taboo to the women are fish, potatoes, fruits, beans, eggs, meat products, pumpkins, and butternut. The above food products tend to be avoided chiefly by the women of the communities since there exist cultural beliefs of the above foods accruing difficulties during labors and even the unfavorable body forms that the foods may cause to the babies. The above would certainly depict that the women from the five communities at Kat River Valley tend to avoid foods rich in vitamins, proteins, calcium, and even fibers over the cultural beliefs associated with the above foods that the tam the foods as a taboo, especially to the pregnant women, hence they may exhibit disorders that are often as a result of the deficits of the above nutrients like edema that is caused as a result of insufficient proteins, issues of constipation due to lack of fibers in their meals and even disorders like anemia that may be evident due to the insufficient vitamins they consume.
Another study by Schonfeldt & Pretorious (2011) clearly depicts the cultural belief in South Africa that drives the residents from the upcountry regions to consume the dark green vegetables over the fact that the vegetables are not only native to rural areas but are also rich in nutrients that accrue perfect body system. The dark green vegetables that are majorly consumed are brought out to be raw misbredie, pumpkin leaves, cat’s whiskers, cowpeas leaves, and wild jute. The authors provided a review of the laboratory testing of the vegetables to figure the nutrients contained in the vegetables that had been done by The Agricultural Research Council and came to the conclusion that fats, proteins, irons, zinc, and beta-carotene are the primary nutrients that are contained in the identified dark green vegetables. From the research above, it could be concluded that the cultural belief of the South Africans over the belief of the identified dark vegetables exhibiting nutrients necessary for immune and body development has contributed substantially to the consumption of the identified dark vegetable leaves in the rural areas.
South Africa is majorly made up of Christians. According to an article by Guindeuil (2014), the Christian religions often tames foods from animals that do not chew the curd and fail to have cloven hoofs like pigs as a taboo suppose they are consumed. Additionally, fish that exhibit neither the scales nor fins are also not eaten by the Christian as those who consume them are thought to be breaking the Christian laws, and thus such food products are considered taboo. Being that Christianity is the widely practiced religion in South Africa, it is certainly possible that there are some residents of South Africa who adhere to the rules and the regulations of the Christian religion when considering the foods that ought not to be consumed. Such people fail to benefit from the nutrients accrued from the foods they tame as taboos like the pork that is often rich in proteins, vitamins, and minerals; and thus depicting the food taboos among South African religious groups to be contributing to malnutrition as it denies the religious groups different nutrients from the food they fail to consume.
A different article by Byarugaba (2017) brings out the different taboos in the South African regions that prevent some of the communities and gender from consuming different kinds of food. The author states that in some of the regions in the Eastern Cape, girls are prohibited from consuming eggs, fresh milk, and even peanuts over the belief of such foods being causative agents to the early sexual activeness among the girls at their tender ages. Moreover, the author points out that the Xhosa men are not allowed to eat vegetables except for cabbages and spinach over the fear of becoming sexually weak. It thus evident that eggs, peanuts, and fresh milk are tamed as taboo to consume for the girls in the regions of Eastern Cape, and it is also a taboo in the Xhosa community for the men to consume vegetables (except for cabbages and spinach). From the above, it could be concluded that the girls in the regions of the Eastern Cape that prevent them from consuming eggs, fresh milk, and peanuts could be lacking key nutrients like proteins, vitamins, phosphorus, and even magnesium since the above types of foods are known to provide the above nutrients. Hence, they could be exhibiting the disorder of malnutrition. Additionally, the Xhosa men could be depicted to lack nutrients rich in other vegetables, an ideal case being kales that are often associated with countless nutrients like being a source to copper, manganese, and even vitamins A, K, B6, & C. As a result, it could be deduced that even the Xhosa men in South Africa may exhibit malnutrition due to the lack of sufficient nutrients from the other vegetables.
It is thus evident from that food taboos and cultural beliefs among the South African communities result greatly to malnutrition due to the fact that the communities and religious groups that observe such taboos and beliefs fail to attain the necessary nutrients from the foods they bought to consume; it is the lack of necessary nutrient from such communities and religious parties that the results into the issue of malnutrition.
Methodology
Data Collection
The method that will be employed in order to achieve the aims of this research and also prove the thesis is a systematic literature review. This method is chosen due to the current COVID-10 that would most certainly limit the obtaining of primary data. Source from the year 2005 to the present year will be involved as the sources of data for the research. The sources ought to be based on the food taboos, and cultural believes among the residents of South Africa.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Only the sources where the study was done in South Africa will be considered. The sources must have been published between the years 2005 and 2020. Sources that were published the date before 2005 will be left since they may be considered outdated, thus may be irrelevant to the research. The sources must either be based on food taboos or cultural beliefs. Also, the sources that illustrate the influence pertaining to the different taboos and cultural beliefs on the kinds of food consumed in South Africa will be employed in the study. The sources have to the peer-reviewed ones.
Sampling technique
Of the numerous sampling methods that are brought out by Taherdoost (2016), the one that would be ideal for the research will be the stratified sampling method. In inaugurating the above sampling method, two key strata would be involved. One will be on food taboos in South Africa and the other on cultural beliefs in South Africa, from where different sources would be thoroughly searched in line with the identified groups. The findings would then be noted, and a connection made on how the identified food taboos and cultural beliefs in South Africa affect the preference of the kinds of food consumed by the South Africans and the ultimate effects that such choices may have on their health.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this research ought to be a total success based on the collection of data that would be simply obtained by involving both the inclusion criteria identified and the sampling strategy indicated above. The aims of the research ought to be easily achieved based on the data that would be obtained. Moreover, the thesis of the research should also be proven based on connecting the data that would be obtained to the different effects that may result from the food taboos and the cultural beliefs of the South Africans when considering some kinds of foods.
References
Arzoaquoi, S. K., Essuman, E. E., Gbagbo, F. Y., Tenkorang, E. Y., Soyiri, I., & Laar, A. K. (2015). Motivations for food prohibitions during pregnancy and their enforcement mechanisms in a rural Ghanaian district. Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine, 11(1), 1-9.
Byarugaba, G. (2017). The influence of food symbolism on food insecurity in South Africa: how relevant is the Eucharistic celebration?. Scriptura: Journal for Contextual Hermeneutics in Southern Africa, 116(1), 1-19.
Chakona, G., & Shackleton, C. (2019). Food Taboos and Cultural Beliefs Influence Food Choice and Dietary Preferences among Pregnant Women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Nutrients, 11(11), 2668.
Guindeuil, T. (2014). What do Christians (Not) Eat: Food Taboos and the Ethiopian Christian Communities (13th-18th c.). In Annals of Ethiopia (Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 59-82). Editions of the Round Table.
Martínez Pérez, G., & Pascual García, A. (2013). Nutritional taboos among the Fullas in Upper River region, the Gambia. Journal of Anthropology, 2013.
Schönfeldt, H. C., & Pretorius, B. (2011). The nutrient content of five traditional South African dark green leafy vegetables—A preliminary study. Journal of food composition and analysis, 24(8), 1141-1146.
Taherdoost, H. (2016). Sampling methods in research methodology; how to choose a sampling technique for research. How to Choose a Sampling Technique for Research (April 10, 2016).