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Post #3:

Culture looking at how culture can support healthy lifestyles and diets. Also how culture can undermine the implementation of the policy of the day. by Afiya De Sormeaux, Junior Consultant, CaRAPN

Correct me if Im wrong, but is our current cultural state a hindrance to food and nutrition security? In other words, is modern culture the reason for the dilapidated state of agriculture and food and nutrition security in the region? Im asking this because traditionally, the man would be the breadwinner at the home - going to work and providing for his family - while the woman in the home would prepare the meals, usually from the local commodities supplied by village farmers. However, in these modern times, both the man and the woman of the house are at work, leaving a severe time pressure with respect to meal preparation. I know many of you out there can identify with this, because its challenging at the end of a hard days work to come home and prepare a meal from scratch. So what do we demand? Highly processed, ready to cook meals that wont take us as long to prepare. And who could blame you for that? The idea is to feed your family by any means while earning a living to secure meals for the future, right? But there are at least two important things that need to be accounted for here. One, which I like to refer to as the 'Money = Food' syndrome, a similar sentiment that was BOX 1: The RFNP has indeed identified expressed by Mr. Steve Maximay during the the results of our culture where it stated Agriculture Round Table (ART) in Dominica (2011): in its Rationale: There is a very high and increasing Trinidad and Tobago's food security policy deals with dependence on imported food and ensuring that the country can purchase 11 months of uncertainty of food arrival (because of what we choose to purchase and food to feed its people. But what is not considered is, consume); what if you do have money, and no one wants to sell Declines in earnings from traditional crops(maybe because we depend less you any food? Recall that during the recession of on the local farmer); 2010-2011, Russia stopped its exports of wheat, The erosion and threatened loss of trade crippling markets around the world. preferences for traditional export crops, The second, as expressed by Ms. Diana Francis focuses on nutrition: eating food or providing food does not mean that you are nourishing yourself or your family. But what if your tummy is filled but your body is empty?
the earnings from which are utilized to purchase imported food. (2. Rationale 2.8, p. 9, Regional Food and Nutrition Security (RFNSP), 14th October, 2010)

Im sorry it struck a nerve, but Im about to strike some more. I know that there are evenings when you get home where you look at your spouse and say 'I dont want to cook today Im - 1-

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tiiiiirredd, lets eat out'. And you do this once a week, BOX 2: Data compiled by the Caribbean for the first month, but by the end of the year and for Food & Nutrition Institute (CFNI) show that fat and obese children account for as the rest of your life, you eat out at least 3 times a much as 15 per cent of their population week, simply because you can afford it. What this group in various Caribbean countries leads to is a phenomenon that is sweeping the region, a (Caribbean Unity To Fight Chronic Diseases Epidemic : Obesity A Major dramatic increase in the amount of fast service food Target CARICOM Secretariat Press outlets, restaurants and fast food chains. And people Release 194/2007 (28 August 2007)) still act surprised when they have access to XYZ chicken around every corner. To summarize what our modern culture is doing to us, we eat out at least 3 times a week, and when we eat in, we eat highly processed foods that are not even produced in the region. And thats cool, you have the money to do that, you worked for that privilege. But to quote Mr. Julius Gittens, a self-employed communications specialist and member of the independent media in Barbados, Wait. Am I not with every single purchase I make at this place impoverishing my neighbor whos growing the lettuce and the cabbage and the stuff Youre declining to eat these foods because it requires that you spend 5 minutes to peal and wash. In the process the farmer's business is jeopardized and eventually destroyed by your newly developed culture. Ask yourself what happens to our bodies when we continue with this culture. Obesity per capita is increasing in the region and some still think its a phenomenon that can be explained when in fact, the habits of the home significantly contribute to it (BOX 2). Ask yourself, what happens to the future when the countries which we import from no longer wish to export to us because of a world crisis or country-specific event. Will you eat your money? Maybe its time we change our culture. Maybe its time we actually listen to what our regional food and nutrition policies have to say with respect to patterning our lives to make ourselves food and nutrition safe. Or we could just wait and see if our culture will eventually destroy us, our agriculture, and our traditions as well. Tell me what you think, leave a question, a comment, but correct me if Im wrong

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