Abstract

CALDERON-MARTINEZ, Ma. Elena et al. Food culture: Key for the design of nutritional improvement strategies for rural populations. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2017, vol.14, n.2, pp.303-320. ISSN 1870-5472.

Currently, social programs with a focus on food are executed with the goal of fighting food insecurity and its consequences. In many cases they do not reach their objective due to bad planning and design; regretfully the low impact prevents improving the nutrition of the most vulnerable, minors. The objective of this study was to propose an alternative for the design and planning of strategies for nutritional improvement based on the analysis of local food culture to increase the effectiveness of the program. Surveys were applied to 74 mothers of preschool and school age children in Tochimilco, Puebla, México, in order to obtain information about general characteristics and the family diet. It was found that the sample studied belongs to a family nucleus of five people in average, whose main livelihood is agriculture. One of the main crops in the region is amaranth; it is not consumed regularly, due to the lack of knowledge of ways to prepare it and its health benefits. It was concluded that the analysis of the food culture facilitates the design of a proposal for nutritional improvement with high effectiveness. Specifically in Tochimilco, amaranth, maize, beans and fruits are ideal elements for a nutritional program.

Keywords : Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.; child malnutrition; situational diagnosis; development strategy; food programs; local resources.