International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Bamako, Mali.
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India,
World Rev Nutr Diet. 2020;121:149-158. doi: 10.1159/000507494. Epub 2020 Oct 6.
Some of the biggest global issues are poor diets, environmental concerns, and poverty. To tackle malnutrition, fast-growing lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, environmental concerns like climate change, land and water scarcity, and poverty, we need to incorporate dietary and on-farm diversity. These issues should be treated in unison, but also with more holistic solutions. Mainstreaming "traditional" Smart Foods back as staples across Africa and Asia is part of the "Smart Food" approach. Smart Foods are food items that fulfill the criteria of being good for you, the planet, and the farmer. Sorghum and millet were selected as the first Smart Foods and a participatory fun-filled approach was adopted to create awareness, to develop culturally acceptable products, and to bring about behavior change to improve adoption, dietary diversity, and nutritional status. Smart Food piloted these activities in Myanmar to understand its potential on the consumer market. Smart Food was promoted in different countries through social media competitions in Mali, cooking shows in Kenya and India, recipe development by popular chefs in Paris and London, as well as school feeding programs in Tanzania and India, and an international millet festival in Niger. As a case study in Myanmar, we compared two approaches to introduce Smart Food - one which directly introduces new products and one which takes a culturally sensitive participatory and inclusive approach. The later approach resulted in the development of 27 recipes, in contrast with the former approach, which accepted only 3 of the 13 products tested. The 27 products developed locally exhibited superior nutrient values compared to usual rice porridge. The Smart Food initiative is demonstrating the potential to make a difference in society and for the environment, thus contributing to a major impact on leading global issues such as dietary diversity, improved nutritional status, and adapting to climate change.
一些全球性的重大问题包括不良饮食、环境问题和贫困。为了解决营养不良、糖尿病等快速增长的生活方式疾病、气候变化等环境问题、土地和水资源短缺以及贫困问题，我们需要纳入饮食和农场多样性。这些问题需要协同处理，但也需要更全面的解决方案。将“传统”智能食品重新纳入非洲和亚洲的主食，是“智能食品”方法的一部分。智能食品是指对人类健康、地球和农民都有益的食品。高粱和小米被选为首批智能食品，并采用了参与式、充满乐趣的方法来提高认识，开发文化上可接受的产品，并促使行为发生变化，以提高采用率、饮食多样性和营养状况。智能食品在缅甸开展了这些活动，以了解其在消费者市场的潜力。通过在马里的社交媒体竞赛、肯尼亚和印度的烹饪表演、巴黎和伦敦的名厨开发食谱、坦桑尼亚和印度的学校供餐计划以及尼日尔的国际小米节，在不同国家推广智能食品。作为缅甸的一个案例研究，我们比较了两种引入智能食品的方法——一种是直接引入新产品，另一种是采取文化上敏感、参与性和包容性的方法。后一种方法开发了 27 种食谱，而前一种方法只接受了 13 种测试产品中的 3 种。在当地开发的 27 种产品的营养值明显优于通常的米粥。智能食品倡议正在展示其在社会和环境方面产生影响的潜力，从而为解决全球重大问题做出贡献，如饮食多样性、改善营养状况和适应气候变化。
