The Way of our diets & foods

In comparison to current times, most of our parents & grandparents had simple staple diets most comprising natural (not processed) own or neighborhoods-grown crops.

Thanks to the then low population, most of what they cropped or grew happened to be enough though at times cyclic droughts and famine struck and they could lack at such times.

Sometimes between 1920s & 1940s, for example, a severe drought hit and the only available food in Kikuyu land was cassava and which the people boiled and survived on and so our parents dubbed that period as ‘the cassava famine season’.. I guess some people died of hunger but some survived to tell of the tough times.

Today, however, thanks to modernity, many of our people have started practicing modern, even smart, agriculture which has improved yields and harvests that can today feed millions given that our population has, with passage of time, also grown by leaps and bounds.

Improved agriculture has also spurred trading in agricultural products providing income to many people and enabling equity in food availability especially for regions that are food deficient.

The improved agricultural practices and growth of closely related sectors as food processing ones have gone on to raise awareness about modern-day nutrition and equally the need for better nutrition.

In reflection, our  foreparents survived on simple meals prepared in traditional means including the use of earthen pots that were often covered with natural materials such as bananas leaves to retain heat and have the food cooked in the required times.

Among the Agikuyu people, for instance, boiled sweet potatoes, arrows roots and mixed maize and beans (Githeri) were a common diet.

With time, innovation and adventure moved the people to mix the githeri mixture with sweet potatoes, arrow roots, pumpkins & pumpkins leaves and have them well cooked after which the food would be mashed together and be served as ‘Mukimo’.

The food would be served in smaller easy-to-handle special half gourds (a full gourd would be well cut to produce 2 half gourds and be well maintained) that were then used as serving spoons (kiihuri or ciihuri).

Interestingly, our parents would preserve the food by leaving it in the earthen pots or serve the food (meant for immediate consumption) on to reed-made wide receptacles (known as gitaruru or itaruru if many) & then store it safely covered with banana leaves or other naturally growing wide leaves such as arrow roots ones in their cooking spaces.

Apparently, rats & other rodents during those eras & periods were quite well disciplined and never really disturbed people by nimbling at and on the food. Or perhaps, the rats were never attracted by the natural aromas of the natural, traditional recipes.

I do not know whether cockroaches lived then as ‘permanent kitchen residents’ and whether they spent nights unashamedly stealing & nimbling at foods while the foods rightful owners slept.

Equally surprising was the fact that the food would remain edible even for a whole week and was usually consumed  cold in contrast to present – day nutrition science advice that strongly warns us against consuming cold foods reportedly given the theory that the bacteria, naturally incumbent in the food, gets active and immediately starts multiplying once the food gets cold . The bacterias are blamed for persistence of abdominal problems today.

The major beverage was sugarless natural porridge often from maize and sorghum or millet flour.

To add value to the beverage, our foreparents would ferment the uji in naturally grown gourds (inya) with the porridge often getting consumed cold as well.

Interestingly, modern day nutrition-science also teaches us of the many benefits of consuming fermented drinks & foods including porridge, yogurt and vegetables.

According to the science, the fermented foods contain useful bacterias that support food digestion and overall gut & bodily health apart from the fermented foods and drinks having a naturally pleasant sour – bitter taste. .

And despite modern day recommendations that we return to the consumption of natural, unprocessed foods and also naturally fermented foods and beverages, such foods are not only rare but equally expensive if one manages to get them.

Yet, with the plethora of diet and nutrition advice and information among other ranges of information on digital spaces, life seems to be at a zenith. A zenith of an overwhelm of sorts, almost bordering confusion.

For example, some information recently reached my digital space cautioning against the risk of consuming foods cooked in liquids corn and seeds oil.

The information claimed that seed & corn oil should be used as industrial not cooking oil and that the oils are nutrients deficient.

Yet almost all cooking fats and oils on our shops shelves are either corn, seed or vegetables oil ….