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STORY

TRADITIONAL FOOD IS THE BEST FOOD MEDICINE

“We need to learn from the old people, and
reintroduce our traditional diets, as well as new
healthy foods,” Nyasha said. “That will really help us to
resist diseases like COVID-19. But Mbuya’s food is also
healthy because she doesn’t use fertilisers and sprays
– everything is grown naturally. I came to teach the
villagers to do this, but Mbuya is the best teacher.”

Mbuya smiled. “Yes, I learnt from my mother. But
Nyasha is too modest – she has told us all about
those microbes we must feed in the soil and
shown me ways to do that. Did you know, Garikai,
you have more microbes in your body than human
cells? And all those microbes help you to be clever,
to be strong, and to fight diseases. So, you look
after them, my boy.”
“It’s true,” Sekuru James said. “In our rush for
western education we forgot our own knowledge,
knowledge grown over centuries. It’s time that we in
Africa started celebrating our traditional diets. There’s
so much wisdom in them. And science is showing us
now how healthy these diets are.”
Garikai wiped up the last scrap of Mutakura with What traditional dishes do you
his finger millet sadza. He had even sampled some
flying ants and found them surprisingly tasty. And know of in your area?
he was looking forward to eating those mango and Discuss what nutrients these
pawpaw slices. He would still miss his Fanta and traditional dishes provide.
crisps, but maybe this food wasn’t so bad. Imagine if
he could come back to town as strong as Tendai? That
would make the girls notice him!

Don’t forget

• Traditional diets are based on local fruit and vegetables. They grow naturally and easily
and can be grown without pesticides and fertilisers if the soil is fed with compost and
manure.
• Traditional diets are highly varied, depending on what’s available and in season. This
makes them very nutritious.
• The traditional African diet is not what people have become used to eating in the last
fifty years – it’s the food our grandmothers and great grandmothers ate.

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