Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Africa

1st Edition - July 10, 2024
Editors: Ogugua Charles Aworh, Patricia Gyaa Owusu-Darko
Language: English
Paperback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 7 3 8 4 - 1
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 7 3 8 5 - 8

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Native West African Foods is part of an ongoing series that continues to build out Elsevier’s Nutritional and Health Aspects of Traditional and… Read more

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Africa

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Nutritional and Health Aspects of Native West African Foods is part of an ongoing series that continues to build out Elsevier’s Nutritional and Health Aspects of Traditional and Ethnic Foods series. Written by a gender diverse team of experts, this book explores native and wild West African foods from Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria where 60% of West Africa live. Through valorization trials, the book analyzes nutritional components and the processing and safety of native plants and botanicals and shows how indigenous foods such as grains, fruits, tubers, fungi and cheese make a global impact on diet-related health claims and disease.

From handling and processing methods to regulatory issues and sustainable farming, this book presents a framework to discover the influence of historical eating habits on today’s diets.

Cover image
Title page
Table of Contents
Copyright
Contributors
Chapter 1. An overview of West African traditional foods: Processing, safety and health benefits
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Native crops and wild food plants of West Africa
1.3. West African traditional foods and food processing techniques
1.4. The nature of the book
Chapter 2. History of eating customs, food traditions, and dietary taboos across Western Africa: An overview on health implications, safety measures, and regulatory frameworks
2.1. Introduction
2.2. History and culture of food in Western Africa
2.3. Health benefits of traditional and ethnic foods of West Africa
2.4. Value chain addition of traditional foods
2.5. Safety issues of traditional foods
2.6. Regulation of traditional foods by government agencies
2.7. Taboo traditional food and health implications
2.8. Conclusion
Chapter 3. Technological and nutraceutical development potentials of some traditional and underutilized plant foods of the savanna region of Cameroon
3.1. Introduction: Northern savanna of Cameroon, an area of famine and food adaptation
3.2. Plants of technological interest
3.3. Plants of nutritional and nutraceutical interest
3.4. Limitations, opportunities and prospects for the development of traditional plant resources for markets
Chapter 4. Traditional and ethnic foods of the coastal belt of Ghana
4.1. Overview of the coastal belt of Ghana
4.2. Demography
4.3. Culture, tradition and ethnicity
4.4. Agricultural practices
4.5. Staple foods
4.6. Description of some local cuisines
Chapter 5. Health and nutritional perspectives of foods in the middle belt of Ghana
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Overview of middle belt of Ghana
5.3. Local food commodities
5.4. Traditional food processing
5.5. Nutritional perspectives
5.6. Conclusion
Chapter 6. Health and nutritional perspectives of traditional and ethnic foods in the northern belt of Ghana
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Historical overview, food culture and traditions
6.3. Food commodities
6.4. Common dishes prepared in the Northern Belt of Ghana
6.5. Nutrition and health benefits of indigenous crops
6.6. Effects of changing dietary patterns on nutrition and health
Chapter 7. Importance of food and culture in Nigeria with special reference to yam
7.1. Background
7.2. The relationship between food and culture
7.3. Yam
Chapter 8. Indigenous foods of South Eastern part of Nigeria
8.1. Introduction
8.2. Beniseed/sesame seeds
8.3. Palm fruits
8.4. Production of fermented flavourings
8.5. Leaf vegetables
8.6. Leguminous foods of southern parts of Nigeria
8.7. African breadfruit
8.8. Miscellaneous food recipes and uniques ingredients of South-Eastern Nigeria
Chapter 9. Traditional and ethnic foods of the middle belt region of Nigeria
9.1. Introduction
9.2. Roots and tubers
9.3. Legumes
9.4. Oilseeds
9.5. Tree nuts
9.6. Miscellaneous
Chapter 10. Ogi: A prominent traditional cereal product of South Western Nigeria
10.1. Introduction
10.2. Consumption patterns
10.3. Production processes
10.4. Chemical composition and nutritional information
10.5. Microbiological aspects
10.6. Preservation and storage methods
10.7. Health claims, benefits, and possible adverse effects
10.8. Challenges and business opportunities in ogi production
10.9. Future trends—packaging and preservation needs
10.10. Conclusion
Chapter 11. Selected traditional legume products of South-Western Nigeria
11.1. Introduction
11.2. Moin-moin
11.3. Akara (fried bean cake)
Chapter 12. Traditional cassava products of South-Western Nigeria
12.1. Introduction
12.2. Eba (cooked dough from gari; a roasted fermented cassava grits)
12.3. Fufu (cooked fermented paste and odorless fufu)
12.4. Lafun (fermented cassava flour)
12.5. Conclusion
Chapter 13. Selected traditional green vegetables products of south west Nigeria
13.1. Ewedu (jute mallow) soup
13.2. Orunla (ground sun-dried okra slices)
13.3. Efo riro (stewed leafy vegetable soup)
13.4. Conclusion
Chapter 14. Traditional and ethnic foods of Northern Nigeria
14.1. Introduction
14.2. About Nigeria
14.3. Ethnic and traditional foods of Northern Nigeria
Chapter 15. Traditional dairy, meat and fish products of West Africa
15.1. Introduction
15.2. West African soft cheese (warankasi, wara, woagachi)
15.3. Kilishi
15.4. Suya
15.5. Other traditional processed meats
15.6. Traditional processed fish
15.7. Safety of traditional processed meat and fish
15.8. Conclusion
Appendix. A compilation of some recipes of Ghanaian dishes
Index

Ogugua Charles Aworh

Ogugua Charles Aworh is a retired George Coumantaros Distinguished Professor, Department of Food Technology, at the University of Ibadan. From 2020-2022, he was President-Elect of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, and the Chairman of the Technical Advisory Group of Nigeria’s Tertiary Education Trust Fund. He obtained a B.Sc. with honors from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; MSc and Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology from Cornell University, USA. He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology, and a former Chairman of NIFST Body of Fellows. His areas of research include post-harvest technology, food processing, food safety and biotechnology. He has published extensively, supervised 120 MSc and 17 PhD students and is mentor for African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) and International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) young scientists.

Affiliations and expertise

University of Ibadan

Patricia Gyaa Owusu-Darko

Dr. Patricia Gyaa Owusu-Darko is a Senior Lecturer in Food Technology at the Kumasi Technical University Ghana and adjunct faculty member of Akenten Appiah Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Development. She was a member of the committee that drafted the approved syllabus for the Hospitality Programs at the Technical Universities and for the Food Technology program at KsTU . She is also a consultant and resource person for the Ghana Tourism Authority, Department of Social Welfare, Nestle, Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Program. She has supervised over two dozen postgraduate and over three hundred undergraduate project works in the Hospitality Departments across the country. She has expertise in food safety and hygiene training, post-production value addition of local staples towards food security and the development of lexicon for specific food products.

Affiliations and expertise

Kumasi Technical University Ghana