Nur Indrawaty Lipoeto
Faculty of Medicine, Andalas University
A major shift in economic structure has changed the lifestyles and health profiles of many developing countries. Nutrition transition is a universal trend in these countries. Several studies have suggested that changing from traditional to modern food consumption patterns is a major part of this nutrition transition. This study was undertaken to confirm the relationship between changes in food patterns and nutrition transition in three Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, using three methods: interviews, focus group discussions and analyses of government reports.
The results found that Malaysians, Filipinos, and Indonesians have retained many aspects of their traditional diets. In fact, most of the participants in this study considered Western style and fast foods franchises as snack or recreational foods to be consumed only once in a while. However, a significant difference was noted between urban and rural food varieties consumed. Participants in the urban areas consumed more varieties of traditional foods because of their availability and the participants’ food purchasing power. Further, although traditional food patterns were maintained by most of the participants in this study, more sugar and vegetable oils were consumed and added to the traditional recipes. The rapid nutrition transition in this region may be a result, instead, of increasing food availability and food purchasing power, rather than a shift in food preference toward modern Western food.
(Presented in the 2012 Asian Food Heritage Forum: Harmonizing Culture , Technology and Industry, 20-21 August 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Chinese Dietary Culture Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Ministry of Culture, Thailand)