Selection of Principal Starchy Food in a Livelihood System Based on Bananas: The Formation of Food Culture in Buganda, Central Uganda

抄録

In part of the Great Lakes Region of East Africa, people make their livelihoods by intensively using bananas as a principal starchy food (PSF) as well as a wide variety of other crops. This study examines the selection of the PSF in terms of the cropping patterns and the food-use system among the Ganda people of Central Uganda. Data on their crops suggest that combining production of bananas and other crops is essential for a stable food supply. The ecological characteristics of bananas and the decisions of each household have great influence on cropping patterns. Regarding food use, descriptions reveal that delicate techniques and sensibilities in preparing banana meals are remarkably developed and are also applied to other crops. In this way, an analysis of neither a framework of people’s adaptations to external conditions nor one of food preferences is adequate to understand the complex people–nature relation in a study of food culture. Rather, it is crucial to use both frameworks in understanding the formation of food culture.