CULTURAL DETERMINANCE OF FOOD CHOICES AND ASSOCIATED HEALTH BELIEFS (A Case Study of Village Pind Begwal, Tehsil & District Islamabad)

Abstract

The present research mainly deals with food preferences and associated health beliefs. Further it investigated the benefits of traditional food. Research was centered on three main objectives which revolved around food preference, benefits of traditional food and some health-related beliefs associated with traditional food. Food is used not only to satisfy hunger, but also to attach obligations. Within, a culture, people have different food choices. Food selection is always defined by culture, the social, environmental, and personal choice. Food and foodrelated beliefs have a wide role in culture and lifestyle. For most of the time, more consumption of food has become a part of culture. Most older people remain attached to their old foods and like those food. This study looks into the preferred foods within the culture, that how culture shape the food patterns by paying emphases on the old tradition. This study also tried to explore connections between food and healing by paying emphasis on traditional food given to new mother during the period of confinement. Further, it also looks into the cultural health beliefs that are associated with animal organs. To achieve above mentioned objectives different anthropological tools and methods were used for data collection that mainly included rapport building, in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and purposive sampling method to obtain relevant and accurate data for research. Research was conducted with the people of different age groups in which both genders were included. A sample size of 35 respondents were interviewed during research. The research was conducted in a village Pind Begwal, that is under the supervision of capital Islamabad. It is located at main simply dam road with lush green fields which were the beauty of village. This study explored the connection of food and culture. Food is the basic element in life, but some food got special preference in culture due to attachment of ancestors with that food. People prefer some food as part of culture due to teachings of ancestors, they did not isolate themselves with those foods, further the cultural food also attach some benefits to it. The study finds out that benefits specially those traditional foods which women eat after confinement. Those traditional food consumed by women to increase milk production, to overcome anemia, to cleanup inside of body after delivery. Moreover, food also attach some health beliefs. At where culture tells us about benefits of food, there are some cultural health beliefs too that bring people toward some specific food. People consume animal organs and have faith in the healing capacity of animal organs, but only the beliefs. They know nothing else about organs but they still use them. We also identify that how their beliefs really work and they feel they are gradually curing their disease.