NWCoastIndigenousPlantFoods&FunctionalFoods Flashcards
Common Camas
- Camassia quamash, lily family, Liliaceae
- Roots are bulbs
- Staple starch of coastal people
- Starch contains sugar inulin, long chain polymer of fructose
- Meadow’s were semi-cultivated
How was Camas cultivated?
- Monitored to remove death camas by avoiding and pruning
How was Camas cooked?
- Needs long cooking time (days) to break down and make digestible
- Sweet when cooked
- Sometimes cooked in large quantities, up to 50kg, in steam pit
Springbank Clover
- Trifolium wormskiodii, Fabaceae, legume family
- Fleshy white rhizomes harvested
- Pea-like taste
- Patches owned by families, transplanted to ‘gardens’
- Usually co-harvested with silverweed
Silverweed
- Potentilla anserina, rose family, Rosaceae
- Curly lateral and long tap roots (chiefs got the long roots)
Northern Rice Root
- Fritillaria camschatcensis, lily family, liliaceae
- Black lily, Indian rice, Eskimo potato
- Bulbs with bunches of bulblets
- Steamed or broiled
Chocolate Lily
- Fritillaria lanceolata
- Like Northern rice root
- Bulbs with bunches of bulblets that were steamed or broiled
- Found on S Van. Isle, Victoria
- Quite rare
Why is there interest in alternate foods?
- Environmental and sustainability reasons
- Functional nutritional values
What are the environmental and sustainability reasons for alternate foods?
- 3 grain crops (rice, corn, wheat) provide 50% plant calories in human diet
- Agri land area 37.6% of total land area, 66% is cereal cropland
- Food and protein deficiency still prevalent
UN world food program statistics for nourishment
- 1 in 9 people don’t have enough food for healthy active life (795 million people, 2/3 of which are in Asia)
- 12.9% of people in developing countries undernourished
- Sub-Saharan Africa 1/4 of population mal-nourished
What are some tributes of new crops like ancient grains?
- Diversification of crops
- Primary nutritional value (protein)
- May increase agricultural land use
Why have alternative crops not increased in a global sense?
- Wealthy countries do not have a ‘need’ for higher protein crops
- Increase in wealth = decrease in subsistence starch diet, increase in animal protein
- Food production ultimately linked to cultural dietary habits
Food production ultimately linked to what?
- cultural dietary habits
Functional food
- Foods that have biologically-active components that provide potential health benefit in addition to basic nutrition
Superfood
- Nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being
How are functional foods and superfood definitions made?
- In EU, nutrition and health claims on food labels have to be clear, accurate, and based on scientific evidence as overseen by European Commission
What are some functional foods?
- Ancient grains
- Quinoa, Amaranth, Chia, Buckwheat
What are some superfruits?
- Blueberries
- Acai
Ancient, specialty grains
- Quinoa, amaranth, chia
- All 3 long time historic food crops in new world
- All 3 are Non-grass grains that have not been domesticated as major cereal grains
What are grains and cereals
- Grains = seeds or seed-like fruits
- Cereals = grains from annual grasses, Poaceae
Quinoa
- Chenopodium quinoa, Amaranthaceae, Amaranth family
- Food crop in high Andes
- 120 known varieties
- 12-18% protein (high)
- High in amino acids lysine and methionine
What is the protein content of quinoa vs. the 3 major grain crops?
- High in protein (12-18%)
- Wheat flour is only 10-13%, rice 6-9%, corn 7-10%
When was the UN year of the quinoa? What did this result in?
- 2013
- Cultivation has increased in Peru, Bolivia, to meet world demand
- Good export income, but reduces availability to locals
Amaranth
- Amaranthus spp. Amaranthaceae family
- Several species cultivated, some are weeds
- Indigenous food staple in Aztec empire
- Seeds minuscule, easy to digest after cooking
- Can grow in dry, saline, land
Chia
- Salvia hispanica, Lamiaceae, mint family
- Grown by Aztecs, recorded to be eaten before battle
- Marketed as energy superfood
- 25-30% unsaturated oil
Buckwheat
- A non-grass grain domesticated in SE Asia
- Fagopyrum esculentum, Polygonaceae, Knotweed family
- Grows well in temperate climates
What 2 major plants are part of the Polygonaceae, Knotweed family?
- Buckwheate
- Rhubarb
Superfruits are high in what?
- Antioxidants
- Peak in popularity 2008-2011
Blueberries
- Very good food
- High but not exceptional antioxidant content
Acai Berry
- Euterpe oleracea, Arecaceae, palm family
- One time rage in superfood
- Native to Brazil, N SA, wet habitat
- Staple food for some indigenous populations on the Amazon
- Fruit in panicles w/ hundreds of berries
- Pulp often processes into juice
What is our local superberry?
- Salal, Gautheria shallon, Ericaceae, Heather Family
What is a major question about the bioavailability of functional ingredients?
- Is it affected by cooking and drying?
- What is the metabolic fate (How much is absorbed, is it chemically altered in body)
- Interaction with gut microbiome?
Functional ingredients and the interaction with gut microbiome
- Bacteria can alter or help digest compounds
- Composition of gut microflora very changeable (affected by diet, illness, weight change, medication)
What is an example of a functional food’s impact on gut microbiome?
- Blueberries extract was shown to increase Bifidobacteria, one of the most beneficial probiotic gut microbes
What can we generalize about functional foods?
- Do contain healthy components such as antioxidants and unsaturated oils
- Actual concentrations are variable from varieties, methods of processing
- Natural variation come from place of origin, habitat, growth conditions
- Good foods but none have been shown to scientifically have significantly exceptional nutritional health benefits
