Journal article
Millets, milk and maggi: contested processes of the nutrition transition in rural India
Agriculture and human values, Vol.34(4), pp.871-885
12/01/2017
DOI: 10.1007/s10460-017-9781-0
Abstract
The nutrition transition-a process of dietary change that describes the shift to calorie-dense, higher fat and protein diets from cereal based ones-is happening in India. This paper argues that relatively little is known about the nature of nutrition transition in India. This is a result of both a lack of adequate and timely data and a consequence of national and state-level statistics, which render an incomplete and potentially misleading picture of how these processes are unfolding in local contexts. This may be especially true in India where very little ethnographic research has documented the dual edges of nutrition transitions. Analyzing data collected from the Kumaon Hills, Uttarakhand in 2013, this paper suggests the ways in which aspects of the nutrition transition have developed unevenly over space and time. In particular, while new types of calorie dense foods have infiltrated these rural, remote areas, the process has been uneven and fraught with contestation due to preexisting social practices. More troubling is the evidence that though incomes are rising, the predicted increases in high value, protein rich foods may actually be declining. This paper concludes by arguing that the widely influential nutrition transition literature needs look to ethnographic and in-depth qualitative methods to form better policies relevant to the contingencies of dietary and epidemiological change.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Millets, milk and maggi: contested processes of the nutrition transition in rural India
- Creators
- Carly Nichols - University of Arizona
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Agriculture and human values, Vol.34(4), pp.871-885
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10460-017-9781-0
- ISSN
- 0889-048X
- eISSN
- 1572-8366
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 15
- Grant note
- University of Arizona Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute AAG Rural Geography Specialty Group
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2017
- Academic Unit
- Interdisciplinary Programs; Geographical and Sustainability Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984259388102771
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