Organic Food Good Health

Food is any substance that we eat to provide nutritional support for our body. Food is usually of plant or animal, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is eaten by an organism and absorbed by the organism's cells to provide energy, maintain life, or help in the growth of the body. Different species of animals have different feeding behaviors that meet the needs of their individual body intake.

We humans are highly adaptable and have adapted to obtain food in many different ecosystems. Historically, humans secured food through two main methods: hunting and gathering and agriculture.

As agricultural technologies increased, humans settled into agricultural lifestyles with diets affected by the agriculture opportunities in their geography. Geographic and cultural differences have led to the creation of numerous cuisines, including a wide array of ingredients, herbs, spices, techniques, and dishes.

As cultures have mixed through international trade and globalization, ingredients have become more widely available beyond their geographic and cultural origins, creating a gateway of different food traditions and practices.

 

Today, the majority of the food energy supplied by the industrial food industry, which produces food with intensive agriculture and distributes it through complex food processing and food distribution systems.

 

 

Classification

Human food can be classified in various ways.  The number and composition of food groups can vary. Most systems include four basic groups that describe their origin and relative nutritional function:

1.        Vegetables and Fruit,

2.       Cereals and Bread,

3.       Dairy,

4.       Meat

 

 

 World Health Organization use a system with nineteen food classifications:

Cereals, roots, pulses and nuts, milk, eggs, fish and shellfish, meat, insects, vegetables, fruits, fats and oils, sweets and sugars, spices and condiments, beverages, foods for nutritional uses, food additives, composite dishes and savory snacks.^]

 

 

Food sources

 

Food can be obtained through various sources. The sources are dependent on consumers.

1.       Herbivores that consume the pants

2.       Carnivores that consume those animals.

3.       Omnivores that consume both plants and animals

 

Humans are omnivores that eat vegetables, fruits, cooked meat, milk, eggs, mushrooms and seaweed. 

Cereal grain is a staple food that provides more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop.

 Corn (maize), wheat, and rice account for 87% of all grain production worldwide.

 

 

 Just over half of the world’s crops are used to feed humans (55 percent), with 36 percent grown as animal feed and 9 percent for biofuels.

Fungi and bacteria are also used in the preparation of fermented foods like bread, wine, cheese and yogurt.

 

 

 

 

Taste

Animals, specifically humans, have five different types of tastes: 

·         sweet

·         sour 

·         salty

·         bitter

·         meaty

 

 

 

Cuisine

Many cultures have a recognizable cuisine, a specific set of cooking traditions using various spices or a combination of flavors unique to that culture, which evolves over time. Other differences include preferences (hot or cold, spicy, etc.).

Many cultures have diversified their foods by means of preparation, cooking methods, and manufacturing.

Some Popular Cuisines include

1.       Italian

2.       French

3.       Japanese

4.       Chinese

5.       American

6.       Thai

7.       Arabic

8.       Indian

9.       Turkish

Each of these cuisines have their own characteristics that makes them unique from the rest. The Diversity is usually Geographical and ethnic.  Food is eaten and typically enjoyed through the sense of taste, the perception of flavor from eating and drinking. Certain tastes are more enjoyable than others, for evolutionary purpose.

 

 

 

Food manufacturing

Packaged foods are manufactured outside the home for purchase. This can be as simple as a butcher preparing meat, or as complex as a modern international food industry. Early food processing techniques were limited by available food preservation, packaging, and transportation. This mainly involved salting, curing, curdling, drying, pickling, fermenting, and smoking.

Food manufacturing arose during the industrial revolution in the 19th century. This development took advantage of new mass markets and emerging technology, such as milling, preservation, packaging and labeling, and transportation. It brought the advantages of pre-prepared time-saving food to the bulk of ordinary people who did not employ domestic servants.

At the start of the 21st century, a two-tier structure has arisen, with a few international food processing giants controlling a wide range of well-known food brands. There also exists a wide array of small local or national food processing companies. Advanced technologies have also come to change food manufacture. Computer-based control systems, sophisticated processing and packaging methods, and logistics and distribution advances can enhance product quality, improve food safety, and reduce costs.

 

International food imports and exports

Food is traded and marketed on a global basis. The variety and availability of food is no longer restricted by the diversity of locally grown food or the limitations of the local growing seas. Trade liberalization has greatly affected world food trade

 

Economy

Most food has always been obtained through agriculture. With increasing concern over both the methods and products of modern industrial agriculture, there has been a growing trend toward sustainable agricultural practices. This approach, is affected by consumer demand, encourages biodiversity, local self-reliance and organic farming methods

Major influences on food production include international organizations, national government policy (or law) and international politics.

 

Problems

Food is central part of human life, problems related to access, quality and production of food effect every aspect of human life.

1.     Nutrition and dietary problems

Between the extremes of optimal health and death from starvation or malnutrition, there is an wide range of disease states that can be caused or alleviated by changes in diet. Deficiencies, excesses, and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to various health, psychological and behavioral problems.

 

2.     Hunger and starvation

Lack of food leads to malnutrition and ultimately starvation. This is often connected with famine, which involves the absence of food in entire communities. This can have a devastating and widespread effect on human health and mortality. Rationing is sometimes used to distribute food in times of shortage, most notably during times of war

Starvation is a significant international problem. Approximately 815 million people are undernourished, and over 16,000 children die per day from hunger-related causes.