Personal Food Acquisition and Food Sourcing Diary in Anthropological Perspective

Food intake is critical to human life for two main causes. First, the dietary properties of food have a significant effect on human growth and fitness. Second, feeding is a highly communal practice. The connection between what we consume, where we get our food, acquisition, and positional behavior is unequivocally important (Dufour, Alan and Gretel 10).
To live, an animal must go out to hunt for food and feed, according to Dufour et al. (14). We humans, too, need food in order to function normally, maintaining healthy health, and develop. Positional behavior is primarily concerned with how food is distributed, obtained and their sources. As it links to food acquisition, an animal of any given size and morphology will use a particular positional catalog and style of performance of actions to select a precise technique of foraging and feeding (Ibarra, et al. 320).
It is important to understand that whatever we eat make us who we are. Nutritional anthropology is basically about comprehending the relationship between biological and social forces in shaping how individuals consume food, the nutritional status, and populations (Dufour, Alan and Gretel 16). Food acquisition within my locality is not well distributed to quickly access, therefore where to get food stuff requires one to keep trend and records to a routine process of where to source food. I encountered some various problems while acquiring and locating the sources of these foods. First, making a choice out of many food items is a challenge to select the best quality, lack of enough money to buy the healthy nutritious food, physical access to local food markets, preservation and preparation of local food, daily activities hindered proper recording of daily data.
Summary Result of My Three-Day Food Diary (appendix)
My written records of actual intake of food and beverages consumed at a three-day period have not been measured using standards household measures, food models, and pictures just because my daily activities does not allow. My food record is appropriately balanced with a balanced diet history. I ventured most on a low caloric diet to maintain my weight as well as preventing health risk issues. Being on a busy schedule throughout the daily I decided to keep a record of three meal in a day without using specific measuring standards, but I kept track on the amount am consuming by measuring using household tools like cups and spoons.
Keeping food diaries is paramount as it creates a conscious awareness of food intake and eating patterns. Recording of what ones eat daily depends on the purpose and area of concerns one is interested (Duyff 120). Could be the problem in portions, focus on nutritional diet, eating patterns as well as the emotional eating issue.
Reflection on My Personal Food Acquisition and Food Sourcing Diary
According to my three-day food diary, I recorded data of three times meal in a day. I have not included the amount and conversions. The increased rise of agriculture evolvement and a lot of factors that have impacted either negatively or positively has significantly influenced my choice of diary history. Agricultural factors Include causes of the increase in agricultural production, the greenhouse revolution, agriculture biotechnology and agribusiness. To start with, an increase of agricultural output has affected the demand for some food commodities since the supply is very high prices go down, and demand stagnate. Dufour says if a population growth remains to have a tendency to grow faster than food, the natural outcome would be famine and poverty.
Secondly is the greenhouse revolution whereby production of food commodities is influenced by the newly high-yielding crop varieties, fertilizers, pesticides and modern mechanization to carry out farming as a whole. Growing food using irrigation during the dry season to has significantly helped the producers maintain a steady balance of food in the market. Improved biochemical control of pest has enabled producers to keep the quality supply of food stuff. Acquiring this food and knowing their source allows buyers to be alert to what is in the market so as not to have any side effects to human beings.
Agribusiness as the third factor that began with industrial revolution mostly in urban population. Agribusiness as a commercial subsistence agriculture business enables more people to get away from food production. Therefore the government is responsible for regulating the food produced. It checks the quality and mass treatment of food such as pasteurized milk, cheese, butter and other poultry products. Although the producers must cope up with the increased technology, they start using antibiotics and growth hormones to hasten the growth of food commodities.
Lastly is biotechnology which uses genetically modified food technology. Technology helps to preserve food, enhance food supply by integrating traditional breeding. Technology alters what is natural to either increase its life age or increase production which increases sales. Genetically modified food influences the buying process of food and customers must be aware when acquiring these food products.
Following the available food in the market, human being adapts to adjusted environment with the type of food commodities disposed of in the market. For human’s beings, there are two kinds of adjustment to diet adaptation which is biological and cultural. For instance, some people have a disorder of lactose intolerance, which is a biological adaptation to lactose digestion. Cultural perspective is a distaste for drinking milk which looks like urine. When trying to bring insights into why certain communities embraced milking while some do not, we shall look at factors such as the ecology of land and animals; traditional concern in cattle, goats, and dairying; biological adaptation to milk assimilation.
Acquiring food and knowing their source also calls for consumers to understand the interaction of food when eaten. Some foods inhibit absorption of some minerals when taken at the same time. For example, calcium assimilation in the body is affected by taking spinach. This food stuff contains oxalates that inhibit calcium assimilation in the body. Calcium is only absorbed in the presence of adequate vitamin D in the body. The type of food product to eat to increase calcium absorption in the body includes eggs, liver, and sunlight.
Adaptive reasons for the development of certain types of food like and dislike has been influenced by traditional cuisines and nutritional content of food. The degree to like and dislike for is affected by factors like nature of the food, life of the individual, organoleptic properties, availability, ease of acquisition and preparation as well as income.
Payment for environmental services, the establishment of formal voluntary conserved areas (VCA) and agricultural practices have significantly affected the distribution and prices of food. Community members have witnessed a decline in local crop productions, decline of the land preserved for agriculture and reduced fallow cycles after the newly advocated strategies. By accepting the newly conserved policies that prevent community to get access to ancestral land as well inhibiting hunting, dwellers in local villages have witnessed food security becoming less stable, contributing to a high reliance on outside food provisions.
Continuous firm conservation actions in the appearance of communal preservation might result in reduction in dietary diversity, agrobiodiversity, and related environment understanding. Suitable presentation of the protective measures is necessary to control the operational shift of local individuals as well as the growth of community inventiveness.
Entree to food markets that supplies local food is a significant reflection concerning the capability of buyers to participate in the local food system. Most of my food I acquired it through local conventional outlets, grocery, and large supermarkets. Personal food acquisition and sourcing is a transdisciplinary exploration of the influence of social, cultural and personal determinants.
Conclusion
Eating is a moral act, although we may not give it much attention when looking for the quality and nutritious food. Everything that we eat is a reflection of our core values and beliefs. Food acquisitions help us to interact with the society as well as affecting the political statement in a manner that the food we select influences other people’s choices. Keeping food diary benefits people in many ways especially in keeping tracks of what one eats and drink, make one be able to be focused on a diet, offer inspiration, raise effectiveness and help people achieve their dietary goals.
Modes of production and nutrition are the most important aspect of understanding the connection between the economics, and nutrition is to comprehend different major avenues of manufacturing that community has used to produce food. These modes include foraging, shifting cultivation, pastoralism, agriculture, and industrialization.
Works Cited
Dufour, Darna L, Alan H. Goodman, and Gretel H. Pelto. Nutritional Anthropology: Biocultural Perspectives on Food and Nutrition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.
Duyff, Roberta Larson. American dietetic association complete food and nutrition guide. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
Ibarra, José T., et al. “When formal and market-based conservation mechanisms disrupt food sovereignty: impacts of community conservation and payments for environmental services on an indigenous community of Oaxaca, Mexico.” International Forestry Review 13.3 (2011): 318-337.

Appendices
Three Day Food Record
Day 1 Type of food/ beverages How/where obtained Cost/origin of food Source of food Breakfast Cereal, milk and banana The food stuff were bought from supermarket. Relatively higher total of $5 Milk and banana from farmers while cereals processed Lunch Whole wheat bread, butter on bread, yoghurt-strawberry. Bought from the supermarket. Spent $6 which is expensive to me. From Chobani manufacturers Dinner French fries, chicken fingers, carrots Bought from the market Spent $5 which is high according to my daily income Produce supplied by farmers from the farms. Day 2 Breakfast China seeds, milk, whole brown bread Bought from supermarket. Processed from factories using current technology. Spent $6. Raw materials from farmers who supply them in the market Lunch Kale salad with creamy garlic and grilled chicken Bought from the supermarket Fresh kales from farm. Others from factories. Spending $5 Kales from farm. Others are processed. Dinner Asparagus, sweet potato, green leafy vegetables Bought from the grocery. Fresh produce from farm. Spent $4 Direct produce from the farm supplied by farmers and other producers. Day 3 Breakfast Egg and bread Bough from supermarket $3 on food expense Supplied by farmers and manufactures Lunch Subwaytunna sandwich Bought from supermarket $4 spent in buying From manufactures Dinner Bugger Bought from the supermarket $5 spent to get access of these food. Supplied by bakers