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Meat in the context of the whole diet: a social and cuisine perspective.

Article Excerpt
KEY POINTS

* Cuisine is the cultural use of food. It is linked to agriculture and trade as much as nutritional need and culinary artistry.

* Combinations of core foods make up cuisines, but these combinations are constantly changing. Meat is a core food in Australian cuisines, and the use of meat is constantly changing.

* Meat provides important nutrients in dietary patterns based on Australian core foods. Nutrients delivered by meat, such as vitamin B12, iron and zinc, are not easily replaced by alternatives from the same food group in dietary models based on the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.

* Lean meats have a place in a healthy dietary pattern for managing lifestyle disease risk.

* Improving the overall diet of a population requires an understanding of cuisines used in that population and how core foods contribute to dietary factors linked to health and disease.

INTRODUCTION

Meat is a nutrient-dense food, and this has been the focus for communicating the health benefits of meat consumption. Nutrition communications, however, also relate to overall diet and the prevention of lifestyle-related disease, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. How meat fits into this scenario requires a different form of analysis and communication.

Food is essential to health. We know this from both a cultural and scientific perspective. Culture is reflected in cuisine, and cuisine denotes the use of food. Food choice reflects the whole of social organisation, bringing multiple factors into the picture, such as agriculture and farming, the shape of the economy, and the knowledge of nutrition, to name but a few. Today, nutrition science is a key driver in food choice as it finds ways to expose the details of the food-health relationship and translates this to practice. (1) In the case of meat, science has enabled the description of the multiple nutritional benefits that may be derived from meat consumption. (2) This is relevant to the Australian population as meat is traditionally consumed in Australia, and meat production is a significant part of the country's agricultural economy. (3) Examining meat from a cuisine perspective integrates the cultural and scientific value of meat in a healthy Australian diet. This paper examines meat from a cuisine perceptive in the Australian context and discusses challenges facing nutrition science in translating this knowledge into useful messages for consumers.

FOOD CULTURE AND CUISINE

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