Food Habits of Tanzania

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Women

Women's food during lactation and breast feeding among the Chagga

While the umbilical stump was still attached to the mother, she was not allowed to eat meat. Her diet consisted of millet porridge, sour milk and cow's blood.

The blood was obtained by puncturing the external jugular vein of a healthy cow by using a bowl and arrow. The blood ran into a wooden bowl and was stirred vigorously to avoid clotting. About two to three pints were drawn off before the bleeding was stopped by releasing the tourniquet and applying a herb to the wound to hasten clotting. A little bit of honey and sour milk were added to the blood (ten pints). After this mixture was well stirred it was left in a pot for at least two days next to the fire place. A small amount of that blood mixture called usawo (jelly like) was placed in a wooden bowl mixed together with more sour milk and was then ready to be consumed.
A ceremony was held on the day the mother's stump fell off. A ram was slaughtered and meat was introduced into the women's diet again. From the day of the ceremony on, meat was a regular item of the mother's diet again which was prepared alone or together with bananas.

The other common women foods were:

• Millet porridge (nswa wa wuru) which was prepared by using lots of sour milk; This was a food men were not allowed to eat;
• The mother's diet consisted of honey and cream but she was not allowed to eat anything "wild" like game, birds, locusts, or any food contained undergrounds such as yams or potatoes. She was also not allowed to eat the local salt (a crude form of sodium bicarbonate), beans, maize, chicken, ripe bananas (It was believed that they would spoil the appetite for meat);
  

  Wild animals were regarded as a famine food. Potatoes, yams, maize, beans and vegetables were always cooked with the local salt which was believed to dissolve bones and the lactating mother would not become fat, if her bones were dissolved. Chicken were fought to be too small to make a women fat which was the main aim of any type of food for mother's.
  

This article provides you with information on:

• Pregnancy and childbirth
  
• Feeding of the lactating mother and her diet before breast feeding
  
• Taboos, customs and preferences
  
• Breast feeding and food items of the infant
  
• Nurses
  
• The transition in the practices of childbirth, nutrition and infant feeding
  

PDF: Tribal customs in infant feeding II-Among the Chagga 1963

"Lactation priods and diets among Tanzania's women of the past"

Ethnical group	Period of Lactation	Artificial feeding	Child's frist food	Publication	Year
Hadza or Watingdiga	Prolonged until next pregnancy	Non	Rendered soft fat from the zebra and bone marrow, both raw and cooked were introduced in the early months; followed by: thin gruel like mixture of uncooked powder, or the ground seeds of the baobab fruit (Adansonia digitata)*	Reference:  Jelliffe, D. B., J. Woodburn, et al. (1962). "The children of the Hadza hunters." Tropical pediatrics 60(6): 907-913.	1962
Gogo children	12-18 months	Non	"Uji", cereal flour (maize, millet, or sorghum) was boiled in water until a gruel like consistency was achieved; Uji was given by the mother when brest ,milk was insufficient for child 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup/day to 2 1/2 cup when it grew older, Uji was given from 3 months on; Small amounts of cow milk during first year are added from 12-18 months on child consumed adults diet	PDF: The food and growth of Gogo children	1960
Chagga	1 1/2 to 2 years	Non	From 3rd week of infants life cream, from cow's milk was given in very small amounts, with appearance of first tooth the baby started to eat other foods (child foods: made of banana, milk, water)	PDF: Tribal customs in infant feeding among the Chagga	1963

*Carr, W. R. (1957). "Notes on some southern Rhodesian indigenous fruits, with particular reference to their asorbic acid content." Food research 22: 590. Carr, W. R. (1958). "The baobab tree: a good source of asorbic acid." Central African Medical Journal 4: 372.

References:

Jelliffe, D. B., J. Woodburn, et al. (1962). "The children of the Hadza hunters." Tropical pediatrics 60(6): 907-913.

Schaffer, R. D. a. F. F. (1963). "The food and growth of Gogo children." Stencilled Paper.

Lema, N. T. (1963). "Tribal customs in infant feeding II-Among the Chagga." E.A. Med J 40: 370.

What did pregnant and lactating women in the Tabora region eat in 1967?

Read more about the food habits of the Tabora region in the following article and obtain information and data on:

• Food consumed during: Pregnancy and lactation
  
• Food taboos
• Child feeding practices
  
• Food storage and processing
• Agriculture
  
• Facilities in the house
  
• Staple foods and their use
  
• Food groups and their contribution to nutrient intake
• Calorie and nutrient requirments, intakes and sources
  

PDF: Report of a dietary survey in Tabora region_1967

What foods did women and lactating mothers in the Kilimanjaro area consume before 1968?

This survey on nutrition and diet carried out from the 5th until the 17th of August 1968

PDF: Nutrition survey_Kilimanjaro area_1968

Brest feeding in the Kidugalo village 1965-1967

PDF: Nutrition status survey in the Kidugalo village 1965-1967

Hadza women, one of the few remaining hunters and food gatheres in the 1960s

Reference: Jelliffe, D. B., J. Woodburn, et al. (1962). "The children of the Hadza hunters." Tropical pediatrics 60(6): 907-913.

Customs, pregnancy and cild rearing among seven tribes

This article provides interesting insights into:

• Marriage
  
• Pregnancy
  
• Delivery
  
• Indigenous drugs
  
• Placenta, cord
  
• Newborn
  
• Twins
  
• Beliefs

Among the following tribes:

• Wahehe
  
• Wagogo
  
• Waluguru
  
• Sukuma
  
• Wanyakyusa
  
• Wachaga
  
• Bahaya
  

Reference: Moller, M. (1961). "African child health: custom, pregnancy and child rearing in Tanganyika." Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 7: 66-80.

Created by Verena Raschke 2005 / Contact