Interference of food aid in environmentally adapted nutritional habits

Food and food consumption are as much a social as a nutritional phenomenon. In every society, the nutritional items identified as food, their mode of preparation, the conditions under which they are eaten, the proscriptions and prescriptions relating to ritual and other occasions, all reflect basic cultural values, premises about life, religious convictions and, often, national pride. Consequently, changing food habits implies simultaneously changing and redefining social mores. Food aid does not take this aspect of food consumption into consideration.