Food practices of afro-descendant families with kids in early childhood living in eastern Cali

Abstract

Objective: To describe the eating practices of 50 Afro-descendant families with early childhood kids who attend a Child Development Center-CDC-in eastern Cali. Materials and methods: Quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was applied to 50 caregivers of children who attended the CDI Potrero Grande in eastern Cali. The questionnaire was structured with multiple choice questions based on three axes of food security: access, consumption and safety. Additionally, a food consumption frequency questionnaire was applied. Results: Seventy percent of the participants self-recognized as Afro-descendant, 63% came mainly from the southwestern coast of Colombia with a basic educational level, and 87.5% were dedicated exclusively to the home. The mother was in charge of preparing the food in 85% of the homes. Animal protein contribution of 70% of the homes comes mainly from eggs with daily consumption. A total of 94% of the mothers expressed that their families never consumed broccoli, cauliflower, green peas, spinach, manioc or cabbage and 95% of the people reported that they washed their hands before preparing food. Conclusions: The diet is not varied and is based on carbohydrate source food mainly rice, potatoes and green and ripe bananas which are consumed boiled and fried, as well as protein sources. The analysis of the intake suggests that characteristic foods of the place of origin such as fish and/ or shellfish are not consumed.