Wild food consumption and urban food security

Abstract

Increased urbanization across the African continent is an important contributor to the expansion of local, urban wild food markets. Urbanization creates a new type of consumer who, unlike rural inhabitants, has to buy wild products rather than gather them. Wild foods are increasingly recognized for their contributions to dietary diversity and nutritional security in the urban centres of the Congo Basin and Cameroon. This chapter aims to contribute to an understanding of the linkages between wild foods and food security, drawing on the 2011 Cameroon Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) baseline study, supplemented with interview and survey data gathered during fieldwork in Cameroon from 2010 to 2013. Geographically, the focus is on wild food consumption in Yaoundé, the capital city, and the southwest peri-urban region. It concludes that ongoing research needs to be carried out in urban areas on the accessibility of diet rich foods to better understand their contributions to food security, environmental sustainability, nutrition, and public health.