Editor's Note [Volume 22 No. 10 (2022)]

https://doi.org/10.18697/ajfand.115.ED122

FOOD

Welcome to Issue 115. This is a full issue of 16 manuscripts, thoroughly reviewed. We continue to rely on the dedication of our selfless reviewers, the patience of our authors, and the resilience of AJFAND staff, some in-house and others working remotely, for enabling us to reach this far.As we head towards the end of 2022, following COP 17 in Egypt, AGRF in Rwanda, and the IUFoST Congress in Singapore, the words NUTRITION, HEALTHY DIETS, FOOD SECURITY, and DIVERSE DIETS keep resounding in the air. As someone who gave up the aspiration of pursuing medicine to study food, it dawned on me even at that very young age that FOOD is everything. It does not matter who you are, you need nutrients to grow and remain healthy, you need food to function, you need food to be happy, and you need food to define you. But many of us just eat without realizing that we just cannot take it for granted that food will always be available. I feel elated that NUTRITION is finally at the meal table as a discussion item. Nutrition is now a big topic of discussion at both small fora and big conferences.

Now everyone is talking about nutrition even if they cannot define it. The complex aspect of NUTRITION, the young science it is, is that it cannot fall within one discipline of study. It is complicated by the fact that the nutrients are provided by food and even if one could make these nutrients in the lab and just feed to the body, it is not that simple. Most nutrients come from food; and people need different amounts and derive them from different sources that are not necessarily tasty. Food has different meanings: cultural and social. I do what I do now because after trying to understand all of this, there were the crucial questions - Who produces the food we eat? Who prepares it? Are we appreciative enough of this cadre of people? How often do we remember to say "THANK YOU?".

The rural community I work with has always known something was happening with the weather. They always had a weatherman, to predict when it would rain as their farming is entirely rain-dependent. This is indigenous knowledge, indigenous science, which we modern scientists have a hard time believing it exists. When I first got married, my mother-in-law would tell me, for years, that by February 14, "my seed must be in the ground". For the last 10 years (or more), nobody seems to know what the rain pattern will be in any one season. And it is not a good situation to be in. It is costly to just plant because other farmers are doing it. To make it worse, we are seeing events never witnessed before such as severe flooding, droughts running for 4 or 5 consecutive years, mudslides, and planting seasons which do not yield anything. So what are people supposed to eat? One cannot go to the river because either it is dried or what is there is not communally owned. Countries that used to donate food have their priorities changed or are at war. There is or has been a pandemic and this interferes with transportation and trade. How about our humanness, when we would be moved or feel sorry when we saw starving children? Have we become hard-hearted?

Look, Nutrition is not just nutrients and our health. There is a lot more. Its understanding and how to capitalize on the heightened awareness requires huge investments and good leadership. A huge paradigm shift is required that reallocates resources, makes good use of data, and calls for innovative thinking and action. I like that I studied NUTRITION, and through my work, have had to understand what else goes with it.

Enjoy reading and browsing through each one of the papers we publish today in this issue of AJFAND.

Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o
Editor-in-Chief, AJFAND ORCID: 0009-0005-8344-9093