A study of rural and urban food habits in Papua

Transcription

To the memory of the late
Eben Hipsley
Printed and Published in Australia at
The Australian National University ,
Centre for Re s ource and Environmental Studie s ,
UNESCO , 1 9 7 9 .
© Dougal
for
Je f fries
This Book i s copyright .
Apart from any fair
dealing for the purpose o f private study , res earch , criticism ,
o r review , a s permitted under the Copyright Act , n o part may
be reproduced by any proce s s without written permis s ion
Printed at :
Central Printery
Australian National University
Distributed for UNESCO by :
Dr Ken Newcombe ,
Centre for Resource and Environmental Studie s ,
Australian National University ,
Canberra 2 60 0 .
National Library of Australia Card N o . and I SBN
v
PREFACE TO REPORT No. 1 , Papua New Guinea Human Ecology Programm e
Thi s i s the first in a s eries of reports to be publ ished on
the Papua New Guinea Human Ecology Programm e
1
Hinterland 1 •
( PNGHEP) , ' Lae and its
The Programm e is being conducted by members of the Human
Ecology Group of the Centre for Resource and Environmental S tudies ,
in co-operation with national and local
governmental and academic organizat ions in Papua New Guinea.
The
Programm e itse l f is a contr ibution to the Man and the B io sphere
Programme , Proj ect 1 1 :
Integrated Ecological Studi e s on Human
Settlements , which is j ointly sponsored by Une s co and the United
Nations Environmental Programme
( UNEP).
The Papua New Guinea Human E co logy Programme has been de s igned
in two s tages which are equivalent to Pha s e 2 and Pha s e 3 activities
in the guid e lines for MAB Pro j ect 1 1 s tudies.
The first stage con s i s t s
of a s e ries of demonstration pro j ects , each involving a n eco logical
evaluation o f selected problems of development in the rapidly expanding
industrial c ity of Lae and its hint er land.
This pre l iminary s tudy of
twelve months duration i s intended to demonstrate the value of
ecological analy s i s in the perception and management o f key problems.
The second s tage , to fo l low the evaluation of the succes s of the first
stage , has been planned as a longer term more comprehens ive ecological
s tudy , aimed at analysing the interrelationships between changes in the
sociocultural and phys ical environment and the health and we ll-be ing
of the human population of Papua New Guinea.
Whi le a full integrative ec ologi cal understanding of the
dynami c s and e f fects of change in Lae in re lation to i ts hinter land is
not pos s ibl e without the second stage of the Papua New Guinea Human
Eco logy Programm e , thi s stage is des i gned to make a use ful contribution
to the theory of human ecosystems and to the practical aspect s of
ecosystem management.
Already it is c lear that the f indings in each
research pro j ect have important impl ications for the analy s i s in other s ,
1
The report was also submitted in September 1 9 78 as part of Dougal
Jeffries' Ph.D. the s i s at the Australian National Univers i ty. The fu l l
thes is , entitled ' The Ecology of Food Habits in Contrasting Environments',
include s s ome comparative material relating to food habi t s in Australia.
Copies of the the s i s wil l be lodged with libraries in the Australian
National University and the University of Papua New Guinea.
vi
and that the integration of the separate findings is enriching and
as si sting the poli cy-makers process.
There are four pro j e ct areas , all
heart of contemporary human ecology ;
with problems at the
food and nutri t ion , nutrient
cyc ling and ene rgy flows , cash flows and social change.
In the area
of food and nutrition , Dougal Je ffries has studied food habits and
be liefs amongst the Fore people of the Eastern Highlands ,
their rural and their urban environment s.
in both
The other three pr o j ects
con s i s t of a study of the ecology of consumer behaviour ,
focus ing on
cash f l ows stimulated by coffee-cropping in the Chimbu Province , and
urban cash employment of Chimbu people in Lae ;
an analy s i s of the
impact of urban izat ion on roles and s oc ial re lationship s among st the
Chimbu ;
and an examination of energy use and waste d ispo s al with regard
to alternative energy s trategi e s , and nutrient cyc l ing through intens ive
urban food production systems.
Une sco has made it a condition o f contract that re search be
oriented to practical policy conclu s ions
and that the dec i s i on-makers
and community repres entat ive s of the country concerned by informed
about , and where possible involved in , the research progr amme .
Indeed ,
in Papua New Guinea , interaction with local and national government in
the proc e s s of research has been fruitful for both
and
implementation programm e s arising from research are even proceeding in
advance of the documentation of research f ind ings.
Turning now to this proj ect on food habits and bel i e f s
i t mus t
first be appreciated that t h e s c ience o f nutrition i s fac ing many
chal lenge s
On the analytical leve l , there are such ques t ions as the
connect ions between nutritional status , growth rate s , the e f fects of
preventive and curative medicine , and morbidity and mortality
( e specially i n children) , which are complex and at pre s ent not clearly
understood.
Thi s rai s e s doubts as to the validity of compar ing growth
curve s acros s populations as a measure of nutritional well-be ing .
On the practical leve l , there are difficulties relating to the
crudity of twenty- four hour recall or even weighed food intake as a
measure of diet .
There are the expens e s and hazards of fie ldwork
purporting to maintain an accurate measure of the s e parameter s in a
community over an adequate period .
Surveys based on questionnaire s
vii
which are not followed up tend to be superficial and misleading
and
clinical s urveys are expensive and remain limited in scope.
Dougal Je ffries therefore decided that the most appropriate
method to adopt would be an in-depth ecological study of a group of
manageable size , yielding lengthy interview data verified by
obs ervation.
Such a study can contribute a rich basis for understand
ing the nature of change and its implications for well-being in a
volatile period of cultural transition.
In this Report , the critical
determinants of the diet of rural village dwelle r s , both agronomic and
cultural , are defined , observed and described in terms of their response
to the powerful influences of Western culture and the market economy influences which become more significant as urbanization proceeds.
This is the first study , to our knowledge , of the ecology of food habits
and beliefs for membe rs of the s ame group in both their rural and urban
s etting , and the study reveals the importance of such factors as
perception and beliefs on diet and nutritional state.
status of foods from the rural to the urban environment
The changing
as well as
attesting to the importance of socio-cultural factors in nutrition
points the way towards policies concerning food and nutrition which may
be appropriate and bene ficial in the dynamic circumstances of change
from rural to urban living.
The author draws conclusions which in many
case s reinforce the directions of policy-making in P apua New Guinea ,
and this s hould prove heartening for the government policy-makers.
Generally , however , the ecological approach described here provides a
useful methodology for examining problems of nutrition caused by rapid
economic developments in the Third World.
Ken Newcombe ,
Centre for Re source and Environmental Studies ,
Canberra , A. C.T.
and
Energy Planning Unit ,
Department of Minerals and Energy ,
Konedobu ,
Papua New Guinea.
viii
Note
This is the f i rs t in a series of reports to be pub l ished on the Papua
New Guinea Human E cology Progranune
(PNGHEP) ,
1
' Lae and i ts Hinterlan d 1 •
The P ro gramme is being conducted by members o f the Human Eco logy Group
of the Centre for Re source and Environme n ta l S tudie s , Aus tral ian
National Unive rs i ty , in co-operation with n ational and loc a l governmental
and academic organizations in P apua New Guine a .
The P rogramme i tse l f is
a con tribution to the Man and the B io sphere P rogramme , P ro j e c t 1 1 :
I n tegra ted E c o logical S tudies on Human S ettlements , which is j o in tly
spons ored by Une s co and the United Na tions Environmen tal P ro gramme
(UNEP).
' From K.aukau to Coke '
PNGHEP Report No 1 .
Prin ted with financial as s i s tance from Une s co/UNEP .
Pub l i shed and dis tributed for Une s co by :
Centre for Re so urce and Environmental Studi e s ,
Aus tralian National Unive r s i ty ,
Box 4 , P . O . ,
Canberra,
ACT 26001
Aus tralia .
lThe report was also submi tted in September 1 9 78 as part of my Ph . D . the sis
at the Australian National Unive r s ity .
The full the s i s , entitled
' The
Ecology of Food Habits in Contras ting Environmen ts ' , inc lude s some
comparative material relating to food habits in Austra l ia .
Copie s of the
the s i s wi l l be lodged with libraries in the Aus tral ian National Univers ity
and the Univers ity o f Papua New Guinea .
•
.
•
by a middle-aged man from the vi ll age :
"Nambawa:n kaikai bi Zong yumi., o Zsem., nambawan kaikai bi Zong
yumi tru., em kaukau. Em i nambawan kaikai bi Zong y umi tru.
Kaikai i no ken pinis Zong yumi . Yumi no inap so tim., so t
Zong kaukau. Yumi mas senisim., senisim. Sapos yumi no
senisim kaukau hariap hariap., bai y umi s tap nating. u
11our bes t foo d , i t' s like this , our very b e s t food o f all i s
swe e t potato .
I t' s truly our b e s t foo d .
W e can' t s top
eating i t .
We mus tn' t go short of i t , sho r t of sweet potato .
We mus t keep replanting i t .
I f we don' t replant it quickl y ,
we• 1 1 be l e f t with no thing . "
•
.
and by a young male migrant in Lae :
"Long taun, mi save bairn o Zgeta kaikai., na mi kaikai .
Taso Z mi Zaikim mi t pai na Coke, rza samting biZong kukim:
rais., pis wa:n taim., o sa.mpe Za taim frisa mi t. Em taso Z .
Na sips., wa:n taim
Mi Zaikim dispe Za kaikai . "
" In town , I buy a l l kinds o f food to eat .
But I
l ike meat pie and Coke , and things to cook :
rice
wi th fi sh , o r sometimes meat from the free zer .
That' s a l l .
And fish and chip s .
I l ike the s e foo d s . 11
x
My fami ly and I owe our greate s t debt to the Fore people among
whom we l ived and worked during our six months ' fieldwork in Papua New
Guinea.
To a l l the villagers of Awande , and to the Fore r e sidents o f
Lae , we extent warm grati tude ,
operation and kindne s s .
for their hospital i ty , to lerance ,
co
Timothy Nigi a , my full time field as s i s tant ,
who c he e r fully trudged many mi les with us and shared many burdens
( from
swee t potatoes to our son) , and P i la s , who ably as s i s ted my wife with
her i nterview s , were both good companions and helpful guide s ;
we owe spe c i al thanks .
As always ,
individuals as one would l ike ,
to them
it is impo s s ible to mention as many
but from the
we must particularly
thank Maki s and al l the i nhabitants o f S eve'agori haml e t , and from the
town Emo , Wayama and Orame.
As a family , we also owe many thanks to Michael and Wendy Alpers
and their chi l dren for continual encouragement, help
throughout
stay ;
hospitality
Rudi Sakudh of the Awande Vocational S c hool
his good neighbourline s s
s trawberrie s
More formal acknowledgement i s due t o Michael Alpers
his
as Director o f the Papua New Guinea Insti tute o f Medical Re s earch i n
Goroka , and to al l the s taff of t h e I ns titute , f o r their s upport
faci l i tie s ;
to Tony Chappelle and the Univers i ty of Technology in Lae
for help with duplica ting ;
to Dr . John Conroy ,
of the I n s ti tute of
Applied Social and E conomic Research , for lending us a vehi c le ;
Tau Mane ga , F i e ld Manager of the A . N . U . Joint Research S choo l s ,
and to
for
arranging accommodation and transport on several occasion s .
Among the many individuals who provided me with use ful information
and advic e are Julian Lambert , now National Nutrition P lanne r ;
H i le s , Provinc ial Nutrition i s t in the Eastern H i ghland s ;
Area Nutr i tioni s t in Morobe Province ;
Okapa Hospi ta l , a n d hi s nurs ing s taff ;
at Okapa ;
S he ila
Marian Cas t ,
Kimb Tai , Officer-in-Charge a t
Trevor B ui s ing , Di strict Officer
and in Australi a , Colin Binns and Peter S innett .
S teve Mil lar
and Beve rley Hewi tt kindly collected s ome use ful additional data for me ,
while they were working on a separate pro j e c t in Awande in early 1 9 78 ,
under the auspi c e s of the Institute of Medical Research .
is al s o made to Kumul Bakery
Acknowledgement
(Lae) P ty . Ltd . for l ending me copi e s of the
adverti s ements reproduced in P l ate 9 .
xi
The work de sc ribed in this report was undertaken as part of my
doctoral research during the tenure of an Australian National University
Ph.D.
S cholarship in the Centre for Resource and Environmental S tudies
( CRES ) .
I t also formed a demonstration pro j e c t o f the P apua New Guinea
Human E cology P rogramme, itse l f part of the Man and the Biosphere
Programme sponsored by UNES CO/UNEP .
Due acknowledgement i s made t o a l l
the se bodie s f o r their financial support, and I should l ike t o thank
Hugh Li ttlewood, the Centre Secre tary at CRES,
for administering a
rather complicated budget.
I am mos t grateful to my supervisor, Dr. S tephen Boyden, the Head
of the Human Ecology Group within CRES, and to a l l my colleagues in the
Group,
for their encouragement, c riticism and companionship.
Ken Newcombe,
as Director o f the PNG Human E cology Programm e , provided valuable
s timulation and l eadership in its execution.
For
and commenting
on various drafts of the entire manuscript I should like to thank
Frances B arne s, S tephen Boyden
Je ffries and Ken Newcombe ;
Frank Fenner, B ryan Furnas s , E luned
and for commenting on parts of i t, Marion
Chris tie and Cheryl Tychsen.
Between them they managed to find a daunting
tho s e that remain are
number of errors, omiss ions and other
my own responsibility .
For typing and re typing the s e pages,
I should like
to thank warmly Fay Goddard, upon who se e f ficiency and good humour I have
been entirely and confidently reliant throughout.
My wife, E luned, participated in the work from s tart to finish.
Her concrete c ontributions are to be found in Chapter 6 of the report,
and in some of the photographs, including the frontispie ce ;
tangible contributions were s til l greater.
her l e s s
T o h e r and t o Evan, my other
companion, I o f fe r due acknowledgement, thanks and love.
xii
Frontispie ce : Vil lage mother and child
iY
Pre face
v
Acknowledgements
x
PART I
:
I NTRODUCTION
Chap ter 1
Background ,
PART I I
s cope and methods o f s tudy
2
ENVI RONMENTS I POPULATIONS AND FOOD RESOURCES
Chapter 2
The rural sample
13
Chapter 3
The urban sample
33
Food re source s in the i r e co lo gi cal s e tting
45
Chapter 4
PART I I I
: FOOD BELIEFS AND PREFERENCES
Chapter 5
Men 1 s food beliefs and pre fe rence s in Awande and Lae
Chapter 6
Women ' s atti tude s and belie f s regarding in fant feeding
80
in Awande and Lae
Chapter 7
Food be lie f s and pre ference s in the i r e cological
setting
PART I V
54
93
FOOD CONSUMPTION
Chapte r 8
General obse rvations on food consumption in Awande
and Lae
1 02
Chapter 9
Dietary recall surveys in Awande and Lae
112
Chapter 1 0
A weighed in take survey in Awande
133
Chapter 1 1
A househol d expendi ture survey in Lae
148
Chap te r 1 2
Food cons umption i n i t s e cologi c al s e tting
1 72
PART V : HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Chap te r 13
Wei gh t s for age , morbidi ty and mortal i ty in children
in Awande and Lae
Chapter 1 4
Nutrition , health and we ll-being i n thei r eco logical
179
s e ttin g
197
S ummary and recommendatio n s
2 11
Glos sary o f Melane s ian P idgin terms as us ed in text
225
Appendix A
Trade s to re s in Awande
227
Appendix B
Lae F ood P ric e s Survey
233
Chapter 1 5
Reference s
238
xiii
Tables
1.
Main food p l an ts used at Awande , with notes on their
oc currence and use .
23
2.
Households and individuals by sex and age group in
diet ary recall surveys , Awande and Lae 1 97 7 .
114
3.
consumption rates of main food i tems by individua l s
5 years and ove r , morning .
Awande and Lae .
117
4.
Consumption rates o f main food items by individuals
5 years and ove r , midday . Awande and Lae .
118
5.
Consumption rates o f main food i tems by individuals
5 years and ove r , evening .
Awande and L ae .
119
6.
Consumption rates o f main food items by 0-4- ye ar- olds ,
morning . Awande and Lae .
124
7.
Consumption rates o f main food items by 0 - 4-year-olds ,
midday .
Awande and Lae .
125
8.
Consumption rates o f main food items by 0- 4-year-olds ,
evenin g . Awande and Lae .
126
9.
Number o f in fan ts consuming various i tems o f food and
drink on previous day , Awande and Lae .
128
Househo l d composition and theoretical energy and p ro te in
requirements of househo l ds in weighed die tary intake
surve y , Awande .
135
10
11 .
Total food intake o f three Awande households ove r one week . 1 3 9
12 .
Compari son o f 1 9 5 7 Moke diet with 1 9 7 7 Awande diet .
1 42
13 .
Cash income and expenditure over one fortnight in
eigh t Fore househo l ds in Lae .
153
14.
Dis tribution o f under- five s i n s tandard weight- for-age
cate go ri e s , Awande and Lae .
182
15 .
Comparison o f mean weights o f unde r- five s by one year
age group s , Awande and Lae .
183
16 .
MCH clinic attendance o f under- five s by one year age
17.
Breas t- feeding o f under- five s by one year age group s ,
Awande and Lae .
187
18 .
Food and drink sales at main Awande trades tore :
weeks in May , Jul y , Oc tober 1 9 7 7 , Jan/Feb 1 9 7 8 .
229
19 .
Average costs , and relative c o s ts of energy and protein
contents , of maj o r food i tems in Lae s tore s and markets ,
October 1 9 7 7 .
groups , Awande and Lae .
sample
185
234
xiv
1.
A conceptual model for the analysis o f the food habits
of a localised population .
2.
Consumption rate s o f major food catego ri e s by individuals
5 years and o ve r , a ll meals . Awande and Lae .
120
3.
Consumption rates o f major food cate gories by 1-4-yearo l ds , a l l meal s . Awande and Lae .
127
4.
Ma in s ourc e s o f energy and pro tein in Awande di et .
141
5.
'Ibtal food expenditure over one fortnight in e ight
Fore hous ehol ds in Lae .
154
6.
B re akdown o f total food and drink expenditure o f e ight
househol ds combined .
1 65
7.
Weights by age o f under- five s in Awande and Lae , in
relation to 1 0 0 % , 80% and 6 0 % of the Harvard S tandard
weights for age .
182
8.
Retai l food and drink sale s at main Awande trades tore .
228
9.
Comparative cos ts o f energy and protein from various
foods , Lae , O ctober 1 9 7 7 .
235
1.
Location o f Fore in re lation to Lae and the Highlands
Highway .
9
2
Lae , showing settl ements and o ther feature s mentioned
in tex t .
34
Between ppl00- 101
1.
Awande :
the s etting
2.
Awande food re sources :
gardens
3.
Awande foo d re source s :
trades tore
domestic animals
4.
A mumu in an Awande hamle t
5.
Food consumption in Awande
6.
Fore dwe l l ings in Lae
7.
Foo d re sourc e s in Lae
1
bush and
8.
Mate rnal and Chi l d Health clinics i n Awande and Lae
9.
Adverti sing in the daily pre s s :
10 .
an example
The 'He alth Book ' i s sued to unde r- five s at MCH c linics
8
xv
DPH
Department of Public Health
DPI
Department of P rimary I ndustry
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organi zation
MCH
Maternal and Child Health
NPO
Nati onal P l anning O ffice
NPU
Net P ro te in Utilization
PNG
P apua New Guinea
S DA
Seventh Day Adventist
WHO
World Health Organi zation
PART I
INTRODUCTION
2
CHAPTER 1
Nutrition has long been recognis e d as an importan t f ac tor in
This in te re s t be gan
the n ational development o f Papua New Guinea .
with the firs t maj o r nutrition survey in 1 9 4 7 ( H ip sl ey and C lements ,
195 0 ) , and has re cently been given extra emphas i s by the appointment
in October 1 9 7 7 of a nutrition planne r to the National Planning
Office , and the subsequent preparation an d imp lementation o f a
National Food and Nutrition
( NPO , 1 9 78a)
•
Reviews of the
nutritional s tate of the population o f Papua New Guine a
1973
Wookey , 19 73 a} a re bound to conside r the rural and urban sectors
separate l y , be cause of the great contras ts in environment, food
supplie s , population charac teris tics and l i fe s tyles which exi s t
between them.
There h ave b een numerous s tudi e s
dif fe rent rural
is
A
s cope
inte re s t
S tudie s
even
the p re sent
b e i denti fied.
reviewed by
have
P apua
of the coun try.
of mo s t
Guine a populations o n a small number o f starchy s taple s , o r
s ingle staple c rop
The main s taples are s ago and banana in
the lowlan ds , and swee t pota to , taro and yan1 in the highlands
These
sub s i s tence p atte rn s have nutri tional consequences which are locally
variable
but three fac to rs are c ri ti c al
Firs t is the pro tein c on tent
of the main s taple , in re lati on to i ts energy content and phy s i c a l
bulk .
S econd is the avail abil i ty of concentrated supplementary sources
o f energy , p ro tein and o ther nutrients , and o f source s of c ash income
for their purchase , i f necessary .
Third is the population facto r :
the
age and s ex s tructure and the growth rate of the population , in
re lation to po tential food supp l i es and the labour requirements and
land re so urc e s nec e s s ary for the i r pro duc tion .
i i ) S tudi e s o f :..:.:�::..=.::::.:.:..::_�;:._!::!;�::.:;a..L.::!!.:::�:.:::. in rel ation to
requirements h ave produced s ome surprising res ul ts for energy and
protei n intakes .
These h ave o ften been found to be exceptionally low
3
by inte rnational s tandards , but al so to be ac companie d by h igh leve ls
o f physical fitnes s , and low leve ls o f overt malnutri tion ( e . g . Hip sley
and Kirk , 1 9 6 5 ;
Norgan e t a l . , 1 9 74 ;
Ferro-Lu zzi e t al., 1 9 75 ) .
Notwiths tanding the pos s ibility o f peculiar physiolog i c al adaptations
to these low protein , low energy die ts ( Oomen and Corden , 19 70 ;
Hips ley , 1 9 6 9 ) , and the pos sibili ty that international s tandards are
set too high for thes e populations , i t is l ik ely that in many parts of
P apua New Guinea pro tein-energy malnutrition i s a real risk for
vulnerable groups such as pres chool chi l dre n , p regnant and l ac tating
women , and the e lde rly .
With the exception of anaemia , aggravated by
inte stin al para s i te s , and go i tre and endemi c c re tinism in cer tain
highland are as ( a problem rel atively easily treated by iodized oil
in j e c tions ) , there seem to be few speci fic de ficienci e s o f vi tamins or
minerals .
Th is i s no t
s ince mos t rural populations
enjoy a die t large ly made up of fre s h , unpro ce s s e d , and conservatively
cooked vegetable foods .
P apua New Guinea ( e .g . B inns , 19 76a ;
two general conclusion s :
Malcolm , 1 9 74 )
seem to agree on
that the growth rates of children in this
country fall well below the widely us ed Harvard S tandards , e special ly
af te r the firs t s ix months of li fe ;
and that this shortfall i s
primarily due t o the bulkines s o f the normal die t which renders i t
de ficient in energy
There is disagreement however on the imp li cations
o f the s lower growth rate and low weights- fo r- age for morbidity and
mortality and for ultimate fitnes s and body s i ze
B inns favours direc t
nutritional intervention a s the bes t way o f reducing mort al i ty and
morbidi ty r ate s , at least in sweet po tato eating Enga childre n , whil e
Malcolm argues that " simple and inexpensive health p rogrammes " may in
themse lves be more e f fective than nutrition programmes .
of these approaches might be the bes t solution ;
A combination
in the meantime , the
use of wei ght- for-age chart s , using the 80 percent Harvard S tandard as
the criterion for defining malnutrition , continue s to be the major
diagnos tic and monitoring tool use d by the Department o f Heal th in
iv:Ia.ternal and Chi ld Hea l th ( MCH ) Clinic s throughout the country .
General ly , s tu dies in rural areas emphas i s e the continuing
importance of s ub s i s tence production of foods tu ffs , but the trend
towards increased consumption of store foods , e special l y ri ce and
4
tinned f i sh , has been noted by seve ral obs e rve rs .
( op . cit . )
Norgan et al .
report , for the survey population of Lufa in the E a s tern
Highlands :
" a shift away from almos t, complete re liance on the swee t
potato towards o ther source s - notably , though s till
relative ly smal l in importance , to foods bought from a
lo cal s to re . "
Wadde l l , in an e cological s tudy of the Raiapu E nga sweet po tato
cultivators , repo rts a s imi lar change in food i n take :
" Th e s ituation has been modi fied in recent years through
the p ractice of ' making busine s s ' with p i g meat , bee f ,
and o ther foods , and as a re sult o f the widespre ad
ava i l ability o f tinned foods in the s to re s . " ( Wadde ll ,
1 9 7 2 , p . 128) .
In contras t , Lambert ( 19 75a)
found that l e s s s tore food was be ing
consumed in a Ch imb� vil lage in 1 9 75 than had been the case in the
same vil l age twenty years be fore ;
he foun d a general dec line in
nutrition , and a ttribute s it partly to increas ing popula ti on , and
partly to shortage o f manpower because o f migration of young men to
the town s .
Clearly , the die tary pattern in rural a reas i s changing
unde r such influe nces , and the re lationship between vil l age and town ,
in terms of the movement o f peop le , goods , and information i s a
c ri ti cal fac to r in the p ro ce s s .
b . Nutrition in urban areas .
Urban nutrition has so far received
l ittle a ttention in P apua New Guinea , and there have been few quantita
tive studie s of food intake .
In a s tudy o f the Rab i a Camp migrant
settlement in Port More sby , Hitchcock reports intakes of e ne rgy whi ch
she de s c ribes as
" the lowes t ye t recorded in Papua New Guinea"
(Hitchcock and Oram, 1 96 7 , p . 1 0 5 ) .
The energy intake was dominated by
white rice , re fine d flour and i t s products , and re fined s ugar , with
traditional starchy vegetables supplying on ly about 1 0% of the total .
Pro tein intake was also dominated by re fine d cereal products , with
tinned fish and tinned meat supplying about 2 5 % and fre s h meat and fish
abo ut 14 % o f the total .
Fruits and leafy vegetables were consumed in
ve ry small quanti ties .
I n his work on the economic and social wel fare o f Hanuabada in
1 9 5 0- 5 1 , Bel shaw used a semi-quantitative me thod to de s c ribe the food
pre ferenc e s of this urban communi ty near Port Moresby ( Belshaw , 195 7 ) .
He found that bread , swee t tea , and rice were the main source s of e nergy ,
5
whi le t inned mea t and tinned fish contributed signi ficantly to the
protein intake ;
roo t vegetable s and bananas were wide ly us ed,
e special ly when the gardens were in their mo st productive s eason .
Spinks ( 19 6 3 )
compared food con s umption and expenditure in Hanuabada
and in Koke , a canoe s ettlement on another part of the Port Moresby
coas tline , near the ma jor fruit and vegetable marke t .
In both
settlements , importe d s tarches were consumed in larger quanti ties
than local s taple s , and tinned fish and tinned meat in larger
quantiti e s than lo cal fish and meat.
These p re fere nce s were economi c
ally rational , in that the i :m;ported foods provided more energy and
protein for the same amount of money than did the local foods .
More re cently , Malcolm ( 19 73 )
found that a sample o f lower-paid
public s e rvants ' households in Lae were consuming a die t in which 1 2 %
o f calories came from protein ( 38 % o f this fro� animal source s } , 7 7%
from carbohydrate s , and 11% from fats.
He concluded that thi s die t ,
c ompared t o the typi cal rural die t , improved prospec ts for phy s i cal
growth and development , and increased res i s tance to mos t infe ctious
di seases ;
howeve r , i t carried r i sks o f more dental caries , hypertension ,
e levated s erum chole s terol and obe s i ty.
Wookey ( 19 73b)
give s a general a ccount of nutri tion in urban
are as , but c oncentrate s on Port Moresby .
He empha s i s e s the poor
availabi lity of cheap fresh fruit and vegetab le s , due to the c limate
and geographical location o f the capital , and the h igh cos t to the
nation o f importing foo ds tu ffs , l argely for expatri ates .
He a l so draws
attention to the growing populari ty of s nack foods such as biscuits and
aerated drink s .
No c lear pic ture , then , emerges from thes e i so lated s tudies .
Mo s t o f them have bee n made in Port Mo re sby , but the nutritional s i tuation
may be more favourable in towns with more productive hinterlands , s uch
as Lae and Rabaul.
A further confusing facto r , as Whi teman ( 19 6 6 )
discove red in a s tudy o f bel i efs and atti tudes towards food i n a lowcost housing settlement in Port Moresby , is the cul tural he tero geneity
of the urban population , which is large ly made up o f firs t generation
migrants from a dive rs i ty of rural backgrounds .
With th e urban popul ation of Papua New Guinea currently
increasing at over 5% per annum , mo s t o f this being due to in-migration
from rural areas to the larger urban centre s , the problem o f feeding
6
thi s population is becoming e ve r mo re acute .
There i s a corresponding
nee d for mo re information about how people 1s food habits are influenced
by , and adap t to , new condi tions , especially on moving from rural to
urban environmen ts , but al so as food resource s change in the rural
environments thems e lve s .
My own research focuss e s on these que s ti on s ,
and the re s t o f this chapter s ummaris e s the s cope and conceptual
approach used in the s tudy , and the sample popul ations chosen for
inve stiga tion .
S cope and conceptual approach
The aims of the pro je c t des cribed in thi s report can be
s ummari se d as follows :
i ) to make a comparative s tudy of food habits and beliefs in
cultura l l y related urban and rural populations ;
i i ) to iden ti fy the main envi ronmental fac tors which influence ,
and may be influenced by thes e habits and be l i e fs ;
i i i ) to inves ti gate in simple terms the impl ication s o f these
habits and beli e fs for the heal th and well-being o f the
populations ;
and iv) to relate the
at the leve l of the two lo cali s ed
environments to fac to rs at the national leve l , such as
urbanisation , h ealth and education pol i ci e s .
The p ro j e c t was planned and executed as part of the Papua New Guinea
Human E cology Programme , which is concerned with the sociocu l tural and
environme ntal e ffects o f urbanisation , using Lae and i ts hinterland as
a case study .
Human e c o lo gy i s de fined in bare s t terms as the s tudy o f man
in re la tion to his environme nt .
Among i ts e s se ntial features are its
recognition of the importance of the interactions o f biological , socio
cultura l , and physic al environmental variables ;
i ts emphasi s on
relationships exis ting w ithin and between what might be termed a
hierarchy of envi ronmental levels , from the individual in his direc tly
expe rienced local environment , through regional and national environ
ment s , to the leve l of the biosphere , or global environment;
and
final ly , i ts ins i s te nce on human health and w el l -b e ing as its ul t imate
7
c oncern 1•
My approach to the s tudy of food habits therefore focus ses on
interrel ationship s be tween certain aspe cts o f human behaviour , and
be tween this behaviour and the environments in which it takes p lace
This approach is summarised in the conceptual mo de l shown in Fi gure 1 .
The b as i c as s umption i s that the food resourc e s available to a
p articular population , and the food beliefs and pre fe re nces o f that
population, form two s ets o f inte rrel ated variab le s , each s e t influenced
by the o the r , and by factors in the lo cal environment .
The lo cal
environment is itse l f in flue nced by factors in the wide r environment .
In combination ,
the food resources , and food beliefs and pre ferences
of a population largely de te rmine i ts ac tual food cons umption , al though
compe ting needs and values may intervene to prevent consump tion of the
ideally p re fe rred diet .
Food c onsumption i s one fac to r among many
influencing the total health and well-being o f the population .
'I'he
mode l exhibits the three e s se ntial features o f human ecology as I have
des c ribed i t .
The mos t important feature o f the model i ts e l f i s that
it can be used in the study o f populations in s trongly contra s ting
environments
because the
which it di spl ays are generally
The mode l i s n o t ne ce s s ari ly comp lete , i n that i t
applicabl e one s
emphasises one-way causal relationships where reciprocal inf luence s
may exi s t , and i t omi ts s ome
of nutri e nt requirements
acc ount o f the sub j ec t .
fac tors
s uch as the nature
which would be inc luded in a comprehensive
I ts use fulness lies in
a logical
struc ture for the co l lec tion , analysi s and interpretation o f da ta ,
rather than in expre s sing theore tical principles .
'I'his s tructure i s
re f lec te d i n the s truc ture o f this report, whi ch wil l b e outlined after
the survey locations have been des cribed 2
am here offe ring my own interpretation of the human eco lo gi cal approach
as it has been developed by the Human Ecology Group at the Aus tralian
National University , under the leade rship of Dr. S tephen Boyden
In
fac t , human e c ology has almo s t as many de fini tions as it has e xponents
( see B ayl i s s-Smith and Feache m, 1 9 7 7 , for a s e lec ti on of Pac i fi c s tudi e s
i n human e co logy )
2 Another c oncep tual mo de l , aimed at identi fying 11the maj or de terminants o f
nutritional s tatus and their interactions i n a s e l f- contained subs i s tence
communi ty " is de s cribed by S inne tt ( 19 7 7 , pp . 6 3- 6 4 ) ;
he s ta te s that ,
" I t i s only b y e s tab li s hing an appropriate conceptual mo de l to serve as
a bas i s for research and welfare programmes that speci ali s t expertise
can be co-·ordinated into a uni fied plan of action . 11 ( ibid., p . 85 ) .
•
N
A T I 0
N
A L
E
NV I
R 0
N
M E
N
T A L
F A C T 0 R S
,,,..----Domestic marketing
-...... ;"
/
& transport systems
Agricultural
pol ic ies
Demographic
variables
-
�
/
�
\
�
Food import/expo
mass media
--....
Land
Population
\
Transport
"
---....,../
I
.....,.\
Personal mobil ity _.,
FIGURE
1
•
A
\
_,.,,,,
,
cash economy
)
Social isation
Advertising
I
Competing
needs/values
Schools
I
& li festyle
I
Clinics
Other c onsumers
\
\
'
.......
--- - - - - -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- ---- ---- --
CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR THE ANALYSIS OF THE FOOD HABITS OF
(Arrows indic a t e d ir ection of m a i n causal r e l a t i onships)
\
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Other
__.
Education
Health policies
'
F A C T O R S
Technology
/
pol ic ies
E NVI R O N M E N T A L
Climate
pol ic ies
Conununications &
L 0 C A L
A
LOCALISED POPULATION
___
../
I
I
J
00
9
Survey loc aliti e s
The populations chosen for inve s ti gation be long to the Fore
language group of the Easte rn Highl ands .
The rural popul ation was
that of the vil lage o f Awande , five kilometre s north-we st of Okapa, in
the Eas te rn Highlands Province ( see Map 1)
•
The urban population
con s i s te d of Fore migrants living in Lae , Morobe P rovince .
s i te was chosen for three rea sons .
The rural
Fir s t , considerable research had
already bee n done amongst the Fore , mo s tly in re lation to the neuro
logica l di sease , kuru , but inc luding s ome s tudy of food habits and
nutrition ( Sorensen and Ga j dusek , 1969 ;
Reid and Ga j dusek , 1 9 6 9 ) ;
secondly , personal contact and residence in the vi llage was
conveniently arranged through the Directo r of the P NG Medical Research
I n s titute in Goroka , who was known to the population because o f his
participation in the kuru research ;
third , many Fore have found work
and settle d , semipermane ntly at leas t , in the rapidly expanding town
o f Lae , whi ch i s easily reached vi a the nearby Highl ands Highway .
Further des cription of the environments and survey populations wil l
be found i n the next c hapte r .
MAP 1.
LOCATION OF THE FORE ( SHADED AREA) IN RELATION TO
LAE AND THE HI GHLANDS HI GHWAY
scale
0
1<rns.
10
Fieldwork was carrie d out from April to Oc tober 1 9 7 7 :
April
1 7 th to Apri l 2 6 th was spent in P ort Moresby , Lae , and Gorok a , and
included
contacts with nutritionis ts and other authorities .
April 2 7th to July 2 4th was spent in Awande ;
Augus t l s t to S ep tembe r
3 0th in Lae ; and a further three week s , O c tobe r l st to Oc tober 2 ls t ,
in a return vis i t to Awande .
My wi fe was with me in the fie ld for all
but the l as t three weeks , and a s s i s te d with data collec tion a nd
analysis througho ut .
Timoti Nigia , a young man from Awande , worked
with us as a ful l- time field assi s tant in both the vil l age and the town,
and c asual a s s i s tance was also give n by a number of o ther Fore in each
place .
Mos t of the data analys i s was done at the Aus trali an National
Univers i ty in 1 9 7 8 .
With the exception o f mos t o f Chap te r 6 whi ch was
written b y my wi fe and based on her own data , thi s repor t is enti re ly
my responsib i l i ty .
Fol lowing this introduction I des c ribe , in Part I I , the survey
environments and populations , and the i r food resource s .
The rural and
urban samp le s are de s cribed separately in Chapter s 2 and 3 respec tively ,
and in Chapte r 4 comparisons are made between their food res ource s , in
rel a tion to di f fe ring environmental influence s on these in the two
loc a li ties .
Part I I I describes the food beliefs and pre fere nc e s in e ach
sample .
Men's beliefs and pre ferences are dea l t with in Chap ter 5 , and
women 's atti tudes and beliefs regarding infant feeding in Chapter 6 .
Findings from the rural and urban s amples are presented i n turn in each
chap te r , and in Chap te r 7 they are rel ated to environmental influences ;
in addition , the importance o f the relationship between the vil lage and
town population s is e mphasi se d .
Ac tual food consumption i s dis cussed in Part IV .
A b ri e f
summary o f me a l patterns and cooking techniques i s give n in Chap ter 8 ,
and i s followed by the k e y chapte r o f Part IV, des cribing die tary recall
surveys in Awande and Lae .
Chap ters 1 0 and 1 1 provide some supplement
ary data on food consumption , based respec tively on a short weighed
intake survey in Awande , and a household e xpendi ture s urvey in Lae .
In Chapte r 12 the food consumption patterns in the two populations are
c ompared and relate d to o ther factors in their environments .
11
Part V turns to the impl ications o f the observed food habits
for health and wel l-being .
Surveys of one quantitative mea sure of
nutritional statu s , namely c hild weight for age , are described in
Chapter 1 3 , and their results are related to child morbidity and
mortality patterns in the rural and urban environments .
In Chapter 1 4 ,
wider a spects of health and well-being are di scus s ed , for adults a s
well as children , i n relation not only t o the food habits described
earlier in the report , but a l so to other ecological and economic
factor s .
Chapter 15 pres ents a summary of the overall finding s , draws
some conclusions of general relevanc e , and offers some suggestions
relating to national and local nutrition pol ic y .
12
PART II
ENVIRONMENTS,
POPULATIONS AND
FOOD RESOURCES
13
CHAPTER 2
THE RURAL SAMPLE
Fore environment and soc ie ty
The Fore and kUX'u
The Fore people have been the sub j ect o f con s i de rable medical ,
genetic and anthropological res earch since the identi fication in the
mid-1 9 50 ' s of the neurologic al disease , kUX'u�
The diseas e , which i s
invariably fatal , reached epidemic proportions a t that time , and was
res tricted to the Fore and thei r c losest n eighbours .
E lucidation o f
the aetiology o f the disease took many years , b u t i t i s now known to
be cause d by a s low-acting virus , which l e ads to progre s s i ve degeneration
of the c entral nervous system.
Transmi s si on of the disease was through
the consumption of the fle s h , viscera and , e speci ally the brain , o f
deceased victims o f the dis e as e by thei r relative s .
The attitudes and
policies of mis s ions and the Adminis tration led to the dis appearance o f
cannibali sm through the 1 9 50 ' s , and s ince then deaths from kuru have
gradual ly decreased .
Because of the long incubation period of the virus ,
a few deaths are occurring even now , two decades after the last c onsump
tion o f human flesh ;
indeed , a middle-aged man died o f kuru in Awande
a few days afte r our arrival in the village .
The dis e as e was c ontrac ted
by about four times as many females as mal e s , b ecause the l atter when
adult rare ly took p art in mortuary feasts , and s ti l l more rarely did
they c onsume brain tis s ue ;
dependent chi ldre n .
it was mainly e aten by women and their
This sex differenti al l e d to s evere dis to rtions o f
the usual s ex ratio a t all age s , and thi s in turn h a d many rami fications
i n marriage patterns , sexual division of labour , and o ther aspec ts of
soci al l i fe ( S . Gl as s e , 1 96 2 ) .
Further information on the Fore region ,
Fore e thnography , and the epidemiology and aetiology of kuru can be
is a
cause the
conversion
s trong i n
Fore word which re fers to the type of s orcery thought to
disease ;
de spite widespread mis si onary activi ty and apparent
to various s ects of Chris tianity , s orcery bel i e fs are s ti l l
the area .
14
found i n the collecti on o f e s s ays edited b y Hornabrook ( 19 76 a ) .
comprehens i ve
A
has been compiled by Alpers , Gaj dusek and
Ono ( 19 75 ) .
A monograph on the subsis tence e conomy and other facets o f
s ocioecologi c a l change i n the Fore was recently publi shed by S orensen
( 19 76 ) .
Much of the background information in this s e ction i s derived
from S orensen ' s accoun t , and from papers in Hornabrook ( op . ci t . ) .
The Fore language group number some 1 6 , 000 , dwel l ing in an area
bounded roughly by the Lamari River to the E as t , and the Yani Rive r to
the Wes t , occ upying roughly 1 0 0 0 sq . kms .
the S outh , higher i n the Central
these region s being dis tingui shed
Population den s i ty is lowes t
and highe s t in the Northern region ,
dialect dif fe rences ( Sc o tt , 1 9 6 3 ) .
sea l eve l ,
mo s t
common
i s c l e ared from
old garden s i te s , fences are
domes tic pigs ,
harve s te d
late r .
c rops i s planted and
garden is finally abandoned seve ral years
the
have several gardens in us e at one time ,
Mos t households
clear
s uccession
s i te s e ach year , sometimes within already fenced but not
use d gardens .
sweet potato is the s taple crop , but
to Sorensen it h as s uc ceede d taro in this respect only in the las t
century or so .
Th ere are s ti l l large s tands of virgin rainfore s t
throughout the Fore region,
in the south .
In the mo re
dense ly populated areas tracts of kwiai 2 gras s land are a lso found , the
for 1 9 75 , total 2 49 0mm . , and 1 9 76 , total 2 2 92mm.
Rainfall in
other parts of the region is influenced by local topography .
2 some Melanes ian Pidgin words wil l be used in the text ;
they are in
i talic s , and are l i s te d in a glos s ary appended to the report (p.22 5 ) .
15
consequence
The fore s t is
o f ove r- intensive cultivation o f the tuberous s taples.
an
additional source o f food , in the form o f bird s , such
as the cas sowary and the bush turkey;
cuscus , and tree kangaroos ;
s treams ;
eel s and fish in i ts l arger r ive r s and
and a rich flora o f
edible fungi .
marsupi als , including po s sums ,
tree s , shrub s , herb s , and
I t is also a maj or source of fibre s , medicinal p lants ,
and timber for fencing , house building , i mplement making , and firewood;
the latter i s also provided by the ubiquitous Casuarina trees {yar in
Pidgin) , p l an ted on old garden si te s and in coffee gardens , where they
provide shade and their
properties contribute to soil
fertil i ty.
Coffe e was introduced to the Fore in the e arly 1 9 60 ' s
and i s
now by far the mo s t important source o f cash income to the are a .
As
in much of the highlands , cof fee-growing and road-buil ding have been
the two mos t importan t , and mutually reinforcing, factors in opening up
the region to economic development and outside i n f luenc e s o f all sorts .
Other tha n c o f fee sel ling ( and buying by a few indi vi duals ) , sources
o f income for the Fore include employment on Government o r Mis sion
s tations , s a le s o f garden foods at l ocal markets
and employment
o utside the area , in towns such as Lae and Moresby , on p l an ta ti ons , or
in Government servic e throughout the country .
In the twenty-odd years s i nce European contact , the Fore e conomy
has changed from a purely sub s i s tence one with negligible e xternal
trade rel ationship s , to a mixed s ub s i s tence, cash cropping , and wage
earning e conomy , in which even mos t of the e l de rly , and certainly
everyone of middle age and under is familiar with the us e of money and
with many o f the goods and s e rvic e s which i t c an buy.
Trades tores
sel ling foo d , clothes and hardware are found in mo s t vil lages , and
journeys throughout the area are easily made by means of coffee- trucks
and pub l i c mo to r vehicles ( P MVs) .
At the time of firs t European contact , in 1 9 4 7 , Fore
was
greatly affected by warfare , and competition for s tatus through
physi cal s trength and fighting p rowes s was a maj or preoccupation o f
males ( Berndt , 1 96 2 ) .
Sexual antagonism was reinforce d by s ep arate
res idence of men and women.
Howeve r , the Pax Aus traiiana , the influence
16
o f mis sionaries , and the relative s carcity o f women because o f kuru
a l l s erved to inc rease female status , and corre spondingly to reduce
the opp ortunitie s for male s to achieve pos i tions of great powe r ( R. M.
Glas se , 1 9 62 ) .
Conmunal men ' s hous e s are no l onger found , and husbands
usually s leep with their wives and children .
The ' Big Man ' ideology
which s ti l l prevails in Chimbu and the Wes tern Highlands seems to be
l e s s dominan t among the Fore .
A few individuals have a chieved local
prominence in recent years through entrepreneurial and pol i ti cal
activity , but they are exceptional ;
competition for pre s ti ge is not
an obvious feature of day-to-day village l i fe .
Sorensen wri te s , o f
traditional Fore soci e ty :
11 I n s tead of a formal hierarchy to govern social and pol i tical
acti vi ty , the Fore had developed a sys tem based on inter
personal compatabi l i ty and co-operation among close associate s .
S o ci a l cohe s ion was based on rapport , not princ iple . " ( op . cit . ,
p . 1 35 ) .
A patri linea l principle operate s in the formation of small
local l ineage s , and c ertain respect is accorded to the persons and
opinions of the i r s enior members ;
the conventions
but there i s grea t flexibi l i ty in
residence , marriage , and
The
brother- s i s te r bond is a strong one , and remains so afte r marriage
Marriage is commonly with a cros s -cousin , but s uch a relationship may
we l l be fictive , and according to R . M. Glas se , the
11So-called ' preference 1 i s no mo re than the expectation of
marriage aris ing in a rec iprocal relationship entai ling long
term property exchanges in both directions . " { R . M. Gla s se , 1 9 6 9 )
Those who behave to e ach other i n a reciproca l , positive manner may b e
regarded a s kin .
I have included the s e observations because they may have some
bearing on the p revai ling attitudes to rules governing food cons umption ,
in fant care and so on .
We o ften found the answers to our ques tions
about what is o r should be done i n a given circumstance inc luded the
P idgin phrase "em i foik
11
( i t 1 s up to him/her " } or i ts variants .
This imprec i sion probably res ul ts partly from the inadequacy o f Pidgin
as a medium of communication , but it may also be a function of the
relative ly easy-go in g , undogmatic s e t of beliefs and values c ommon to
the Fore
That beli e fs in the power of sorcery , nature spirits and
ances tral gho s ts ( Lindenbaum, 1 9 7 6 ) apparently co-exi s t with be l ie f s
derived from Chr i s ti ani ty , i s further evidence o f con s i de rabl e cultural
flexibili ty .
17
Th e settlement pattern o f the Fore h a s been s tabi lised since
the Adminis tration put an end to the endemic warfare and raiding which
exi s te d be fore European contact .
Mos t people l ive in compact
haml e ts , which are fenced nowadays to keep out pigs rather than enemy
warriors , and which contain up to a couple of dozen houses arranged
sometimes l ineal ly and sometimes mo re randomly .
However , those who
p refer to l i ve in smaller groups are free to do so , and hamle ts
containing one or a few households are s cattered between the larger
units .
Hamlets are l inked together by l ineage tie s , and above this
leve l into village s , whose identity has grown up under Government
influence in the form o f census - taking .
spatial boundarie s ;
Vil l ages have no obvious
Sorensen use s the term ' population clus te r s ' to
des c ribe them , while Gl asse and Lindenbaum refer to 1pari shes 1•
Location and environment ( see P late 1 )
Awande i s a village situated s ome 6 kms . north we s t o f Okapa ,
j us t to the north o f the boundary between the North and South Fore cen s us
dis tric ts , and s haring a boundary with Keiagana speaker s to the We s t ;
Awande people speak the central Fore di ale ct but mo s t unders tand s ome
Keiagana too .
I e s timate the land owned by the various Awande l ineage s
to cove r an are a o f approximate ly 40 sq . kms ;
o f this , the maj ority
consi s ts of secondary bush and currently worked gardens , but there are
s ti l l large a reas of fore s t on the hil l s ides bounding Awande to the
north and south .
The altitude varies from about 1 5 0 0m . to 2 00 0m . , with
mo s t of the hamlets towards the uppe r e nd of thi s range .
There are no
large rivers in the area , but several permanent s treams which provide
water for drinking and washing .
Awande was the s ite of the Lutheran Kuru Hospital , built in the
early 1 9 6 01s for the s tudy and treatment of kuru victims
and for the
care of young c hildren whose mo thers had die d of the diseas e .
hospital i s now
The
, and part o f the building is us ed as a small
Lutheran p rimary s chool with two c l as s e s and one teache r ;
my wife and
l okapa Hosp i tal is 6kms . away ;
docto r but 8
it h as no
orderlies and 3 nurse s provide basi c treatment and inpatient care , as
we l l a s running MCH c linic s throughout the Dis tri c t .
18
I live d i n another wing o f the b uilding during our fieldwork .
The
hospital res i dences were taken over by the Government seve ra l years
ago , and are now used by the Awande Boys ' Vocational Centre , which
currently has one Australian and one Papua New Guinean member of staff
and about
pupi l s .
There is a small Lutheran church in the
centre of the village , with a res i den t local pas to r .
An al l-weather
road goe s through Awande , linking the Dis trict Headquarters at Okapa
with the Gimi ( another language group ) to the s outh-we s t , and the
Keiagana to the north-we s t .
Thus Awande is relatively acce s s ib le , mo re so than much o f
South Fore , and has had close con tact wi th the Administration and with
Mis s ions for near ly two de cade s .
Apart from the Lutherans , nearby
Seventh Day Adven ti s t churche s have made some converts in the e as te rn ,
lower-lying hamlets o f Awande.
K2 0 0 wil l pay for a one-way PMV trip
to Kainantu, about two hours away , and KS . DO for a trip to Lae , five
hours away .
In May 1 9 .7 7 , I made a population count which gave the following
approximate figures for those currently resident
Adult males
115
Adult female s
112
Children
3 30
Total
557
I n addition , 4 7 young adult male s were abs ent , mo s tly working i n towns
or on plan tation s , 1 1 of them with Awande wive s .
abs ent at boarding s choo l s .
Five male youths were
Mos t of those abs ent were expected to
return to the village to l ive at some time in the future .
Taking
absente e s into a ccount , the total adult sex ratio was about l� 3 :1 , which
to the records of ku:rru deaths held by the I n s ti tute of Medical
Res earch , Goroka,
49 people died of the dis ease i n Awande from 1 9 5 7 to
1977 :
39 of these were female , and 10 male , the highe s t incidence being
in women o f child-bearing age Although the figure s I have given for
current population show s ome imbalance o f the adult sex ratio ( 16 5 male s
12 3 female s ) , mo s t of the imbalance i s in younger age group s , rather than
in the 40+ age group as would be expected from the age di s tribution o f
ku:rru death s . I counted 9 widowers an d 6 widows in the present population ;
furthermo re , 7 men each had two wive s . The explanation for this anomaly
may lie in an influx o f women from other areas ; there were certainly
seve ral Kei agana wive s , but I have no de tai le d data on thi s .
19
the village reduce s the manpower available for heavy tasks s uc h as
fenc ing and clearing new garden s ite s , but I n ever heard thi s s tated as
a problem o r complai n t .
I t may be that the expecta tion o f cas h and
goods from wage-earning ma le relatives o ffse ts any resentment at the
abs ence o f th ei r labo ur .
( I t is also
l ik ely that women at least
would not readi ly have voiced s uch complaints to me . )
The res i dent population was di s tributed among twenty- five
hamlets , ranging in s i ze from a s ingle househo ld ( in five haml e ts )
fi f teen household s .
to
A household usually consi s te d of a married couple
with the i r dependent c hildren ;
men sometimes s l ept alone in a nearby
hous e , but communal men ' s house s are no longer found in Awande . Average
household s i ze was 4 . 5 .
The typi ca l hous e i s round, about three metres acro s s , with
double walls of woven
(a non-edible k ind o f wil d gra s s
with
bamboo- like s tems ) be tween h eavy wooden s take s , and a roo f of kunai
gras s .
In the centre o f the f loor i s the hearth , encirc led b y stone s .
A low s l eeping p l atform o f woven
floorspace .
s ti lts
c ove rs mo s t of the remaining
A few house s in Awande were re ctangular and rai sed
in the fashion introduced by the Europeans , but s uch houses were
said to be too co ld .
The floor level of the usual house is s l i ghtly
below that of the ground, and the house s are warm, but smoky .
In addition to the normal living house s
every hamle t had at
least one mens trual hut ( haus b Zud or ZikZik haus in P idgin ) , where
mens truating women had to remain with thei r infants , and where women
gave birth.
Mos t house s had their own pit latrine nearby , concealed by
a small pitpi t and kunai she lter .
The use o f latrine s i s traditiona l ,
a consequence o f sorcery beliefs which regard bodi ly excretions a s potent
materials in working
P igs , which used to be kept in the wome n ' s house s at ni gh t , and
to have free run inside the hamle ts
s turdy fenc e around the haml et.
are nowadays usual ly excluded by a
Dog s , chickens and a few cats are kept
and pick for s craps inside and outside the hous e s .
Th e local e conomy fits into the general outline given for the
Fore
as
a whole .
S ub si s tence gardening and pig husbandry are s ti l l the
20
mainstay o f the e conomy .
.Mo s t fencing i s done b y men , and mo s t
p lanting , weeding and harves ting b y women .
Howeve r , nei ther sex shows
any shame in per forming the tasks mo s t o ften the
o ther .
of the
This f lexibil i ty extends to o ther domes tic activi tie s , such as
carrying infants , and cooking ;
dis ruptions cause d by k?A.Pu .
it may be one consequence of the
But while women are expected to go to
wo rk in the i r gardens every day , excepting ve ry we t weather , and
Sundays , whe n they may go only to collect food• for the e vening and the
next mo rnin g , men may do l it tle p roductive work for days on end , pre
ferring to p l ay cards for small cash s take s , or s i t , talk , and lie in
the s un .
Women rarely, if ever, play cards , unl ike in s ome areas o f the
Easte rn H i gh lands where the i r parti cipation , as well a s that of men , i s
held to pos e a threat to the nutrition o f young childre n , and t o vil lage
li fe in general
( PNG Post-courier , 4 July , 1 9 7 7 ) .
Co f fe e is primarily a male re sponsibil i ty , but women o f te n help
in pickin g , cleanin g , drying and s el l ing the beans .
Mos t men have at
least one coffee garden , with anything from 50 to 3 00 trees altogether .
In a sample of twenty-four men questioned as to their total earnings
from cof fee in the 1 9 7 7 season ( which was practically over when the
f igures were collected in October )
an average o f
the range was from Kl 5 to Kl3 0 , with
Mos t cof fee i s sold , at the parchment s tage , to
travelling coffee-buyer s ;
sometimes it i s sold, at
higher
price s , direct to the local cof fee-factory , an hour ' s walk away from
the centre of Awande
I ncome from wage-earning in the District was l imited to e l even
individuals at the time of our arrival :
one hospital orderly and two
council drivers , all u sually resident at Okapa ;
Department road men ;
one PMV driver ;
labourer in the Vocational S chool ;
teacher ;
and the pastor .
two Public Works
one carpenter ;
a part-time
the ful l -time storekeeper ;
the
( The storekeeper was a Finschafen man , and
the teacher was from Henganofi , an adj oining Di strict to Okapa) .
A
few hous eholds sold smal l quantities of food at the Okapa market , to
government employees .
monetary data in this report are in Kina . At the t ime of the
research , the exchange rate was approximately Kl . 00
Aust . $1 . 15 .
=
21
I have no data on the amount of c a sh which i s brought into the
village by wage-earners returning from further afield , but it must be
qu ite substantial , as are the material goods , such as radio s and sewing
machines , which they bring home as gifts or for their own use .
Cash which enter s the village is c i rculated or expended through
three main channe l s .
F irst , it may be used in ceremonial-type payment s ,
such as brideprice , or gifts to kandere (members of the mother ' s brother ' s
l ineage ) at funeral s .
Secondly , it may be reinvested in the form of
goods to be sold to other villagers through smal l , individually-owned
trade s to re s ,
or in the form of l ives tock such as cows
( there was one
cow in Awande when we were there , but two larger co-operative pro j e cts were
planned ) , pigs
and pou ltry .
These animals may later be u s ed in
ceremonial payment s , sold to other villager s , or u s ed for home consump
tion .
F inally , and mo st importantly , cash i s u s ed in the purchase o f
goods and servic e s :
mainly food , c lothing , too l s such as axes and bush
knive s , and travel .
Ma j or items include r adios and tape recorders ,
sewing machines ( themselves a form o f investment when used for sewing
c lothes for s al e to other vi llagers ) , and coffee-pulping machines . The
latter are important labour saving devices , and there were s ix in the
vi llage .
Each cost over KlOO , and was bought and owned j o intly by a
number of related households .
Through thes e three main channel s , the c ash economy include s
the whole population of the village , though partic ipation in it i s
unequal .
D i ssat i sfaction i s often expres sed by the villagers at the
lack of ' development ' , which is s een in terms of maj or pro j ec t s , suc h
a s schoo l s , water supply and busine s s e s ;
but there are insu f f i cient
skil l s , l eader ship and c ommunal initiative to reali s e these aims .
The
result is an economy where ceremonial payments tend to inf l ate , and
expenditure i s mostly on non-productive consumable good s .
Food resource s ( see Plates 2 and 3 )
Sorensen and Gaj dusek ( 19 6 9 ) give a general description of
gardening , food handling , and diet in the Fore , based on a much longer
period of f i eldwork than mine .
My own account is restricted to what I
was able to observe and record during three months in Awande , and on
statements from informants regarding c ertain seasonal food s .
22
Gardens are by far the mos t important source o f food in Awande .
They are planted in c learings in the primary forest , and on old garden sites
where secondary bush has grown up after a period of fal l ow ;
small plots are found ins ide most hamlet fenc e s .
some
Thu s a garden may be
anything from a few minutes ' to an hour ' s walk away ;
the system of
land rights l eads to fragmented holdings by any one individual who
u sually has s everal gardens in varying stages of maturity at one time .
The main garden crop s , and a few wild plant food s , are l i st ed in Table
The table includes their botanical , Eng l i sh , and local
l ( be low)
names , with brief notes on their production , occurrence and u s e
It is fetched from the g ardens
Sweet potato i s the paramount crop .
daily and is planted throughout the year , while the other main starchy
yam , taro
tubers
Chines e taro and wing bean root - are s ea sonal ;
Pandanus nuts are
bananas are spor adically available all the year .
another important seasonal re sourc e , gathered from palms planted somein garden s , and
the bush or fore st .
garden foods are sugarcane ,.
The three other
(Setaria
highland
evi
type of
in
daily .
gathered and
garden foods
available is probably greater
important introductions over the
include corn , peanut , Chinese taro , some varieties
cormnon and Chinese cabbages , and green onion s .
introduced crops ,
Chinese taro
All the s e
are grown partly for sale at the
Okapa market , but they are al so popul ar in Awande .
According to my informants , there i s no r egular seasonal
shortage of food in Awande .
Sometimes a household may go short of food
inefficient planning , prolonged illne s s
because
garden , but
a relative .
a hou sehold c an expec t help
or a pig spoi ling a
the form of food from
Older men however s ay that fighting used to interfere with
gardening
" When we were fighting with our enemies we wouldn ' t think
of our gardens , and we d go short of food . . . The women would
be afraid of men from another lain arriving and shooting them ,
and they wouldn ' t think about the gardens
they ' d j ust stay
in the village . " l
Garden work was hard�r in the days befor e steel axe s :
1 Quotations are from recorded interviews unless otherwi se stated .
23
"We would keep on cutting tree s - our bone s would be all
loos e and painful . We ' d go and s leep , tos s and turn , s leep .
Get up and get our stone axes , go back to work on the fenc e s ,
keep working , cutting down trees , and making gardens . . . Now
the young men don ' t t hink of working in t he gardens ;
t hey
sit around and play card s , t hat ' s all . We our s elves had
hard work in the gardens . "
In summary , gardens today provide a pl entiful and varied source
of food the year round .
Their creation and maintenance is the focus
of daily ac t ivity , involving constant work by t he women , and
seasonal exertions by t he men when new fenc e s and gardens are
TABLE 1
MAIN FOOD PLANTS USED AT AWANDE , WITH NOTES ON THE I R OCCURRENCE
AND USE 1 ( see footnote s at end of table )
Common name 2
Botanical name
Banana
Musa
Beans
Kidney &
lima types
Phaseo lus spp.
Arikoko
Yara
S ev eral dwarf and climbing
varieties of bean widely
planted , some avai lable
throughout year . Harvested
at mature green stage ;
cooked in bamboo tubes or
steamed in earth oven .
Leaves a l so e aten . Named
var ieties said to be
traditional , but 1 ar ikoko 1
may be derived from 'har icot
Soya bean
Glycine max
Soi ( PJ
I ntroduced ;
planted in a
few gardens .
Eaten a s
other green bean s .
Local
Note s
At least 8 named varieties,
some c ooking , some sweet .
Cooking var i eties may be
cooked in skins on f ire ,
boi led , or steamed in
earth oven , whole or
grated . Suckers planted
near hous e s and in gardens .
and Gaj du s ek ( 19 6 9 ) emphasise t he soc ial and cultural
importance o f gardening in the following , rather fulsome , terms
" During t he day , hamlets are virtually deserted as the women
and t he ir husbands , together with the unmarried gir l s and
young c hi ldren , go to the gardens where they mingl e their
soc ial , family and erotic pursuits with their garden work
in a salutary and emotionally fil led gestalt of garden life . "
24
Conunon name
Botanical name
Local name
Wing bean
Psophocarpus
tetragono Zobus
Piga
S eed s own annually by
every household . Flowers ,
leaves , green beans , and
f inally roots available in
succe s s ion .
Root s always
steamed in bunches in earth
oven, forming maj or item of
many mumu feast s .
Artocarpus sp.
Ta 'ua
Wid e spread on old garden
s ites , self-sown. Only
young leaves eaten , e spec
ially with pig .
Fru it s
and s eed s inedible .
(Asbin)
Breadfruit ,
wild
(Kapiak)
Note s
Cabbag e ,
conunon
Brassica
o Zeraaea
Cabbage ,
Chines e
B. sinensis
cassava
Mani hot
uti Zissima
Tapiok ( P )
I ntroduced ;
widely grown ,
but in smal l numbers . Boiled ,
cooked in fire , grated and
cooked in bamboo tube , or
Not highly prized , but use
ful stand-by in times of
shortage.
Chinese
taro
Xanthosoma
sagittifo Zium
Taro
kongkong ( P )
Introduced ; widely grown ,
but in smaller numbers than
taro tru. Smal l auxiliary
corms eaten boiled and
steamed , main corm thrown
away .
corn
Zea mays
Patari
Probably introduced 2 or 3
generations ago.
Popular
s easonal crop ;
harvested
at inunature stage ; cooked on
ember s , boiled in saucepan ,
or steamed in earth oven .
Not stored , except for seed .
cucumber
Cuaumis spp .
Kimi
Several var ietie s , sown in
new garden s ; seasonal . Thirst
quenching , eaten raw only .
(Taro
kongkong)
)
)
) Kebis ( P )
)
)
I ntroduced ;
grown for sale
at market , and for home
consumption . Propagated from
D . P . I . seed s , or replanted
bas e of stem . Boiled in
saucepan , or steamed whole
in earth oven .
25
common name
Botanical name
Local name
Fungi
Many spp .
Ugwa
Many named types gathered
in bush and f ore st , with
various rec ogni s ed cooking
and e ating qualitie s ; some
e specially popular with
children . May be cooked on
f ire , or in bamboo tube
with kwnu .
Zingiber sp.
Kai
Popular condiment , roots
and stem s eaten raw and
c ooked .
So Zanwn
tuberoswn
Katope
I ntroduced ;
grown by a
few individual s , mainly for
sale . Tubers small by
European standard s . Eaten
boi l ed , cooked in ashes , or
(Masrwn)
Ginger
(Kawawar)
Irish potato
( from
german
' Katopen )
1
Leafy green s
(Kwnu)
inc l .
sp .
inc l .
EiJi ' a
Ne ' ne '
Aibika ( P )
Avi ' eni
'nu
Naine
Tarisarewa
Osagi 'a etc .
Not e s
Numerous types of leafy
greens cultivated and wild .
Evi 'a mos t popular , eaten
almost daily , u sually cooked
in bamboo tube , often with
pitpit hearts ; propagated
by stem cuttings . Other
types propagated veg etat
ively , or by s eed . S everal
wild herbs and f erns used ,
e specially steamed with
tubers in earth oven . Some
tree l eave s and shoots a l so
u s ed .
Onions ,
green
A l liwn spp .
Anian ( P )
At least 4 introduced
var ietie s , widely grown for
sale and home c on sumption ,
u sually boiled . Propagated
by r eplanting base of stem .
Pandanus , nut
Pandanus sp .
Ina
Kabu ' ina
Pai ' iani
Wild and cultivated varieties .
Latter planted in individually
owned grove s , u sual ly near
streams in forest or bush .
S ea sonal . Nuts smoked and
cooked in f ir e , consumed in
large number s very popular .
Fleshy insid e of fruit also
boiled and eaten
(Karuka)
26
Common name
Botanical name
Local name
Pandanu s , red
Pandanus
conoideus
Mana
Pea
Piswn sativwn
Raunpe Za
bin ( P )
Peanut
Arachis
hypogaea
Pinat { P )
I ntroduced ; apparently grown
l e s s now t han a few years
ago . At pre s ent only planted
in hamlet at lower altitude .
Grown for sale at market ;
al so very popul ar among
c hi ldren ;
raw , boiled or
fried .
Pineapple
Ananas
comusas
Painapu ( P }
Introduced;
a_
near hou s e s in most hamlet s .
Sold in market , or eaten in
hct weather .
Pitpit_,
Setaria
paZmaefo lia
Pari
Over 12 named varietie s ;
mo st c ommon cul tivated plant
after sweet potato , avail
able t hroughout year . Heart
of stem cooked with kumu in
bamboo tubes ; or , still with
outer leaves , steamed in
earth oven ; more rarely
cooked on f ire . Important
item at nearly all mumu
feast s .
Pumpkin
Cucurbi ta spp.
Igi
Traditional varieties long ,
and hig h in moisture ;
introduced varieties round
and more dense Wild pumpkin
vines found in forest .
All
cooked on embers , boiled ,
or steamed in earth oven .
Tend to be fed to c hildren
at mumu .
(Marita)
highland 4
Not e s
Grows most ly at lower
altitud e s ; otherwis e
obtained from S . Fore and
Gimi area s . S e a sonal .
Drupes broken up and cooked
in bamboo tube ( tr adition
ally} or boiled in sauce
pan (more common now) .
Red oil sucked off seed s ,
or may be used to gris
vegetable s . Traditiona l ly ,
men ate it in sec lusion
from women , but not now .
I ntrodu c ed , not widespread .
Eaten green , a s bean s .
27
Common name
Botanical name
Local name
Sugarcane
Saecharum
officinarum
Yabu
Many named var ieties
varying in colour size ,
taste and sweetnes s ; grown
in gardens and near house s .
Propagated from tops of cut
stems ; grow to 1 2 ft . or more ,
tied to stake s , mainly men ' s
r esponsibility . Chewed as
snacks throughout day , and
with meal s .
Sweet potato
Ipomea batatas
Isa 'a
Ove� twenty named varieties ,
varying in leaf shape , tuber
skin colour , f le s h colour
and texture ; c orresponding
variety in cooking and eat
ing qual ities . Universally
planted ; most important
garden crop , available
throughout year . Propagated
from v ine cutting s Baked in
ashes boiled in saucepan
and steamed in earth oven .
Leaves sometimes eaten .
(Kaukau)
Taro
(Taro tru)
Yam
S everal varieties Universally
planted , in separate smal l
plots , o ften near home s .
S e asonal . Cooked in a she s ,
boiled in saucepan ( often
or steamed
with sweet potato )
in earth oven . Propagated from
top of old corm .
CoZocasia
escu Zenta
Dioscorea spp .
Notes
Ago
Asage 'a
Many varieti e s ; universally
planted , usual ly within sweet
potato garden s . S easonal .
Propagated from o ld tuber s ,
o r vine s .
Cooked as sweet
potato . Asage 'a d iffers from
others in longer growing
per iod , much larger size ,
and denser textur e .
Awande ;
area
in particular , it omits some wild fruits , berr i e s and nuts , whose occasional
consumption i s probably not of nutritional s igni fic anc e . Re id ( 1958 )
in
addition to the c ommon food crops list s over 250 d i etary items , mo stly herbs ,
were traditionally used by the Fore .
in parentheses are Melanesian P idgin .
Fore name s , unl e s s ind icated as P idgin
, Monash Univer s it y .
from Dr . Graham Scott , Dept . of
some low-l ying areas of South Fore , the lowland pitpit3 Saecharum eduZe
(Igu in Fore ) is cultivated . The inflorescence is cooked on the f ir e and the
outer sheaths removed before eating . This food is known to some , but not all ,
Awande inhabitants .
28
A variety of leave s , shoots , nuts , berr i e s and fungi are
gathered in the forest and s econdary bush , mostly by women and children .
Some are included in Table 1 .
O ften the collect ions are made on trips
to and from gardens , but spe c ial trips are made for some purposes , as
in the gathering of par ticularly valued f erns to accompany the tuber s
cooked at a mumu , or of breadfruit leave s to eat with p ig .
Animal foods found in bush and for e st include possum , cuscu s ,
flying fox , and rats of various kinds . The l arger type s are hunted ,
mostly on moonlit n ight s , with bow and arrow , whi l e small anima l s may
be caught by hand , or in traps .
are now rare ;
Cassowaries , though sometime s seen ,
if a young one were to be caught , it would be reared in
a pen in the hamlet , and kil led when mature .
Small birds are shot at
whenever they are s een , and hunting for them in smal l parties is a
popular if unproductive pastime for men and boy s .
A few bush turkey
nests are found annual ly , and the individual who f inds one will
repeatedly steal the eggs as they are laid ;
market for 3 0t . each .
they c an be sold at the
Insects are another item caught in the bush ,
e spec ially by children , who may e ither c ook and eat them at onc e or
take them back to the hamlet .
Particular ly apprec iated is a large type
of beetle larva , found in rotting tree trunks .
Wild foods do not contribute in large quantity to the diet ,
except for the semi-domesticated pandanus nut , in its season , but they
provide a c on stant source of variety , and irregular but s ignificant
contributions of animal protein .
As an old man put it :
" In the bush , there ' s not true f ood , but there ' s plenty of
abus , l ike possum , cassowary , wild c hickens , insects in
tree s .
There ' s kumu too in the bush - we get that and eat
it . "
The recreational value of the forest i s
as its role a s .a food r esourc e .
pleasure .
perhaps a s s ignificant
Hunting is undoubtedly engaged in for
A 1 6- year-old boy d e scribed one Sunday as follows :
"When I 1 d e aten , I got a towel and soap , went down to the
stream and washed . I cam e and got dre s s ed , and went down
to church . After church , I went up to the hou se , changed
my c l othe s , got my bow , and came on top .
A man said , "Let ' s
We hunted rats in thi s bush , down below .
go and hunt rats " .
W e lay i n wait , holding our bows , we waited for the rats to
come by .
We lay in wai t , and the g ir l s chased the rats as
we wai ted . We killed two , two rat s . We kept on hunting for
more , but there weren ' t any , we gave up .
I left the others ,
came back to the house , c ooked food , and went to sleep . We
gave the rats to the husband o f this woman here .
•
29
Hunting was always de scribed to m e as a n enj oyable pur suit ;
likewise , the d i scovery of a treetrunk covered in an edible fungu s ,
of a wild pumpkin , or of a c lump of spec ial ferns was always greeted
with del ight ( P late 3 . 3 ) .
Every household in Awande , excepting one or two S eventh Day
Adventi st one s , owned pigs .
A pig count in May 1 9 7 7 gave a f igure of
4 7 2 pigs , an average of nearly four pig s per household .
for by both men or
women .
P igs are c ared
They may be owned by individual men and
women , or j ointly by a married couple , depending on the or igin of the
pig .
They are fed r egularly twice a day , and at mu.mu feasts , on
inferior sweet potatoes and scraps .
they c an in the bush .
shelter s .
Most
The r e st of the t ime they f ind what
are penned at night , sleep ing in smal l
They may al so b e penned for a peri od before slaughtering i f
they a r e being fattened for a special occasion .
P ig husbandry is not based on maximising biological productiv ity ,
but is c losely related to the complex system of gift exchange and
ceremonial payments .
Thus , two halves o f pig c an b e bought for K 3 2 . 00
from the Okapa freezer , while a vil lage p ig of equivalent whole carcase
size might be valued for exchange purpo ses at K2 0 0
or so 1 •
When pigs break into a garden , it is usually held to be the
fault of the pig ' s owner , for not f eeding it properly .
I f there i s
disagreement , the matter may b e settled b y the vil l ag e c our t , a s
happened in thi s unusual case :
A man found a large pig had broken into his o ld , but still
yielding , sweet potato garden .
He shot and wounded the
pig , and he and the pig ' s owner went to court . The pig ' s
owner argued that the garden fence was old , and that his
pig had been spec ially put aside for the forthcoming singsing.
The man who shot the pig was f ined KlO , and had to return
the p ig to its owner .
He then killed it , butchered it and
cooked it in an earth oven , and sold it piece by piece to
other villager s , for a total of Kl06 .
He gave K8 to the
man who shot the pig .
1 I n S al i sbury ' s terms { Salisbury , 1 9 6 2 ) , the vil l age p ig would be c las s ed
as a " valuable " , but the freezer pig would be a " luxury " ;
the latter
would rarely be use d in ceremonial payment s .
30
The actual consumption o f pig w i l l be discu s s ed i n more detail in
Chapter 8 .
Chickens were found in nearly all haml et s , e spec ially s ince
the start of a chicken proj ec t at the Vocational Schoo l .
This pro j ec t
buys one -day-old cockere l s , and s e l l s them a t 2 or 3 weeks o l d , for
50 toea each , to villagers . There is a heavy loss from hawk s , dogs , and
other caus e s , and thi s , combined with the l ack of quality feed make s
chicken-re aring a highly ine f f i c ient proces s . There were also some hens
in a few hamlets , but their eggs were either never found , or were left
to hatch.
Chickens are rarely eaten until s everal years old .
One S eventh Day Adventi st had a number o f ducks , bought as
duckl ings from Lae ;
thes e were intended to be sold eventual ly , but
probably many wil l die before then .
Another man had a cow , which
ranged freely and was not milked , and was greatly feared by the vil l agers
whenever it appeared .
I t s owner will slaughter it on a su itable
occasion :
"When the t ime comes when I want to kill it , my brothers
s ister s , c hi ldren we 1 1 get together , get some kumu , heat
some stone s , and everyone c an c ome . We ' ll cook it in the
mumu we ' ll take it out , cut it up , and g ive it to all my
fr iends
or someone who ' s given me c ow to eat befor e , I 1 1
p a y him back
it ' s u p to m e I c an giv e it to whom I l ike .
Wantoks fri end s , s i ster s . . . if I don ' t g ive it to them ,
they ' ll be angry with me :
they won ' t give me any food . .
i t ' s the same with killing pig . 11
Two groups of kin within the village were e ach planning co
operative cattle pro j ects , for which they will s eek help from the
Department of Primary I ndustry .
However , l ive stock husbandry in Awande
i s , as I have d escribed , poorl y developed in terms o f
management and production .
of
The potential and apparently the d e s ire ,
for improvement is great , but is l ikely to be real i s ed only s lowly ,
and with many disappoint.�ent s and s etbacks along the way .
The market at Okapa was held twice weekly , from about 6 . 3 0 to
8 . 3 0am on Wedne sdays and S aturdays .
There was a smal ler market at
Ke ' afu , a Kei agana village some 2 kms . from the c entre of Awand e ;
and
larger ones were held weekly at Tarabo and Anumpa , both about 1 5 km s .
d istan t . .
S ome families sold food r egularly at Okapa , but the other
markets were not o ften v i s ited becau s e of the l ac k of convenient
transport .
31
People from Awande rarely go to a market i n order t o buy food .
Sometime s , after making a sale , they may buy something , such as a
cabbage , some peanut s , or another item they do not grow for themselves ,
but usuall y the money will be spent on store food s , or saved for l ater
use .
Thus , markets provide a potential food r e source for Awande which
rarely needs to be u sed .
Awande is the s ite of a relatively large trade stor e , run by a
The
private company which has branches throughout Papua New Guinea .
Awande store has no freezer , but has a range of tinned and dri ed foods :
rice , t inned meat and f i sh , dried milk , sugar , sal t , dripping , biscuits ,
tinned c ake , aerated drinks , tea , coffee , m i lo , chee s epops 1 , and chewing
gum .
Other trade stores in Awande inc lude a small one run by the
Vocat ional School , and { in July 1 97 7 )
six
four of them situated on the road s id e and
hamlets .
store .
individually-owned kentin ,
two
others in l e s s acces s ible
All the s e stor e s c arried a smaller range of goods than the main
Stor e pr ice s and sales are d escribed in more detail in Appendix A .
There is a store in Okapa with a freezer , from which frozen
brisket , and sometimes c hicken and halve s o f pig c an be obtained .
In
Kainantu , frozen mutton and various cuts of beef and pork are u sually
availabl e , and may be bought for spec ial occasions .
Still further away
is the cattle ranch at Dumpu in the Markham Valley , where a whole fresh
cow c an be bought for about K3 0 0 , and its c arcase brought back to the
village by truc k .
With the coming of the Australians i n the mid-1 94 0 ' s , the Fore
entered a period of rapid social , cultural and economic change which
continues to the pre sent day .
The kuru epidemic , which at its height
seemed to threaten the very survival of the cultur e , is now in its last
phase , but its demographic and social effects are
fel t .
The
c e s sation of warfare , the introduction of coffee as a cash-crop , and
1 Throughout this report , I use " chees epops " to include all brand s o f
chee se-flavoured , plast i c -packed snacks .
32
the departure o f young men for wage-earning j obs i n other parts o f the
country have radically altered the traditional way of l if e .
S ub s istence gardening still c onstitutes by f ar the most important
source of food , with sweet potato the dominant crop , complemented by a
wide range of other vegetables .
throughout the year .
Garden food suppl ies are abundant
Animal protein is available in the form of
domesticated pigs , chickens and a few cattle but e ff ic i ency o f produc
tion is very low .
Food from the bush and forest is of minor and
probably dec l ining s igni ficance in nutritional term s , as more land i s
continuou sly being c leared f o r gardening and cash-cropping .
Production
of coffee and vegetable s for cash sale does not yet appear to threaten
subsi stence food suppl ies , through d iversion of labour or land , but
might do so in the future as population expand s , or if many more young
men leave the villag e s to seek work elsewher e .
Tradestore foods are
readily ava i l able throughout the r eg ion , but cash income is g enerally
too low to a llow hou seholds to replace a l arge proportion of their
traditional diet with purchased foods .
Some of the main environmental
fac tors influenc ing food r e source s in the rural area wil l be considered
further in Chapter 4 , after the Fore population in Lae has been described .
33
CHAPTER 3
THE URBAN SAMPLE
Lae : the s etting
Location and environment
Lae is Papua New Guinea ' s second largest urban c entre , and its
foremost indu strial town .
In October 1 97 7 , its population was e st imated
at 4 5 , 10 0 , of whom 4 , 10 0 were non-c itizen s ;
the annual growth rate of
the c itiz en population from 1 9 7 1 to 1977 was approximately 5 . 0% ( Bureau
of S tati stic s , 1 9 7 8 a ) .
These f igure s for popul ation and growth rate
were both much lower than had been predicted from ear l ier f igure s ( see
Conroy , 1 9 77 ) , suggesting that the rate of in-migration has slowed down ,
though the total number of migrants in the town must still be high .
A
l arge proportion of the migrant populat ion is housed in self -help
s ettlements on the fringes of the town .
S ituated on the Huon Gul f at the mouth of the Markham River , Lae
ha s a hot and humid c limate with l ittle seasonal variat ion . Mean
0
°
monthly temperature s vary from 2 4 . B c to 2 7 . 4 c , with an overall mean
°
°
of 2 6 . 3 c , and a diurnal range of about 5 . 5 c . Annual rainfall average s
4 5 6cm . , with a peak i n July and August .
Relative humidity is u sually
around 8 0 % 1 •
Most res idential and commerc ial development in Lae is on level
terrain between the Markham and Bumbu River s , out along the Markham Road
to the north-west , and to the north of the Bumbu , toward s T araka { see
Map 2 ) .
There i s an extensive self-help settlement on the lower slope s
of the Atzera Range which lies to the north-west of the town , but the
danger of eros ion due to heavy rainfall and intens ive c le aring of the
for e st cover for gardens and firewood makes the higher s lopes of the
range unsuitable for permanent settlement .
By f ir st contacting the six Awande men then l iv ing in Lae , and
1 nata from long-term records of Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology ,
1 97 0 .
34
MAP 2 .
LAE , SHOWING MAIN ROADS , S ETTLEMENTS , AND PERMANENT CLI N I C
A N D MARKET S I TES MENTIONED IN TEXT
Approx .
scal e
:===--lli==:::::m--=:11-lilll!IJ kl'I.
C:
KEY
MCH
permanent Maternal
and c h i ld health
c l in i c s i t e
Mkt.
- permanent market
site
University o f
Technology
BUMBU e t c .
- settlements
mentioned i n text
--
Atzera Range
BALOB
MCH
Mkt .
BUMBU
Hu on
Gu l f
35
thereafter u s ing the wantok system to build up further contacts , I was
able to f ind over fifty households with Fore head s in Lae .
These
' households' varied in size from s ingl e male employ ee s ' quarter s , to
self-help dwelling s where three or four married couples and several
s ingle re lative s shared their meal s together .
Exc luding tran si ent
vi s itors , the population was made up as follows :
Adul t male s , Fore
80
Adul t females , Fore
32
Adul t f emales , other highland groups
12
Adult females , Markham D i strict
13
Children
87
TOTAL
224
The·re were o ther Fore households in Lae which I fai led to
contac t , but j udging from my informants ' comments , they were few in
number .
The people I c ontacted c ame from all over the Fore are a , from
Paiti in the far south , to Kagu in the north .
Most o f the adult men
had been in Lae for l e s s than ten years ( with a median of s ix year s ) ,
and most of the adult women for less than f ive ( with a median of three
year s ) .
All the adult women were married , mo st of them a f ew year s
after their husbands had f ir st migrated t o the town .
Most of the
children were born in Lae , and nearly all were under ten year s old .
The sample population was distributed throughout the town ,
including the fol lowing settlements :
Boundary Road , T wo -mile ( in
Haikos t } , Taraka , Bumbu , Balo b , and Po Zis baret 1 ;
some people were
living in hostel acc ommodation , and other s in quarters provided by
their employe r s in the c entral area of town .
Di ffer ent sub - sample s of the total were u sed in studies of
food bel i e f s and preferences , food consumption and child weights for ·age ;
further details o f the compo s it ion of the s e populations wil l be found
in the relevant sections .
name g iven by its inhabitants to the settlement near the Police
Barracks ; presumabl y it i s a mistaken P idgin r endering of the l atter .
36
Housing c ond i tions ( see Plate 6 )
Forty-one o f the households contacted were l iving i n self
help settlements , in dwe l l ings either erected by themselve s , or
purchased from earlier migrant s .
Thes e houses were c onstructed mostly
o f scrap materials such as t imber , corrugated iron and a sbe stos
sheeting , and were raised on posts above the often muddy ground .
Generally they provided adequate shelter from the rain ;
often with
one family per room , they we re c rowded by European urban standards ,
but no more so than the usual village house .
Cooking in the s e self
help dwe llings was usually done in small shelters adj oining the house ,
on an open f ire or , more rarely , on kerosene stoves .
F irewood could
usually be obtained free , or at low cost , from various source s of scrap
in the town , but it is not plenti ful .
Water suppli e s have been put
into most of the settlements by the local authority , which charges a
small annual fee ( e . g . K6 per plot in the Two-mile settlement ) for
this and other s ervice s such as road maintenance .
The water supply usually
consisted of one tap in the yard , or a corm:nunal tank shared by a number
of dwe l l ing s .
Some people had erected tin drums as rainwater tanks .
Pit latrines were constructed in most house plots , but the high rainfall
and r esulting heavy soils make them l e s s satisfac tory than their villag e
equivalents .
Only four households occupied Hous ing Cormniss ion dwe l l ing s ,
rented for between K7 and Kl O per fortnight .
Thes e house s are generally
better than s e l f-built home s , with r egard to strength and durability of
materia l s , internal division into rooms , and outs id e toi let and washing
facilities .
Elec tric ity is provided , and used mostly for l ighting .
The other hou s eholds lived in a variety of hostel and employee
accommodation , often o f a poor standard .
As an example , one young
married couple occupied a s ingle room approximately 2m . by 2m . in a
block of such units ;
one electr ic l ight was provided , and the c ouple
used their own primus stove .
dozen household s .
Water was from a tap shared by s everal
For thi s accorm:nodation the husband , a barman in one
of the bigge st and plushest hotel s in Lae , was charged K4 per fortnight .
The great maj ority of Fore men in Lae are in ful l -time employment .
For those from whom I obtained detail s , the breakdown by type of employ
ment was as f ollows :
37
Hotel and restaurant workers
17
Factory hands
17
Drivers , mechanics
8
Retai l store assistant s
5
Road and wharf labourers
3
��r
9
Unemployed
11
TOTAL
70
The concentration o f employed men in hotel s and restaurants,
and in a small number of factorie s , is probably a r e sult of new
arrivals s eeking j obs through an already e stablished wantok .
The
unemployed Fore in Lae , I believe , mostly f al l into the c ategory which
Ros s Garnaut ( 19 7 2 ) c a l l s " the hopeful . . . who prefer continued urban
life without a j ob , and antic ipating that formal employment would become
availabl e , to returning to village l i fe " .
Most of them are young , and
financially dependent on the older male relatives with whom they live
in Lae .
Thos e wishing to return to their vill ag e would have no
diff iculty in borrowing the K5-Kl0 necessary for the one-way j ourney .
I found no Fore in ' white collar ' j obs ;
only a f ew of thos e
contacted had any secondary s chooling , and Form 2 was t h e highest
educational level reached .
Gros s wage s for ful l-time j obs were
typic ally between K5 0 and K6 0 per fortnight , with a tax of K 3 or l e s s 1 •
A taxi driver and a Highlands H ighway truck driver each earned over
Kl OO per fortnight .
Two women in the sample were employed , both as
part-time dome stic s in expatriate homes , for wages of K3 2 and K 2 0 per
fortnight .
A few household s supplemented their income by s e l ling garden
produce at the market , but the proceed s would not have reached KlO per
week .
In Chapter 11 I de scribe a smal l household expenditure survey
which provide s detailed information on how money is spent .
For the
time being , it is suf f ic i ent to note that all the households I contacted
had a relat ively s ecure c ash income through at least one full -t ime male
hrhe m inimum urban wage rate at the t ime was K56 . 16 per fortnight . for
adul t general labourers and K42 . 7 2 for unmarried j uniors .
38
wage-earner .
The e conomy i s basically a cash economy , supplemented by
some gardening for home c onsumption (discussed in the s ec tion of food
resourc e s , below) .
In addition to their r elatively long-term unemployed wantok ,
usually young men who are a s happy to look around a s t o look for a j ob ,
many households are vi s ited
frequently by other v i llage relat ive s ,
including parents and unmarried s i sters .
Many families make return
vi sits to the village during the husband ' s annual leave , and on spec ial
occasions such as funeral s ;
trips are practicabl e .
for people from North Fore , even weekend
These two-way visits maintain social and
emotional l inks between the urban migrants and their home v i l l ages .
Gifts are also exchanged at such time s , the town-dwe l lers g iving c lothes
and other store goods , and coastal products such as coconuts and betel
nut s , and r ec e iving in return valued village foods such as sugarcane
and sweet potato .
Thus the town and villag e hou sehold economies are
c losely interrelated , as I have already pointed out in the c a s e of Awande .
I did not attempt to study Fore soc ial l if e in Lae , and the
I now make are
comments
t ion .
on c asual observation and conversathe opportunities for soc ial
In
other Fore
interact ions
more l imited in number
variety , e spec i ally for women .
enclaves
frequency and
r e s idential pattern of concentrated
Fore scattered among
various settlements means that
contact s with other Fore are mo stly made within the household
with people in a few nearby houses , or , for the men , with colleagues
at work .
women
During the week it is common for unemployed men and childless
to visit wantok in other parts of Lae ;
at the weekend there are
often gathering s of people from the same vi llage of orig in at the house
of one of them .
On weekday s , there is l ittle movement outs id e the
settlements after dark ;
at weekends
recreational activities inc lude
watching sports but rarely participating in them , going to the c inema ,
playing c ards
occasionally beer-drinking , and simply ' go ing around '
town with family and friend s :
by , and visiting snack bar s .
s itting , talking , watching the world go
Contacts with non-Fore seem t o b e minimal
1 1 going around ' is my translat ion of the P idgin verb 'raun ' ; Marilyn
Strathern ( 1 9 7 5 ) translates it even more directly as " to 1 round 1 11 , and
explains it as follows :
" to wander ' around ' , to go astray , to travel
with no other purpos e than to s ightsee . "
.
39
except a t work and , a s i s qu ite common , when relationships with
famil i e s in the Lae area have been establi shed through
( see Plate 7 )
Migrant s in Lae who wish to produce food from their own gardens
face four sets o f problems .
F irst , available land i s in short supply
Only near Taraka and the Hai kos t s ettlements
in most settlement area s .
is there plenty of g arden l and .
On the lower s lopes of the Atz era
Range above the Boundary Road settlements the l and i s subj ect to s evere
eros ion , mainly because of haphazard and over- intensive tree-fell ing
and cultivation , which is extending ever further into the bush .
most areas inside the town ,
In
l and is owned and u sed by the
orig inal inhabitants of the villages around which Lae was e stablished ,
and is rar el y ava ilable to m igrant settl er s .
S econd , because of the informal system of land u s e by settler s
from differ ent background s , who have l ittle if any communal ties with
each other , gardens are not secure from theft and d amag e .
contrast to the v illage
This is in
where numerous sanct ions and customary ru les
operate to protect people s gardens from interference by o ther s .
Third , unfamiliarity with the soil , c limate , and c rops of the
coa stal r eg ion makes gardening more d i fficult for the h ighland migrant s .
Frequently they complain about the e f f ects of the heat , the softnes s
of the s o i l ( c au sed b y heavy rain i n poorly-drained f lat ground ) , and
the prevalence of insec t pests .
F inally , women are l ikely to feel par t icularly insecure in the
town , with their men away at work for most of the day , and their o lder
relat ives still in the village .
They are therefore not keen to walk
long d istanc e s to gardens in unfamiliar bush , where dangers may exi st
in the form of both human stranger s , and unfr iendly local 1 spir its 1 or
l compare Lucas ( 1 9 7 2 ) , writing about Lae in 1 97 1 :
" For most of the
indigenous population of the town , soc ial hor izons are l ikely to be
bounded by the settlement in which they l ive , and more spec ific ally
They wil l probably extend to 11wantoks 11 in
by their own 11wantoks11
other settlements around the town and will almost c ertainly include
kinsmen from the home area who v isit them from time to time " .
•
•
•
40
' devil s .• .
De spite these problems , nineteen households in my sample d id
have gardens in the bush , mos tly near the Taraka and Boundary Road
sett l ement s .
Al so , twenty-three households had small gardens in sid e ,
or adj acent to their house plots .
The most commonly grown crops , in
decreasing order of occurrenc e , were banana (mo stly cooking types ) ,
sugarcane , tar o , sweet potato , green leav e s of severa l kind s , pre
dominantly aibika , and c as sava .
Less common c rops included yard-long
bean s , yam , pawpaw , lowland and highland pitpit , pineapple , pumpkin ,
peanut, c o conut, and corn .
Onl y at Taraka , where many Chimbu migrants
make a reasonable living out o f growing garden produce for sale at the
marke ts , were gardens spoken o f with much pride or enthusiasm .
On the
whole , my imp re s sion was that gardening provided a usefu l supplementary
source of fresh vegetable food s , but could not be depended on as a
s teady or sufficient source o f s taple s .
The rapid decline in s oi l fer tility , expressed in P idgin as
the los s o f gris , which i s bound to accompany the present gardening
technique s in Lae , was a widely recogn ised problem .
Susta inable gardens
wil l only be made pos sible through compos ting and o ther fert i l i s ing
techniques , combined with a systematic patte rn of l an d management and
crop rotation , and the e stablishment of secure l and tenure .
of experimental compo s ting an d gardening pro j e ct s has
A series
recentl y been
s tarted by the Lae City Counc i l in con j un ction with the Department o f
Primary Indu s try, the Morobe Province Re search Centre , and local
settlement l e ader s 1 .
The hope i s that the s e experimental pro j ec ts will
eventually lead to inc reased and more s table garden production in L ae ' s
settlement are a s .
For mo s t o f the Fore in Lae , the surrounding bush is insign i fi
c ant as a food resourc e .
One man who contracted to c lear bush under
e le c tric power l ines told me he had caught and e aten a mumu t , o r
bandicoot , as wel l as picking leaves o f wil d tulip , but thi s was
l Thi s work is a lso p art of the PNG Human Eco logy P rogramme .
41
Some time s people will pick fruit from wild breadfrui t
exceptional .
tree s , and from unowned coconut palms and pawpaw tre e s in the town .
Fishing i s another source
1 wil d 1 food .
I t tends to be a
weekend a c tivity , and may cons ti tute a family outing .
I have no data
on its frequency , and only two or three people mentioned i t .
A hook
and line can be used in the Bumbu Rive r , and in the permanent pool
wh i ch lie s to the north o f the airs trip .
Small she ll f i sh and prawns
can be gathered at c ertain s i te s on the s eashore , but no one to ld me
they did thi s , nor did any Fore fish from boats .
Domesticate d animals
Pigs cannot be kept within the town boundar ie s ;
a few men who
had married Morobe women c laimed part-ownership o f pigs in thei r wive s '
vil lage s .
Chicken s were k ep t by seven househo ld s , only one o f which
col lecte d eggs regularly .
Properly husbande d , poultry might prove a
valuable food re source in the urban environment , but at pre sen t , as in
Awande , chickens are left to fend for themselve s , and los se s through
predators and theft are heavy .
The two main marke ts in Lae are the C ity Coun c i l market near
the centre of town , and the Butibam market , near the Bumbu se ttlement .
Both a re open 5 � days a week , and s e ll a wide range o f fre sh frui t ,
vegetable s , and fi sh .
The council marke t attracts se l lers from all
over the P ro vince , and even some from the h ighlands 1 ;
and fi sh s ta ll s , and snack b ars .
Kurnkum , Ch inatown and Two-mi le ;
it also has mea t
There are small e r marke ts at Taraka ,
they attract local s e llers , o f fe r ing
a smaller range of frui t , vege tabl e s , coconuts , and bete l .
Mo s t o f the accustomed Fore foods can b e found at the main
marke t , with the no table e xceptions of the green l ea fy vegetable , e vi
and highland pit;pi t , which is rare ly available .
see in Chap ter 5 ,
Howeve r , a s we shall
the qual i ty and price s o f the se foods are no t always
swe e t potato hinterland extends as far as Bulolo , 7 0kms . to the
south-wes t , and Kiapit , l lOkms. up the H ighlands H ighway ( McKay and
Smith , 1 9 74 )
•
42
acceptable .
In addition to the fami li ar foods , there are many more
varieties of banana and yam , and there is sago ;
coastal fruits include
pawpaw , guavas , avocadoe s , watermelons , seve ral type s of c i trus , and
mangoe s ;
vege tables incl ude the yard-long bean , aipika , pumpkin and
choko l eave s and shoots , tulip , and European introductions such as
Chine se and common c abbage s , tomatoes , c ap s icums , aubergine s , c orn . and
l ettuce s .
green
Coconuts are s old when mature
( ku Zau in pidgin} .
( drai in P i dgin) o r when s til l
Other nuts inc lude peanuts grown in the
Markham Val l e y , and , in se ason , gaZip and pandanus .
inc lude hen and bush turkey e ggs ;
uncooked prawns ;
turtle ;
Animal products
l ive crabs and l i zard s ;
fre sh and smoked f i sh of many kinds ;
live chickens ;
cooked and
an o cca s ional
and cooked and raw pork and bee f .
Many Fore households use the main market only once o r twice a
fortn ight , c o inciding with payday .
In Taraka , the local market is used
more frequently , both by women , and by men on the i r way home from work .
The Lae market s , whi l e perhaps not as well-provided as Rabaul ' s , are
bette r than those of Port More sby ;
thanks to Lae ' s productive hinter
land there i s no serious shortage of fre sh vegetable s and fruits at any
time of the year , and the price s are we ll wi thin the mean s of employed
town-dwellers .
More information on pri ce s at the marke t , and expenditure
on market items , wi l l be found in Appendix B and Chapter 1 1 re spec tive l y .
S to re s
Th e reta i l food outle ts i n Lae can be divided into four categories :
supermarke ts , medium-s i ze s tore s , small tradestore s , . and snack bar s .
The hal f- do zen supermarkets in Lae are e s s en ti al ly iden ti cal
to the i r Aus tral ian counterparts .
They provide a wide range o f canned,
dried , frozen and fre sh products at pri ce s which tend to be l ower than thos e
of their smal le r competitors .
S ince they cater l argel y to the expatriate
population , thei r emphasi s is on European- type foods ;
they do not , for
example , s to ck indigenous s taple s such as taro or sweet potato .
A few
Fore expre s se d some misgivings at using the se supermarkets , who se methods
of operation and range of goods were unfami l i ar to them , but mo s t used
them re gularly , e special ly for ' free zer meat '
( i . e . chi lled or fro zen
meat) .
The medium- s i ze s tore s are o ften owned and run by Chinese , and
these Saina, s tua are popular with some Fore , maybe because the i r
43
atmosphere i s l e s s intimidating than that o f the supermark e ts .
They are wide ly dispersed through the town , but there is none a t
Taraka .
The ir s tock i s smaller i n range than the supermarke ts ,
e spec i ally as re gards frozen and cooled foods such as mea t and dairy
produc t s .
The small tradestores
are similar to thei r rural equivalen ts ;
they are usually owned by Papua New Guinean individua ls or groups and
are found inside all the settlements .
They are thus conven ient for
buying smal ler quan titie s of food required at short no tice ;
l ike the
lo cal market s , they are often used on the way home from work , or in
the evenings .
They vary in size from tiny structure s sell ing across
a window coun te r , to quite large e s tabli shments rival l ing the smaller
Chinese store s ;
thei r range o f s tock i s corre spondingly var�able , an
important f ac to r being the pre sence or absence o f a free z e r .
Snack bars , by which I mean milk bars , food bar s , fi sh and chip
shops and so on , are found in all the main shopping centre s ;
a s well ,
the supermarket s and l arger s to re s o f ten inc l ude a snack bar .
Every
type of ' snack ' is available :
and Chinese dishe s ;
hot meals such as fish and chips , chicken ,
meat pies , meat bal l s , sausage s , and hamburgers ;
ice- cre ams , milk shake s , and soft drinks o f all kinds .
use snack b ars for lun ch ;
Many Fore men
they are also popul ar with the whole family
when going around town at weekends .
Shopping for food , then , is part of the daily roun d for mos t
Fore migrants i n Lae .
separately :
I t is done by men and their wive s , toge ther or
there i s no clear sexual divis ion o f l abour in thi s respe c t ,
except when a woman i s newly arrived in the town , and the re fore
unfami liar both with the goods and operation of the larger s to re s , and
with the re lative ly l arge sums of money involve d .
Summary
The Fore living in Lae do no t form a s ingle coherent c ommunity ,
but belong to a number o f overl apping soci al networks spread throughout
the town .
They c annot be regarded as fully urban i se d , since mo s t o f
them have been i n the town for s i x years or le s s , o ccupy housing o f a
relative ly temporary nature , an d intend to return to thei r village s in
late r life .
Whether the growing numbe rs o f Fore children now be ing
44
brought up in the town wil l want to return t o thei r fathers ' vi llages
is an open que stion ;
it i s possible that many will remain in town to
form a more truly urbanised generation .
Mos t Fore men in Lae have some primary e ducation at lea s t , and
mos t of them have j obs which , by rural s tandards , make them rel ative ly
weal thy in terms o f cash income .
Few of them pay a subs tan tial ren t ,
so that there i s generally sufficient money i n the househo l d t o buy
enough foo d for i ts members , as well as to support a number of short
and long term vi s i tors , and to send some money, or i ts e quivalent in
goods , back to the vil lage from time to time .
Obviousl y some individuals
and thei r househo l ds are be tte r off than others , and prioritie s in cash
expenditure vary ;
these matters a re explored in more detail in Chapter
11
A s for food re source s themselve s , Lae i s wel l s i tuated i n thi s
respe ct .
The markets are we ll suppl ied throughout the year wi th
vegetable s , fruits and fresh animal produ c ts , many o f which the Fore
are already famil i ar with .
S tores o f varying s i ze s sell a great variety
o f fre s h and p ro c e s s e d foods , the l atte r mos tly importe d .
However ,
rural migrants , when they arrive in Lae , are faced with a shortage o f
good gardening l an d , and thi s has soc i al , economic and nutri tional
consequences which warrant further examina tion .
and i ts food p ro du cts is variable
gardening and
Enthusiasm for gardening
even where l and i s avail able .
The
re cently initiated by the Lae City
Counci l in conj un ction with the PNG Human Ecology P ro gramme may , i f
properly moni to re d , give s ome insight into the s c ale and nature o f
demand for garden ing opportun itie s i n the town .
Fac to r s
the nature o f the food resourc e s in both
vil lage and town, and the gene ral nutri tional implic ations of the se food
resourc e s , wil l be di s cu s se d in the next chapter , before turning to the
beliefs and pre ferenc e s which unde rl ie the proc e s s of food s e l e c tion
itse l f
45
CHAPTER 4
In comp aring the influence of various environmental factors on
the avai labi l i ty and use made o f food resources in vil l age and town ,
it
i s useful to divide the food re sources themse lve s into thos e acquired
through subsist ence production incl uding hunting and gathering , and
thos e acquired through purchase .
The se two c ategor ie s are affected by
di ffe rent se ts of external variable s , and are of differing re l ative
importance in rural and urban se ttings .
In the discus sion which follows ,
reference i s made to some o f the environmental factor s shown in the
conceptual model ( Figure l , p . 8 )
and brief mention is made o f the
nutri tional implication s o f the food resource s in vil l age and town , in
relation to food be liefs and preference s , and food consumption .
Subsis tence food resour ce s include garden produc ts , dome s ti c
animals
and foo d gathered
consump tion .
hunted in bush , fore s t o r water ,
for home
The nature and availabili ty o f the se resources are
influenced by physical environmental factors including c limate
quali ty and topography ;
soil
by bioti c fac tors incl uding natural flora and
faun a , and human population density in re lati on to available land ;
and
by cultural fac to r s including technology in its wide s t sen s e , meaning
no t onl y te chnique s and tool s , but the skil l s , knowle dge and customs
which influence thei r use
While the se factors can all be seen to
operate within the lo cal environment of a s ingle human s e ttlement , such
a s Awande o r Lae , they are in turn influenced by factors in the wider
environment .
O f particular intere s t in thi s context are the a gr i cu l tural
developed at the national leve l , which are intended to modify
subsi s tence sys tems in certain dir e ctions .
a.
I n a rural Fore vi llage , such a s Awande ,
gardens are the mo s t s igni fi cant source o f subsi s tence foo d , followed by
dome s ti c pigs and 1 wild 1 foods from the bush .
The c limate and physical
environment are suitable for the production of sweet potato and a number
o f supplementary vege table foo ds , and for dome stic pig husbandry .
46
Population dens i ty i s s ti ll relative l y low in relation to l and resource s
compared to some o ther areas o f the highlands such as Chimbu , and
extensive s tands of fore s t , in addition to s econdary bush which grows
up on o l d garden s i te s , still provide a use ful source of wild foods .
The technology used in sub s i s tence gardening is re lative ly s imp le ,
using n o too l s more advanced than s tee l axe s and spade s , whos e intro
duc tion seve r al de cade s ago grea tly reduce d the labour and time nece s sary
for mos t gardening tasks .
National agric ul tural policy has had very l it tl e dire c t impact
on subsi s tence activitie s at the vi llage leve l , s ince the e f forts of the
Department o f Primary Indus try have been mainl y direc te d , until recentl y
a t l e as t , towards increasing the production o f cash c rop s .
Some
European vege table s have been introduce d , partly through info:i::m al channel s
and partly through de liberate action by the D . P . I , but most o f thes e ,
and particul arly peanuts and common cabbage s , are grown primaril y for
sale .
Extension workers do not go on 1 p atrol 1 into hamlets o f f the main
roads , and thei r as s i s tance is mos t l ike ly to be sought for cattle
pro j ects , suc h as the two which were in preparation at Awande in 1 9 7 7 .
Cattle p ro j ec ts seem to o ffer rewards i n the form o f c ash , pre sti ge , meat
and perhaps exci tement .
Judging by experience i n other parts o f P apua
New Guine a , reality is unl ikely to
unfortunatel y ,
l ive up to expe ctations but,
1 development 1 has tended to be promoted and thought o f
in te:i::m s o f spe c ta cular pro j e cts for immediate e conom i c reward rather
than gradual improvements to the traditional sub s i s te nc e system . Attempts
to upgrade the nutrit iona l qual i ty of the s taple foods , to
vegetable crop s , and to increase the survival and productivity o f
domes ti c pigs and fowl s deserve more attention , although the i r po tential
benefi ts might be l e s s e as i ly perceived by the vi llager s .
In Lae , mos t Fore househo l ds grow small
own consumption , but popu lation pres sure
on available land s evere l y l imits the opportun i tie s for sus tained
subsi s tence horticulture ;
in addi tion , the climate and soi l s o f Lae are
different from those of the highlands and require modified techniques . For
many househo l ds , a s te ady c ash income reduce s the n ee d and the motivation
for gardenin g , but there are o thers in which economic f actors or per sonal
pre ference s act in the o ther dire ction .
47
One o f the recommendations o f the National Food and Nutrition
Policy { NPO , 1 9 7 8a)
is that urban sub s i s tence produc tion should be
in crease d , and the experimental compos ting and gardening pro j e cts
s tarted in Lae in 1 9 7 7 are in accordance with thi s recommendation
( see p . 40 above ) .
P i g husbandry is prohibi te d within the town
boundari e s , but many se ttlement dwe llers , including a few Fore , attempt
to rea r chickens for the ir own consump tion ;
a s s i s tance from extension
o ffice r s might make thi s a more rewarding task than i t is at present,
wi th i ts h igh lo sses through disease , the f t and o ther c aus es .
Purchased food resour ce s
Foo ds can be purchased e i ther from marke ts , whi ch sell fre sh
foods p roduce d w ithin the local hinte rl an d , or from s to re s , whi ch s e ll
a few locally produced fresh foods , a few i tems which have bee n pro ce ssed
within P apua New Guinea , and a large variety of pro ce s se d food s imported
from oversea s .
The ava i l ability o f e ach type of food resource i s
influenced by a number o f environmental fac tors .
The s cale and nature
of foods ava i l able in a lo cal market are i nfluenced by the transport
sys tem, and by the l eve l of c on sumer demand , as well as by the physical
and technological facto rs which affe c t local food production itse l f .
Dome s ti c marke ting and transport systems are the sub j e c t o f national
pol i cy , which is particularly concerned with promoting markets in urban
centre s ( NPO , ibid . ) .
Foods which are proce s s e d in s igni fi cant quantities
within the country from local ly produced raw materials include sal ted
peanuts and peanut butte r , dehydrated sweet potato chips , dried and
frozen fish , frozen mea t and small goo ds , and palm o i l ;
foods which
are p ro ce s s e d locally from mainly importe d raw ma terials inc lude flour
products such as bread and bis cui ts , beverages inc l uding beer and soft
drink s , and a variety of snack foods including chee sepop s , meat pie s ,
and i ce - cream (Hepworth , 1 9 7 6 ) .
· Among the mo s t important foods whi ch
are imported in thei r fully-proce sse d s tate are tinned meat and tinned
fish , fro zen mea t , sugar and rice ;
al so imported .
some fresh fruit and vegetable s are
Dependence on imported foods and foodstuffs not only
cons titute s a drai n on s carce foreign currency , but also increases the
vulnerab i lity of the economy , and o f the nutri tional s tate of the
population , to exte rnal factors .
This i s sue wil l be dis cu ssed a t
greater l ength i n Chapter 1 4 ( pp . 2 06 - 2 08 ) .
48
a . The rural environment .
I n Awande and other rural vil lage s in the
Fore region , loc al markets are r arely used for the purchas e o f foo d by
local people with gardens o f their own ;
the markets have developed
primarily in response to the demand from full - time wage e arners , mos tl y
i n government or mis sion employment .
Trades tore s a r e found throughout
the region , varying in s i ze from one-room thatched huts s ituated in
remote haml e ts , to the maj o r retail outl e t in Okap a , which has a large
fre e ze r and a wide range of sto ck .
The s tocks o f the small e r s tore s
are l imited by the l ack o f free zing or cool ing equipment, and fluctuate
with the demand from the local population .
The level o f demand i s
largely dete rmined by c ash income from co ffee sale s .
This , in turn, i s
in f luen ce d b y facto rs a s remote from the local environment a s fro s ts in
B razil , and the machinations of international commodi ty market s .
I n Lae , the fresh food markets are c urrently
b.
able to meet the demand within the town , thanks mainly to the initiative
o f l o cal producers within a hinterland which is adequately served by
road transport.
More market s i te s , and improvements to the road system
are planned for the future
Retai l s tore s are supplied by a sophi s ticated
import and marke ting system, which is dependent upon the functioning o f
the national e conomy .
The l arges t supermarkets cate r mainly for a wea l thy
expatriate c l ientele
but are al so used by the local population in
increasing numbers .
Future developments in thi s s e c to r wil l there fore
be influen c e d by e c onomic factors at the national leve l , including import
pol icies and i ncome and pri ce l evel s , and by the changing nature of the
demand for p ro ce s se d foods in the urban population , including its
expatria te component .
a.
For the rural Fore , sub s i s te nce production i s
by far the mos t important source o f food throughout the year .
The
purcha s ing o f food from trade s to re s is a supplementary source which i s
used when c ash i s availab l e
mainly in the coffee season .
As a class ,
store foods are not a neces s i ty , but neither are they any longer an
unusual luxury as they were twenty y ears ago ;
they o ccupy an intermediate
status as de s i rable items which are commonplace at certain time s of year ,
49
rarer at o thers , but which could b e done without
if neces s ary.. For
amount of land and labour diverted from subsistence
the time being , the
to cash- cropping doe s not seem to threaten the village food
supply .
The uns table nature of coffee s ale price s , however, and the risk of
di sease , make ma j o r expansion o f co f fee-gardens an unwise pol icy , but
thi s is not appreciated at the vil l age leve l , where mo s t individual
owners are keen to in crease the number of tre e s each year .
Subsis tence
food production is more e fficient, in terms of returns of food for an
equivalent amount of labour , than is cash-cropping with the use o f
pro fi ts for food purchase .
Howeve r , ca sh i s used for i tems other than
foo d , so that this argument canno t be used to convince rural villagers
o f the need to l imit their c o f fe e p l antings .
I f the ri sk o f seve re
disruption o f v i l l age society and e conomy in the future i s to be
minimi s e d , it may be ne ce ssa ry to introduce some form o f quota c ontrol
of coffe e growing .
Such a risk is at pre sent more acute in the more
dense ly populated are a s of the region , and will incre ase throughout the
region as population expands , and as expec tations rise with further
e conomi c deve lopment .
For the urban Fore , the purchas ing o f s tore
b.
foods i s accep te d as a normal co s t o f l iving in town , and indee d the
nature o f some o f these foods is one o f the a ttrac tions o f town l ife ,
as we sha l l see l ate r .
However , mos t people enjoy eating fre sh
vegetabl e s , and do not easily accept that the se too mus t o f ten be
purchased rather than home-produced ;
they there fore maintain small
ve getable plots i f suitable l and i s avail able , and some maintain larger
gardens in outlying areas o f bush .
I n the future , ri s ing price s for
imported foods , combined with inc re a sing population and hence demand
for foods o f al l kinds , wil l make sub s i s tence production more attractive
The potential for expanding sub s i s tence production within the town is
bei ng explored in a serie s of pro je cts , but population pre s sure is such
that it could n ever provide more than a small proportion of the urban
population ' s total needs .
Mos t of the population will continue to
purchase the bulk o f their foods , with home production providing a
supp lementary source .
I t will become more difficul t for the formall y
unemployed t o find l an d t o grow all thei r food , and some migran ts wil l
probably choose to re turn t o thei r vill age s , where mos t s ti l l have
tradit ional rights to garden land .
50
Th e link s between the rural and urban economie s i n whi ch the
Fore parti cipate were mentioned in the two previous chapter s .
Gi fts
of food are carri e d i n both direc tion s , while durable goods and ca sh
tend to flow from the town to the vil l ages .
E arli e r
with
proces se d foods sold in the vil lage trade s to re makes the adaptation to
an urban diet easier for migran ts , s in ce the rural trade s to re foods
con s ti tute a sma l l sele c tion of the wider range to be found i n the
town .
Converse l y , on their return to the village , urban migrants will
tend to s timulate the demand for foods which they used habitually in
town .
Thus there i s a s e l f-reinfo rc ing tendency towards similari ty in
the kinds o f p ro ce s se d foods sold in e a ch environment, sub j e c t o f c ourse
to cons traints impo s ed by transport cos ts and faci l i ti e s for s torage
and pre s ervati on i n the village .
Even in the case o f sub s i s te nce production , there are some
s ign i f i cant l inks b e tween vil l age and town .
Migrants o ften experiment
with new c rop s , taking coasta l varie tie s to the vill age garde ns , and
traditional village varietie s to the i r urban gardens ;
mee t with
such attempts
de gree s of succe s s , but indicate a s trong inte re s t in
sub s i s tence foo d production .
Lives to ck , i ncluding piglets , chickens
and duckli ng s are sometimes purchased in or near Lae for rais ing in the
vil lage
The close relationship which exi s ts between vill age and town wi ll
be s tres se d throughout this report .
The s cale and frequency o f vis i ting
between them has widespread social , cul tural and economic consequences
for both the rural and the urban population s , and it would be misleading
to conside r e ach in i sol ation from the other .
Actual food consumption by the Fore population in Awande and Lae
will be considered i n detail i n Part IV, but a few pre liminary observa
tions on the nutri tional quality of the ava il ab l e food re source s are
appropria te here .
I n nei ther environment doe s there appear to be any
absolute shortage of food ;
more
are the cho i c e s made among
the various foods which are available .
Sub s i s tence production in the village i s dominated by the sweet
potato , whi c h has a low protein content , and is high in bulk .
Both
51
facto rs make the crop nutritional ly unsuitable a s a s taple food ,
e spec i al l y for smal l c hi ldren who may have di f fi cul ty in consuming
enough o f it to s ati s fy thei r energy requirements , let alone the ir
pro te i n requirements .
Howeve r , many o ther vegetable s are grown , and
a fairl y wel l balanced diet including peanuts , green l e ave s , corn ,
banan a , pumpki n and beans i n addition to swe e t potato could eas ily b e
obta i ne d from the se .
Furthermo re , regular consumption of pork ,
tinned
fish and tinned meat could provide useful supplements of pro tein and
fat .
Nutritionally di s advantageous trends in rural foo d re source s
include the promotion by the D . P . I . of ce rtain green veg e tab le s ,
espe c ially c abbage s , which a re poorer in pro te in , vi tamin and mineral
content than the indigenous leafy greens { a fact noted in Ham i l ton ,
1 95 5 ) , and the sale o f such items as aerated drinks and che e s epops in
the vil l age trade s to re s .
The cri tical factor , the n , i s the set o f
food beli e f s and p re fe rence s that governs the relative amounts o f each
c rop which are grown and the patterns o f c onsumption o f thes e and o the r
available foods .
I n the town , a much wider range o f foods is availab le , and again
it is obvious that a well balanced diet could be obtained in a numbe r o f
ways b y choo s ing wisely from these .
Howeve r , the ready availab i l i ty o f
highly proce s se d foods and sweet snack foods o f all k inds , and their
promotion through advertiseme nts and display make a n informed , nutrition
ally rational cho i ce more di fficul t .
The cheape s t s tarchy s tap le s in
the urban environment are rice , and wheat flour and its products ;
cooked
rice is margina l l y ri cher in pro tein than sweet potato , and wheat flour
markedly so , but re f ining of both cere a l s reduce s their vitamin and
min e ral contents
Promo tion of brown rice and whol emeal flour would be
a valuable measure in this respect 1 •
Fre sh vegetable s and frui ts of
goo d qua l i ty can be obtained re lative ly cheap l y , and animal pro tein is
available i n many forms , including f re sh , fro zen and canned meat and
fish , e ggs , and milk products .
As in the vil l age , then , the food beliefs
and pre fe renc e s o f town dwellers are criti cal in determining the quali ty
r i ce has recently become more readily available in P apua New Guinea ,
and is sold at a s lightly lower price than white rice .
Also , the opening
of a flour m i l l at Lae in 1 9 7 7 may make the manufacture of wholemeal
flour p roducts more p racticable than hitherto .
52
o f thei r die t ;
the l atter i s not constrained b y inadequac ies i n the
quantity or qua l i ty o f the foods whi ch are ava i l able .
Food beliefs and prefe rences are the sub j ec t o f Part I I I o f
this report , i n which they are d iscu s se d i n re lation bo th t o the food
resources des cr ibed in this and the previous chapters , and to o ther
environmenta l fac tors which direc tl y infl uence them .
53
PART III
F OOD BELIEFS AND PREFE RENCES
54
CHAPTER 5
Most nutri tion surveys make pas s ing . reference to people ' s food
bel ie f s , l ikes and dislike s , but very f ew stud i e s in Papua New Guinea
have sought detailed information of thi s kind .
The most relevant to the
pre sent account are those by Whiteman ( 1965 , 1 966 ) .
stud i e s
She reports on two
o n e o f customs and beliefs relating to food , nutrition and
health in the Chimbu are a , the other on food bel i e f s and attitud e s in
a low=cost housing settlement in Port Moresby .
In the former study
beliefs about particu lar foods were l isted , and the general c onc lusion
drawn that ,
" Whil st the Chimbus
bel i eve that there are one or two
foods which have the property of making strong blood , the
eat may
the
not
local
more formal techn ique ,
unspec i f ied
because
c onceptions
the
of terms l ike
food"
in
it i s concluded that ,
r e sults showed
great variations in bel i e f s and
t o food s t i l l exi sted , probably d u e to
pract i c e s
the d i fferent tribal origins and educational l evel s of the
people l iving in Hohola , although the r e sults of con s i s tent
health education
one or two points could be seen in the
some questions .
In general food was taken for
granted , and its r elationship to good health was not
recogni s ed by the inhabitants of Hohola . "
I t was partly because o f the problems of interpretation caused by cultural
diversity in the urban environment that I dec ided to study an urban group
which was culturally homogeneous , and to c ompare it with a related rural
group .
To thi s extent , at least , the pre sent study of urban and rural
food beli e f s and preference s should provide c ompari sons which are more
valid than those which c an be made on the bas i s of Whiteman ' s two papers .
To obta in a g eneral picture of the main food beliefs and prefer
enc e s in Awande and Lae , I interviewed a number of adult mal e s in each
plac e .
At the same time , my wife concentrated on women ' s beli e f s and
55
attitude s rel ating t o infant feeding i n the two popu lations .
locat ion , the interviews , which were tape -recorded ,
In each
fol lowed a more or
l e s s consi stent pattern , but this was freely mod i f ied whenever a
respondent showed inter est in talking further on any topic .
There were
some diff erenc e s in the approach and the qu e st ions a sked in Awande and
in Lae , and the s e are mentioned in the following section s .
The validity and reliabil ity of the f indings are sub j ec t to two
main qualif ication s .
The first relate s to our lack of famil iari ty with
the Fore language and cultur e , and our cons equent use o f Melan e s ian
P idgin as a medium of communication throughou t .
As a result , the
conclus ions c an only be expre s sed in terms of r e lativel y general concept s ,
who se interpretation is made more diff icu l t by the ambiguities in which
P idgin abound s .
of the content and o r ig in s of
A deeper
food beliefs would require a thorough knowledge of Fore concepts relat ing
to bod ily proc e s s e s and the nature of d i sease , a s wel l a s o f the magico
Some information
rel ig ious mode o f thought which underlies such bel i e f s
on the se matters is contained in S
Hornabrook ( 1 9 7 6b )
Glasse
and Sorensen ( 1 97 6 ) ;
( 1 9 63 ) , Lindenbaum ( 1 9 7 6 ) ,
a few re ferenc e s to the se
sour c e s will be made in footnote s .
The s econd qualific at i on relates to the u se which we make of the
respons e s of a r el atively small number of informant s .
f ir st ,
There i s a danger ,
that the sample may be unrepr e sentative , and second ,
that one may
pay too much attention to the r e spon s e s of a particularly for c e ful or
voluble individua l .
Where we use direct quotation s ,
they wil l tend to
come from the more talkative subj ec t s , but we try to u s e them to i l lu s trate
common bel i e f s or attitudes which others share but expr e s s l e s s f luent l y .
The general conc lu s ions are based l e s s on a counting up of r e spons e s of
one kind or another
(a technique inapp l ic able to the open-ended nature
of the questioning ) , than on our sub j ective a s s e s sment s of the cons en su s ,
or of d i fference s of opinion wher e they c l early ex i st ed .
The intention
in us ing people ' s own words is to pre sent a picture in which the l ively
and dynamic nature of be l ie f s and attitudes is not c oncealed under a
glo s s of stat ic generali s ations .
In the remainder of the chapter , I report on food bel i e f s and
preference s in Awande and Lae ,
as expr e ssed by male subj ect s .
The
subsequent chapter , written by my wif e , dea l s with women ' s bel ie f s and
attitude s regarding infant feeding .
The last chapter in Part I I I compr i ses
56
a d i scu s s ion of the finding s , mo stly in terms of the influence of
interacting variable s in each environment .
Awande :
methods and sub j ec t s
I n Awande I interviewed twenty-f ive men , eighteen of them over
one a youth of 1 6 , and s ix between 2 0 and 4 0 1 •
40 years old ,
S even of
the interviews were conducted wholly in P idgin without the u s e o f an
interpreter ;
the others depended on translation into and from Fore by
my 2 5 -year-old a s s i stant from the village , who spoke no Eng l i sh but was
fluent in P idgin .
Al l the taped interviews were transcr ibed soon after
their compl etion , mo stly directly into Engl i s h ;
made note s on ly .
in s ix interviews I
Nearly all the men were married with children ;
a very
few had been to s choo l .
The form and coverage of the questions a sked evolved with my
growing knowledge of the food habits and tastes in Awande , and as new
topic s emerged from one interview to the n ext .
were the s e :
foods which are good for the body in some way ;
for children ;
children ;
The main topic s covered
the c au s e s and treatment of emac iation or
the treatment of diarrhoea ;
food taboo s ;
food s good
bun nating in
and belief s and
preference s relating to particular food s , and e specially to store foods
a s a separate category .
an hour or more .
Interviews l asted from a quarter of an hour to
They were o ften done in the pre sence of bystander s ,
and thus sample a wider range of opinion than the f igur e s given above
might sugge s t .
I have incorporated bystander s ' comment s , as we l l a s
information f rom c a sual conver sat ion s , into m y f inding s .
Awande :
F indings
Two adj ec t ives were u sed by all subj ects to d e s cr ibe food s .
The s e were
strong , and swit , both P idgin words whose meanings differ from
their Eng l ish or iginal s in some respects .
hard , tough , f irm etc ;
l
Strong or s trongpe Za can mean
but it c an a l so mean su staining , f il l ing ,
Age s are approx imations only .
57
energy-giving ;
strong foods a r e spoken of a s strengthening the body ,
the stomach , the skin , and the bone s ;
to do phy s ical work .
as
strong ;
When it ha s this meaning , I write the ad j ective
otherwi se I translate it into its neare st Eng l i s h equivalent .
Swit c an mean sweet , as in sugar ;
but more gener a l ly it r e f e r s to any
to avoid c onfu s ion , I l e ave it in the P idg in
food which ta ste s good ;
form ,
they are food s which enable one
8'/iJit .
Some foods are
s trong and swit :
bean root ar e exarnpl e s, while rice is
crops ;
a f ew food s are
many are
sweet potato , taro and wing
swit but not as s trong as the root
strong but not really swit , such as c a s sava ;
swit but not s trong :
(meat , egg s , tinned f ish etc . )
g reen vegetable s and mo st forms of
abus
are so regarded .
Beyond the universal bel ief that the body need s
s trong food s ,
and above a l l sweet potato , to enable it both to grow and to do work ,
there wa s no unanimity about what food s were g ood for i t .
younger people said that
kumu , bean s , pumpkin and the l ike were good for
the blood , and to make the skin ' smart ' .
having
One or two
One spoke of such foods a s
gris , not i n the s ense of o i l o r fat , hut a s t h e t e rm i s u sed when
referring to fertile soil , that is to say containing what might be
called ' goodnes s ' .
v ic e-vers a ;
Strong foods then , are food s good for the body , and
a l l other foods are genera l l y thought of a s adding different
ta ste s and var iety to the d iet , but not as being e s sentia l .
Only under
the influence of school and c linic teaching are mor e spec i f ic nutritional
concepts be ing introduc ed .
When a sked specific ally what foods were good for chi ldren , mo st
people r eplied that c hildren eat the same a s adult s , although when they
are very small the food must be soft .
A 4 0 -year-old man with three
children summar i s ed as follows :
" Fi r st he d rinks his mother ' s milk . He keeps dr inking i t , then
he gets one or two teeth , we cook sweet potato in the f ire .
The mother puts it in her mouth , then gives it to the child • . •
Kumu , and sweet potato , that ' s a l l we g ive a l ittle c hi ld . When
he grows up , he can eat the s e hard food s , like taro and yarn . "
Another man ,
about 5 0 years old , with five children s tated :
"When they are very smal l babie s , the mother give s mi lk ;
when i t ' s had mi lk , a li ttle l ater it crie s , give it milk
agai n • . • so it goe s until i t grows a bit bigge r . Then it can
sit by i tse l f . Now we give i t food - swe e t potato . Jus t
58
sweet potato .
I t goe s on like this until i t c a n walk by
i tse l f , then we give i t sweet potato , yam , taro , kumu,
pi t;pi t - this kind o f food . " l
Chil d feeding is permi s sive rather than pre s cr iptive ,
in that
children are given food when and if they cry for i t , but their feeding
is not a matter of great inte re s t except in the case of i l lne s s , which
is di s cu ssed l ate r .
A few younger men have learn t ,
clini c s , and from obse rvation of Europeans in town s ,
from s choo l ,
from
of the idea that
children need special foods and attention to their diets .
Kumu and
other vegetab le s such as pumpki n and tomatoes , e spe cially chopped up
and s e rved with ri ce as ' soup '
fish and meat are also goo d .
are said to be good for children .
Tinned
The European fashion for giving the i r
babies tinned baby foo d , and dried m i l k i n bottle s , h a d been noted b y
two o r three o f t h e young men in the vil l age .
The 2 8-year- o ld carpenter ,
educated to S tandard VI , had used a bottle :
B e fore , I
" Milk is good to help children - S un shine mi lk .
used to give it to my son , in a bottl e , when my wife was
pregnan t . 11
A man of the same age , educated to S tandard I I I , had heard i t di scus sed
by the
' Radio Dokta ' :
" They said this Sunshine milk i sn ' t very goo d .
Mother ' s
milk i s all r i gh t , i t ' s namba wan .
You can ' t use this { dried)
milk much.
If a mother knows enough about giving thi s mi lk ,
she mus t was h the bottle , and was h the rubber quickly in hot
water and cover it up . "
A 3 0 - year- o ld man on leave from his j ob i n Port Moresby a sked me about
baby foods .:
He u sed to give hi s nephew tinned banana custard , on which he
grew fat and big .
But a Chinese woman to ld him one day that
they put poisin in baby food , and he noticed some Europeans
bought i t , while others didn ' t . What was true?
He a l so s aid
2
that when children live at the s tesin they are f ed ice-cream
and baby food s , and their skin becomes fat .
When they come
with thi s a ccount in S
Glas s e ( 19 6 3 ) : "An infant feeds sole ly
on brea s t mi lk for the first few months and then begins to eat tiny
pieces of pig fat ( no t meat) . I t continues on this diet unti l the two
bottom teeth appea r , when it may have sweet potato , taro and other
vegetable s and premasticated sugar . Until it has tee th , no hard food
must be given , o r the child wil l choke and die . By the time it walks
the child wil l eat a l l kinds of foo d , even banan a . Banana is withheld
unti l then because i t prevents teeth from growing we l l . 1 1 We heard no
mention of the l atter belie f , nor of the e arly feeding of pig fat� which ,
i f i t doe s occur , i s probably o f negl igible nutritional benefit sinc e
pork is consumed only once every few week s .
2stesin , originally referring to Government S tation s , i s now used as a
general term for the town or c i ty .
59
back to the vil l age , their skin be comes s l ack ,
of sweet potato and garden foods .
on the diet
Opinions such as these are bound to have an increas ing influence
on the cus tomary be liefs and attitudes to c hi l d feeding ,
a l though at the
moment they are con fined to a smal l minority .
Bun nating chi ldren l
Frank kwashiorkor and marasmus are rare in the are a , but a
degree of emac iation , a ccompanied by s lack skin ,
i s recogn i s ed a s a
fairly coilllilo n condition , o ften following a gas trointestinal i l lne s s .
Some al s o s ay it is the resu l t of adultery by one of the p arent s , while
the chi l d is small 2 •
The carpenter quoted above blamed
bun nating on
hookworm.
Many people s ay that the condition can be treated by the us e of
traditional medic ine s - a spec ial herb , or bark o f a c ertain tree - who s e
identitie s and methods o f use are known t o only a few .
A 4 5-year-ol d
father o f six had sought t h e help o f such a spe c i al i s t :
" On e of my children got l ike thi s , and Awaki looked at him and
He looked at h im first ,
said he had s i ckne s s in his belly .
came back from h i s house and brought some of this medic ine up
on top { i . e . to the man s hamlet) .
He got s ome kumu and pig
too , cooked i t in a bamboo , and gave it to the boy • . . His skin
he cooked thi s and g ave i t to
was s lack, he was
him, and now he ' s al l r ight . n
Awaki , hims e l f about the same age as the
man
j us t quoted and with five
chi l dren of his own , de s cribed the treatment from h i s point of view :
"When a child is bun nating , with s l ack ski n , they bring i t
h e r e and I give it some medicin e . Befor e , m y mother showed me
then she died .
I get this small gras
thi s kind of medicine ;
from the bus h , and get some kumu , and pig , and cut it up ;
cook it and give it to them.
Only once , for one child .
It
" bun nating n a s kin i s Ze k'' ; hence the adj e ctive 1 s l ack '
the skin i s des cribed as • Zus
( loos e ) .
( 1 9 7 6 , p . 2 9 ) summari s e s traditional Fore bel iefs about the
aetiology of illness a s follows : " I ll ne s s e s fall into two broad c ategorie s ,
each def ined by bel i e f s about causation .
Firstly , there are maladi e s
the s e diseases
resul ting from t h e malic ious ac tions o f men agains t men ;
S econdly , .there are diseases
are the cons e quence s of acts of sorcery .
not attributable to the evil machinations o f men , but to native spi ri ts
inhabiting the spirit p l ac e s a s sociated with one ' s pari s h o f r e s idence ,
to gho s ts of the recently dead , or to vio lations of social rul e s and
expec tations among co-res idents .
Calamities ascribed to s orcery involve
dangerous diseases that usua l ly c ause death , di seases such as kuru ,
tuberculosis and yaws • • • Non - sorcery- cau s ed ailments , howeve r , involve
minor affliction s and temporary illnes s among adults , and s i ckne s s and
death among children . 11
P idg i n ,
60
recovers , i t s skin becomes fat.
I do thi s ,
and they pay me . "
Other people did not mention any form of medi c ine , but s aid s imply that
kwrru , sugarcan e ,
the child should be given p lenty of food ,
and s tore food s .
A 3 0-year-old father with one chi ld , who had worked
in various towns but was now living in the vill age again said :
" I f a child has s l ack skin and he is bun nating , we get kwrru ,
and s ome abus : pig or pos sum.
Now we cook this and give it to
him.
And good food l ike sugarcan e , kwnu , s tore foods ;
rice ,
f i s h , meat ;
buy dripping , and mix i t with kumu and give it
him.
And if a man has money , he ' ll buy mil k , and sugar , mix
them, and give i t to the child to drink . 11
Finally ,
there are again tho s e who have l earnt explicit l e s son s ,
usua l ly from the MCH c linic or the hospital .
worked in More sby is
example .
A 3 0 - year-old man who had
Talking about
bun
children he
s ai d :
expre s sed
This
The equally
to
is to eat baked taro .
but such
P i dgin as
Wa:l'a , is we ll-
known cure, for children and adults ,
A few men say that the taro i s
toktok i s known only to o l de r men .
talked to '
firs t ,
Awaki exp l ained a s follows
" When a child has diarrhoea , they get taro , and talk to it about
a k ind o f tree that has s ap l ike milk .
When you cut it , thi s
s ap come s out and when i t ' s dry i t becomes strong , l i ke PK
( chewing gum)
They talk about this thing to the taro
then
give it to the child . "
An old man o f 6 0 o r 7 0 s aid :
"Be fore, when there was no hospi ta}q when a child had diarrhoea,
they
would ge t ash from the f i re , and rub it on the child ' s s tomach .
I f this didn ' t work , get some taro , give it toktok , and give it
to the child . • Adults too , we ' d do the same thing .
Several men re commended sago as a treatment for diarrhoea ;
it could be
obtained intermittently from the Purosa direction , beyond S outh Fore over
the Papuan borde r .
One man had hims e l f dis covered a ' medic ine ' prepared
from the bark of a tree , and given with salt in cold wate r ;
it caused
cons tipation for two days , afte r which th e s to o l s were firm again .
61
People from other hamlets c ame to him to learn the medic ine and to
receive treatment .
The influence o f hospital , clinic and school is once again
refle cted in the statements of some younger men .
Thei r recommended
treatment for d iarrhoea in chi ldren was to fee d them ' sugar water ' .
The man who listened to ' Radio Dokta ' explaine d :
" I f my child has diarrhoea , I follow the doctors ' idea ;
they
say you mus t put sal t in hot water - you c an ' t put coffee in I give him this and h e drinks it ,
put sugar and a l ittle sal t .
When he ' s a bit better I buy rice .
and he become s all right .
I don ' t put too much fish in , j us t a l i ttl e .
I give him s trong
rice and he eats i t , he grows strong . "
Three men des cribed this ' sugar wate r ' treatment , which i s recommended
at heal th c l in ic s , accurate ly ;
another c laimed that nurse s had told
him that sugary milk was goo d , but a l so po inted out , as did s everal
others , the ava ilabil i ty of hospita l treatment :
" Now there ' s good medicine for c hi ldren and adults with
I f we ' ve got money , we ' ll buy
diarrhoea , at the hospital .
milk and sugar , and if that ' s no good , we ' l l go to the
hospital . 11
Some pregnant women are sub j ect to a number of food taboo s , while
others e at normally ;
it s eems to be a matter for the woman to dec i de ,
with or without pre s sure from her husband and o ther relative s .
The
res trictions are relaxed in pregnancies subsequent to the first suc c e s s The most common taboos mentioned were tinned mea t and tinned
ful one
fish, sugarcane cut with a knife ( it can be broken by hand instead) , and
kumu from the e nds of a bamboo cooking tube ( kumu from the middle of the
tube can be e aten ) .
These three taboos are intended to ensure a s afe
and e as y del ivery , through avoiding the consumption of foods which might
close the mo uth of the womb , j us t as they are themse lves ' close d ' in
some way ;
a middle- aged man explained thus :
" O lder women , who are having thei r fi fth or s ixth child , they
can eat anything ;
tinned mea t , fish and suchlike .
But a young
woman pregnant with her first c hi l d , they are taboo for her ;
she can ' t give birth wel l ;
she ' ll be pregnant for a long t ime ;
she won ' t have the c hild quickly
This t inned meat and fish
is c l o se d at both e nds .
They think about this , and taboo i t
Tinned meat and fish hadn ' t arrived when my father died ; but
they used to taboo sugar cut with a knife . "
•
• •
.
.
•
62
Other taboos mentioned included large tubers , pig bone s , po s sum , and
food brought from other vil l age s .
As I have sugge s ted ,
the taboo on
tinned f i s h and t inned meat is based on the same reasoning as that
underlying the taboos on
kumu from the ends of a bambo o ;
however , this
rather arbitrary advice doe s not convince most o f the younger vil l agers ,
l
and they are l e s s l ikely to worry about the new foods .
Cus tomarily , young boys were initiated in a serie s of ritual s
including no s e -bleedin g , and confinement in a sweat-house f o r many d ays .
A large number o f foods were taboo from initiation unt i l manhoo d :
vari e tie s o f tubers and
red
pitpi t , red being a ritually dangerous c olour ;
game o f a l l kinds , wing bean roo t , some varieties of sugar , and foods
cooked at large m:umu fea st s .
prepared by young women .
Al so , the initiate s could not eat foods
These initiation ceremonie s , and the taboos
which accompany them, are now observed in a weakened form,
Instead of bleeding t heir no se s ,
the boys '
if at a l l 2 •
face s may be r itua l ly washed .
The father o f two boys initiated while we were in the vil lage said :
" These taboos on foods for childre n , the y were some thing our
Now , you people
( i . e . Europeans ) arrived , and we think i t ' s j us t something to
eat , they were dece iving us when they taboo ' d things • • • Now
when we bleed thei r no se s we give them any food and they eat
i t . 11
tumhuna grandparents , ance s tors ) did .
The boys themse lve s , howeve r ,
told me that they were forbidden to eat
corn , game , and some red foods .
c as e ,
Whatever the truth i n this p articular
it is probable that such taboos wil l disappear even be fore the
initiation rite s with which they are a s s ociated .
One or two households in Awande contain Seventh Day Adventi sts ,
l Agai n ,
compare with this account of traditional South Fore practices
{ S . Gl as s e , op . cit . ) : " A first pregnancy i s hedged around with myriad
food taboos to ensure succ e s s ful termination .
The mother will not eat
rats , pos sums o r birds shot with bow and arrow o r caught i n a trap , nor
sugar cut with a kni fe or tomahawk , though sugar broken by hand wil l not
harm he r . S he avoids foods o f great s i ze such as l arge yams or taro or
big possums or tree kangaroo s . She keeps to sma l l varie ti e s of s ugarcane ,
and re fus e s water which flows through a Spirit P lace or is c arried to rer in
wild bamboo .
The s e ' imitative ' restric tions avert the danger of a
di f ficul t labour which might cause the chi l d to die in the uterus . Most
res trictions apply to f ir s t pregnanci e s only . Some husbands too keep to
Thi s l ast observation was not corroborated by any o f my
the diet . "
informants .
2Berndt ( 1962 ) de s c ribed the customary forms of initiation in the Fore
and related people . Initiation is probably mo re common now in the more
remote areas of S outh Fore than in the Central and Northern regions .
63
who se rel i gion place s a taboo o n pig , and game anima l s ;
a r e said t o have
' stimulants '
1
' si n '
inside them.
inc l uding alcoho l ,
the s e animal s
They a r e also forbidden al l
tea , c o f fe e ,
and bete l nut .
S uch
bel i e f s are treated with good-natured tolerance by the maj or ity .
Belie fs and pre fe re nc e s regarding particular foods
a . Root crops and banana s .
food s .
The root crops are the mos t important
s trong
Swe e t potato is the mo s t important of a l l and apart from a
2-year-o ld girl , who was expec ted to grow to like it soon ,
I c ould
discover no one who did no t en j oy i t , and e at it more o r l e s s daily
throughout the year .
Taro is as
s trong as swe e t potato , and is very popular in i ts
Yam , win g bean roo t , and cooking banana are the other three
season .
cus tomary s t archy crops which are en j oyed by everyone .
not a s
Ripe banana is
s trong a s cooking banana, and is e spec i a l ly popular with chi l dren .
Cas sava i s another
apprec ia te d .
i t is not c la s se d a s a
b . Nuts .
s trong crop , but i t s tas te is le s s widely
The I ri sh potato is an occasional i tem i n the die t , but
s trong food , nor is it very swi t .
Pandanus nuts are a highly valued s e asona l crop .
The
' mi t ' o r
' kumu bi "longen', (the f l e sh i n which the nuts are embedded} , . i s a s trong
food which may di splace even swee t potato for a few meal s .
The nuts are
swit but no t s trong .
Red pandanus is not liked by everyone .
The red fat extra c ted
from the seeds by boi ling can be eaten alone , o r with
s ai d that th is
gris made the skin fat .
kwnu.
One man
The redne s s o f this food has
associations with b loo d , which traditionally made i t dangerous for men
to eat i t in the pre sence o f women ;
P e anuts are a very
people grow them .
this re s tric tion no longer exi s ts .
swi t food which people buy in town , but few
Children are e spe cially kee n on them ,
and one reason
given for no t growing them is that they will be s tolen by young boys .
Two men had heard from nurse s that peanuts are good for chi ldre n .
Sugarcane i s another fairly
c.
and unive rs a l ly enj oyed.
A s well a s be ing a
swi t s nack , i t a ll ows one
to c ontinue working in the garden all day long ,
evening to e a t .
s trong food ,
only coming home in the
It i s good for helping a l ac tating mo ther ' s mi lk supply.
64
Corn , which i s eaten on the cob and never s to re d ,
is quite
s trong , but it could never suffice a s the main item in a me al .
Too
much of it can cause diarrho e a .
Pumpkins are o f two kind s .
wate ry ,
and are no t
solid , and are
s trong;
The traditional one s a r e long and
the introduced one s are round and more
s trong food when eaten with swe e t potato .
Bean s are
chi ld ' s appetite .
s trong too , and might alone be enough to sati s fy a
They are very
swi t cooked together with kwnu in a
bamboo tube .
Kwnu and pi t;pit are both popular swi t foods , n e i ther o f them
s trong .
The many types of
kumu have di f fe rent tas te s ;
eaten raw , e spec i al ly as an ac compan iment to me at.
dripping are both popular with kwnu.
accompaniment to
Mu shrooms are another tas ty
kwnu .
Pineapp le s , p as s ion fru i t ,
by a few peopl e ,
and rather sour orange s are cul tivated
and are appreciated in ho t weathe r .
Pig meat i s a
d.
swi t but no t a s trong foo d .
much o f it c ause s s ickne s s and diarrhoea 1 .
adu l ts , p re fe r the fat to the lean ;
skin fat .
some may be
Tinned f i sh and
Mos t children ,
Too
and some
one or two men said it made the
O rgans and inte s tine s are al s o eaten ,
and the blood mixed
with green l eave s , but no one vo i ced any extra enthus i a sm for , or
sugges te d any speci fic nutritional prope rtie s o� the s e .
Bee f i s general l y pre ferred to pork for i ts taste .
f a t , or i ts f a t i s no t s o tough ,
frequen tly .
I t has l e s s
and it doe s no t c au s e diarrhoea s o
Mutton has a lot o f fat , which some like and other s do not .
I t i s l e s s f ami l i ar than pork and bee f .
Chicken i s very
swi t ;
chickens
reared in the village have very l i ttle fat , but one s from the free zer
have plen ty .
Game such as po s s um , wil d birds ,
traditional
abus ;
not
and flying fox are all
s trong , but e aten with gre at en j oymen t when
ava i l abl e .
E ggs o f dome s ti c ated chickens o r wi ld birds are the same .
i f they are no t s ol d ,
Usua lly,
they are cooked in bamboo tube s between l ayer s of
l No one expli citly mentioned pig be l , an often fatal form o f food poi soning
caused by Clos tridium welchi i .
This and other type s of food poi soning are
encouraged by the consumption of pork which is o ften undercooked , and
o ften eaten s ome days after its original cooking ;
susceptibility to
infe c tion is probably inc reased by the low protein i ntake typical of the
highlands .
65
kwnu .
A few people say that they are good for chi l dren , o thers only
that chil dren like them .
e . S tore foods .
As a c lass ,
these are luxurie s or at least des irable
1 ex tras 1 e a ten for tas te , more than for sustenance .
Rice is quite
s trong , e specia lly with tinned meat or fish a dde d , but is not a
subs ti tute for swe e t potato .
I t is popular with a ll age groups and
both sexe s .
Flour can be bought in Okapa as a deep- fri e d batte r skon ;
the vil lage , it i s mixed with water and fried with dripping ;
in
thes e
products are s trong , more so than ric e , but again no t subs titute s for
sweet po tato .
Biscuits a re fairly s trong , e spec i al ly when e aten with fi z zy
soft drinks ( l o li wara )
or tea .
Seve ra l people said biscui ts , particu
l arly swe e t biscuits , were bad for the teeth .
Tinned c ake is another
fairly s trong s to re foo d , but is too expensive and not to everyone ' s
taste .
B re ad is not a s trong foo d , but is goo d with butter or tinned
meat .
Chee sepops are popular with chi ldren , who c ry for them when
taken in to the s to re .
Adul ts eat them l e s s o f ten .
they were b ad for the teeth ;
Three people said
o the r s denied thi s when a ske d .
Tinned fish i s the namba wan store foo d , with rice .
Tinned mea t
is s lightly l e s s popular , being twice the pric e , a n d i ts tas te is
dis l iked by some . Both are eaten mixed with rice or with kumu .
Children
are very k een on the o i ly fish , and are given the empty tins to lick .
Dripping is a popular addition to kwnu, a fter the l atter i s c ooke d .
Tea , c o f fee an d mi lo , together re.ferred to as ti , are quite
s trong when swee tened with white sugar ;
the same as sugarcane ,
the l atter is o ften s aid to be
in its sustaining qualitie s .
may b e added t o t i i f money i s avail abl e .
Milk , usually tinned ,
Lo li wara too i s sustaining .
Any swee tened drink together with b iscuits , bread or cake , makes a
sui table snack i f one has a long walk ahead .
S a l t is widely use d , on tub e rs and with ric e .
Native salt is
no longer ma de •1
S orensen and Gaj dusek ( op . ci t . ) for a description o f traditional salt
making . Traditional salt would have contained a high percentage of
potassium salts , and the changeover to sodium chloride may have significant
physiologi c a l imp l i ca tions .
66
Like the food resources themselves , the food be l i e fs and
p re fe rences of men in Awande are a mixture of traditional one s , long
e s tablished in Fore cul ture , and modern one s ,
from European
contact .
to traditional belie f s , the body requir e s s trong foods ,
mos t ly s ta rchy roots and pre-eminently sweet potato , in o rder to grow
and to do work ;
in the body;
other foods are swi t but s e rve no parti cular function
taboos are impo sed on c ertain age and sex cate go ries
because o f the ritual and magical associat ions o f c ertain foods ;
i l lnes s e s such as bun
c an be c aused by ritual transgres s ions ,
and c ured by herbal medicine s , some times in association with magical
rec i ta tion s .
Modern food bel ie fs , transmitted mainly through s chool s and
the importance of vegetables and abus i n the growth
children and the maintenance of health ;
the relatio nship o f bun nating
to poor feeding ; and the value of ho spi ta l treatment
i l lne s s .
Other bel iefs share aspects o f the traditional and the modern :
for
example , some tinned foods have been incorporated into the traditional
food taboos for pregn ant wome n , and S eventh Day Adventis t teaching has
added a s e t of taboos based on rel igious dogma to the traditional taboos
based
sympathetic magi c .
Each individual has his own s e t o f bel ie f s , a b lend o f the old
and the new.
The young , the educate d , and the trave l le d ( three
charac teris ti c s which tend to be associated) are l ikely to have adopted
more modern belief s ;
le ft
the o l d ,
uneducated , and tho s e who have never
vil lage are l ike ly to retain more traditional bel i e fs .
same applies to some extent to food preferences
The
s tore foods tend to be
more popular with younger people and with those who have l ived in town ,
than with o l de r
men who a r e l e ss familiar with the new foods .
Food belie f s and p re fe rences in Awande wil l continue to change
under the inf luence of many fac tors :
and gardens ;
the
changing food resource s in s tores
of s chool s and c linic s ;
advertis ing on the radio and in the press ;
of migrants returning from town .
information and
and the ideas and behaviour
Assuming that the latter fac to r is
sign ificant, future food beliefs and pre ferences in the vil l age a re
l ikely to be foreshadowed in some o f their aspects by thos e c urrent among
67
it is to these that we now turn .
Fore town- dwe llers ;
The in fluential
environmental fac tors which have just been mentioned will be discus sed
in Chapter
as
B as i c ally the same interviewing method was used in
Awande
with the d i fference s that
the interviews were tape
interpre ter .
and al l were conducted in Pidgin without the use
interviewe e s , in settlements
were done a t the homes o f
round th e town .
individua l s ;
I intervi ewed
their age s
had no formal
and mos t were in
y ears o f
some
e leven y e ars
longe s t re sidence
six
jobs
of
overtime)
gro s s wages
with a median of K56 .
to Kl02
Twenty-one o f
to women from the Markham region ;
Fore
One was with hal f a dozen young
now living in the Bumbu settlement .
five
men
sixteen had children , with
maximum o f thre e , and mos tl y only one or two .
interviews .
the
j obs
were
also hel d
from Iwaki
South
The other was with two
re lated hous eholds , whose three male members came from Kasoru in North
o f the men were married to coas tal
Fore ;
of sixteen , was at high s chool in Lae .
the othe r , a youth
To sum up , the Fore sub j ec t s in
Lae di ffere d from those in Awande in three impor tant respects
they
were younge r , be tte r e du cate d , and mostly had much higher income s .
A s i n Awande , the content o f the interviews tended to change
gradually as I grew more famil i ar with the situatio n .
topics covered were these
chi ldren ;
foods good for the body ;
foods which c an harm the tee th ;
the c au s e s of fatne s s ;
cause s and trea tment of children who are bun nating ;
bottl e -feedin g ;
treatment o f diarrho e a ;
attitude s to coa s ta l foods in general ;
regarding particular foods .
In gene r a l , the
foods goo d for
a tti tude s to
taboos to pregnan t women ;
and bel iefs and pre ference s
the
68
Lae :
Findings
Nutritional concepts and foods good for the body
The range o f nutritional concepts expre ssed was more diverse
than in Awande 1 •
The basic adj ec tives s tY'Ong , applied to sus ta ining
foods , and swi t , applied to good- tas ting foods , were s till used .
Strong foo ds inc luded the roo t crops , as in Awande , but in the town
rice , which has become a s taple at least as importan t as the s e roo t
crop s , a l s o tended to be regarded as s trong .
Two men spoke o f swee t
potato as having bun ( bone ) , which has similar connotations to s tY'Ong.
Many people said that veg e table s were good for the body;
more
spec i fi c al l y , two said tha t they were good for the skin , to make i t
' smart ' , and two that they were good for the blood .
A 16-ye ar-old
boy in his s econd year at high .school summarised his views thus :
" I think thi s :
aibika , green leaves and things are to make
the body s trong , and the blood .
Things l ike taro , c as s ava ,
and swee t po ta to are to s trengthen the bones (s trongim bun) and banana . E ggs and kurnu make new bloo d .
11
A man with two children recalled what he had been taught at primary
school ( whi ch he attended to S tandard V) as follows :
"When we were at school , they tol d us this :
' When you ' ve
pee le d swee t potato , cook it first , and leave the water you mus tn ' t throw it out .
Drink i t with the sweet potato ,
your skin wil l become fat . • • When you ' ve cooked swe e t
potato , and i t ' s done , go an d get onion ( i . e . green onion)
and ripe tomato - get them and cut them up into the swe e t
The tomato and onion are only hal f cooked ;
when
po ta to .
That ' s what they
you eat them, your skin wil l be good . '
to l d u s . "
One man had h eard o f vitamins at s choo l ;
he had been tol d that
they were good for the skin , but too much of them would make one grow
old qui ckly .
He knew the y coul d be bought at the pharmacy , but did not
think o f them a s con s tituents of foods .
l part o f this extra dive r s i ty may have been due to idios yncrac ie s in
my respondents ' use of P i dgin , as compared to the vill age where mos t
o f the respons e s were translated b y o n e individual ( my in terpre ter } ,
into hi s personal P i dgin s tyl e and vocabulary .
Furthermore , my own
P i dgin improved throughout my fie ldwork .
69
The i de a that certain foods are particularly good for children
is wide spread in the urban group .
The mos t commonly mentioned foods
were kwrru or green vege tables ( several people used the term ' grin
vejtebe ls ' in their Pidgin vocabulary } , ripe banana , milk , swee t
potato , e gg s , pawpaw , tinned baby food , pumpkin , peanuts , rice
and
A man in hi s e arly twentie s , with two children and no formal
chi cke n .
education , wa s not certain about what foods were goo d to make children
grow, but had his own i deas :
" I don ' t know - I don ' t buy him s trong ( hard , solid? ) foods .
I buy pawpaw , and kwnu;
cook soup and mix it w ith meat ,
give him that
I buy chicken , take out its bones , cut i t
He e a ts that . "
up a n d cook it with soup .
•
. .
Men are o f ten direc tly involve d in fee ding their c hi ldren .
A 3 0-year
old road worke r , speaking o f tinned baby food for his third chi l d , a
boy o f 6 months ,
said :
" I buy it
1 8 toea for a tin .
I ' ve bought it four times
for this child .
I buy i t , cook pumpkin fir s t , then mix thi s
Mysel f , I taught my wife and she makes i t and give s i t to him.
I buy it on pay day . 11
•
•
S ome fa thers said that their c hi l dren s imply a te the s ame as
themse l ve s and their wives
but in smalle r quan titie s
This attitude
is simi lar to that whi ch prevail s in the vil lage , but the die t to which
it re fers is l ikely to be l e s s bulky , and the re fore more s atisf actory
for a c hi ld .
O f tho se who were a sked what foods harm the tee th , hal f mentioned
biscuits , and half of those blamed sweet biscuits
e specially ;
nearly
all said they had learned this at schoo l , and s aid that binatang ( a
general term for tiny animal s ) get into the tee th and make hol e s . Other
foods s aid by one or two people to harm the tee th include d :
the store
sugar from
s ugarcane , sa l t , b e te l nut , so ft drinks , ice blocks , soft
foods i n general , inc luding swee t po tato ,
and very hot sweet potato .
The l atter was a lesson told to one man by his tumbuna .
Four people
did not know o f any foods which might be bad for the tee th ;
two o ther s
said onl y t.� at o n e shoul d c l e an the teeth.
Cause s o f fatnes s
Ques tioning o n why many men grew fat i n the town produce d a
remarkable uni fo rmity o f response , w i th n early everyone blaming bee r ;
70
a 2 5- ye ar-old father o f two put i t l ike thi s :
" Beer , that ' s all .
I ' ve seen them , they drink beer every day ,
They drink too much , and get fat b el l i e s and fat
e ve ry wee k .
arse s . We don ' t drink much beer , we don ' t get too f at . "
Incidentally , h i s l a s t two s ta tements seem to be generally true of the
Fore in Lae .
Three people also blamed fatn e s s on too much food in genera l ,
one on too much ahus , and one on too much bread and cake .
Bun nating children
Bun nating was recognised to o cc ur at leas t as o ften in the town
as in the vil lage , and four men said it was more prevalent in the town ,
though no t among their own wantok .
S ixteen peopl e said it was the fault
o f parents for no t looking after thei r chi ldren we ll , e ither through
not giving the right foo d , or through letting dirt get into food or
onto the mo the r 1 s bre as ts .
For example , the roadworker who gives his
own chi l d tinned baby food , said :
" I think thei r parents don ' t give them good food , they j us t
swee t potato , and hard bananas , and
give them soli d foods :
They give them only
taro - things which don ' t have gris .
this foo d , and they don ' t add meat , or fish , o r free zer meat ,
or kumu .
They give thi s food and they eat i t and their skin
becomes s l ack and they become all bone
thi s is what we
think . 11
A drive r , with one small chil d o f his own , bl ame d poor hygiene :
" The i r parents don ' t cover up the child ' s foo d , so dirt
gets in the food and he e ats i t .
This i s what I think .
I ' ve heard doc tors s ay , i f you don ' t cover up the foo d
and the chi l d e ats i t , hi s bel l y wil l swel l up . 11
Other c au s e s o f bun nating are adultery by one of the c hild ' s
parents ( a l so mentioned in Awande ) , and the chil d eating food prepared
by hi s mother whi le she was mens truating.
A sel f- employed contract
labourer of about 3 0 e xp l ainedL
" In the village , we think about thi s ; when the s tomach is
painfu l , we say mens truating women have given food to the
chi ldren .
They ' ve e aten this foo d , and their bel l i e s swe ll
and become painful , they become bun nating , with taut bellies .
W e see this s icknes s , and women mus t not give food to us , o r
to the chi ldren
I n the town too .
This i s what our tumbuna
say . "
•
•
In the town , when a woman is menstruating she wil l s till sleep in the
house , but another woman in the househo l d , or her husband, will do the
cooking
•
71
Only four people o f fered no opinion on the cause of bun
There was l e s s confidence in suggesting cure s , howeve r .
sai d good foods
sweet potato
S ix people
cure the
foods with
A 2 4-year-old s toreman
Commis s ion
the
discouraged in P
of feeding bottles and
by the passage of the Baby Fee d Supply ( Control ) Act 1 97 7 .
the many social e ffec ts o f kuru was to make i t nec e s s ary , and
there fore cul tural l y acceptable , fo r men to take a maj o r role in
rearing smal l children whos e mothers had died of the disease ( See S .
Glas se , 1 9 6 2 )
•
72
.Morobe
P rovince , had mixed motive s :
11 I thought , my wife isn ' t from the same p l ac e a s me .
I
thought s he might leave me or something - suppo s e she
left me , I would look a f te r him mys e l f , with milk and
he
foo d . We c arried on l ike thi s , until this yea r ;
s topped drinking milk , and he eats sweet potato ( The
child is now 3 �) .
My wife too , she said , ' I c an ' t be
bo there d to look a fter him ( i . e . with bre a s t mil k ) ;
sometimes I wash my breas ts , sometime s I don ' t - he might
drink when they are dirty ' . ' 11 Thei r second chi ld , now
fourteen months , is breas t- fe d , because the doctors
disapproved of the bottle :
" The y said , ' Al l the children
looked after l ike this are bagarap ( harme d , damage d ) 1
When I used to take him to the hospital they were angry
with me . "
•
Approval o f bo ttle - feeding was usually based on casual observa
tion of taun-mePi , and European s .
Di sapproval , however , was o f ten the
resul t of hearing expli c i t warnings o f the dangers invo l ve d , and
several people had given up the use o f a bottle and teat for thi s
reason .
The l e s sons o f the hospital nurses are sometimes absorbed in
detail .
A young driver with a 9-month-old son who some t imes drinks
powdered milk from a cup , had this to say :
" The nurse s say , ' B e fore , you used to bring up chi ldren on
(mo ther s ) milk and they grew well , and you mus tn ' t do thi s
( bo ttle- fee ding ) . Whites have fridges and things in their
house s , they make up the milk and put i t in there , i t ' s all
righ t.
But you native ( si c ) women , when you buy it you
don t look after it properly , you throw i t around and dirt
get s in ;
you mus tn ' t use thes e gumi p Zas tik ( te a ts ) . You
Give the chi ld milk from a cup , pour i t o u t and
leave i t .
When the chi l d is a bit sick or some thing , my
wash i t . '
wi fe take s i t to the hospi tal and the nurse s talk l ike thi s . 11
The same s toreman I quoted earlier as pre ferring market and garden to s tore
foods had had the les son pas se d on by a wan to k training to be a teacher :
" They don ' t ge t much protein ( si c ) from thi s s to re milk .
I
don ' t know, but mother ' s milk has all sorts o f foods in i t ,
and they g e t i t dire c t from the mother , and get plenty o f
goo d protein . . H e said , ' We s tudied this , and mo ther ' s
milk i s better for children. 1,
He told me thi s , and from
the b eginning we j us t gave our children mother ' s milk .
One man heard warnings agains t bottle- feeding on the radio news : one from
his European employer ;
and one read it in the P i dgin weekly ,
TWO said they had l earned about i t from doctors or nur se s ;
1 Wanto k 1 •
o ther s did
no t speci fy thei r sources of information .
Diarrhoea
TWo course s of action are equally popular for the treatment o f
diarrhoea ;
one i s t o e a t taro , o r sago , o r both ;
the o the r , particul arly
73
for children , i s t o g o t o the hospital .
The re cita l of tokto k , and
rubbing a shes on the belly , bo th methods used by the twnbuna , were
mentioned a few time s , as in the group discus s ion I hel d with South
Fore men ;
one sa i d :
" There are two kinds of men .
Some wil l talk , and spit on
the chil d ' s be lly , and it will finish .
Some will get some
food , sago and taro , and give it to them, and the diarrhoea
will finish
In town , we j us t go to the hospi ta l . "
•
. .
The growing reliance on hospital treatment is nicely summa rised by the
high sc hool s tudent quoted earlier :
" They would j us t get ash from the fire , and give thi s
tok to k .
This way was the custom ( sic )
I think the old
men s till do it thi s way , and us , we ' re looking for a new
way of l i fe (painim nupe la laip ) :
we j u s t go to the
hospital and get medic ine . "
. •
Onl y three people described the ' sugar water ' tre a tment .
Hard b i s cuit
was sugges te d as a cure by four people , and aibika by two .
Food taboos
Food taboos for pregnant women were l e s s c ormnon in L ae than in
Awande .
E ight o f the six teen men with c hi ldren s aid that their wive s
had not followed any food taboo s in any o f their pregnanc i es .
avoided tinned meat and tinned fish;
wife to e at free zer meat ;
Cbca-Co l a .
Five had
one husband had forbidden hi s
one had forbidden tea and c o f fe e ;
and one
The l atter was the idea o f the s toreman , a S e venth Day
Adventis t , (SDA) who was unusual ly intere sted in the qual i ty of foods :
" I thought it ( Coca-Co l a ) was a bit s trong , l ike bee r .
I
think i t i s a bit sharp (pai t lik lik) , perhaps when they
I just
make it they put in some alcohol or something .
thought so mysel f , n o o n e t o l d me , so I said , ' You don ' t
drink this ' .
I gave her orange to drink . "
The app arent rel axation o f taboos may in some cases be a
consequence of marriage to coastal women , who , as far as I could gathe r ,
were not accustomed t o taboo s during pregnancy .
There were ten S DA ' s in the sample , nine o f them from two
neighbouring vil l ag e s in North Fore .
taboos li s te d e arlie r :
They were all sub j e c t to the SDA
pork , game , alcoho l , tea , co ffee and betel ;
several o f them ignored the taboo o n coffee .
Fear o f coas tal foods
An unexpec te d finding which emerged in the course of the first
few interviews was that many Fore migrants to Lae were a fraid o f c ertain
74
coastal foods , whi ch they believed cause d sickne s s e specially when they re
turne·d to the h ighlands .
These fears seemed to be of three kind s , with
some over l ap be tween each.
Firs t , many people be lieve d that malaria coul d be transmitted
through overripe frui t , in particular pawpaw and banana ;
was al so mentioned by two people ;
coa s tal pitpit
these foods were o ften avo ided for
this re ason , and i f e aten , were selec ted carefully .
The taxi-driver
from Awande , e ducated to S tandard VI , had heard o f thi s theory f rom
o ther men , an d had given up e ating pawpaw :
" I ' m a fraid o f getting malari a .
They say this mosquito l ays
eggs in the pawpaw - sometimes the pawpaw i s sof t .
S o I don ' t
e a t i t any mo re . "
Another man was a l so a£raid o f coastal pi tp i t ,
for s imi lar reasons :
"We ' re a fraid o f getting malaria from this , because mosqui toes
go inside when the pitpi t is b earin g , and leave urine (pispis )
inside , and we go back to our village and get sick
Bec ause
i t ' s a cold place and afterwards we ' ll get very sick , we don ' t
buy thi s , or p awpaws
We ' re afraid of ripe bananas too , but
the nurse s say it ' s good food for children , so we buy them and
give them to the children , but not too o f ten bec au s e of this
s i ckne s s . 11
.
•
•
.
•
•
No t everyone agreed about this , and mos t people said that afte r a few
A 3 0- year-old man who had
years at the coas t you can eat what you l ike .
been in Lae for seven and a hal f years said :
" Some people say , ' You ' ll get mal aria , you mus tn ' t e a t those
things . ' Some people s ay , ' It ' s as you like , i f you want to
eat , you c an . '
That ' s what they s ay
When I was s taying at
Bulolo , I got mal aria . When I went back to my
I
So now, I ' m l iving
staye d there and the malaria finishe d .
here , I don ' t get malaria anymore .
I t ' s completely finished .
So I e a t whatever foods I want . "
•
•
.
The few people I asked were not familiar with malarial prophylac tics
such a s chloroquine , wi th the exception of a young mother from S alamaua
who said she gave tablets to her two c hildren daily .
S eve ra l people ,
on the other hand , said that they had rec eived anti-malarial inj ections
at the Angau Hospital in Lae .
The se cond kind o f fear rel ated to some coas tal foods which
resemble the i r village
but are in some way differe n t ;
yams
of a ll kinds , and red pandanus (mari ta) were the commones t foods mentioned .
The sickn e s s caused b y these foods was described var iously a s mal aria and
shivering ( sik ma Zaria na skin guria) _, bun nating_, " j u s t s ickne s s u
taso Z ) , and , in the case of yams , boils on the skin .
( sik
Here is one account
75
collected during my group discuss ion with men from Iwaki ( S outh Fore ) ;
comparing red pandanus from Lae with that from their own area , they
said :
" I t ' s the same thing , but it ' s diff erent .
our place is cold ,
at the coast it ' s hot , so we don ' t eat it
If we eat it
here , then go back to the village and eat it there , at that
time we ' ll get s ick , bun nating , we o ften get this kind of
sickn e s s . "
.
•
.
A 3 5 -year-old man , three years in Lae , said :
" We ' re afraid of yams from the coast
No good we should
eat it and our l eg s or our skin should swell up or something . .
In the village , too , the old men c an make some s tori ( to the
yam s ) and then they ' ll plant them , and do all kind s of sorcery
Then if we eat them , we get big boi l s (buk) ,
to make them big .
on the fac e , skin , legs .
Then we go to the owner o f the garden
who planted the yams .
He ' ll spit on the boi l s and they ' ll be
f ini shed .
S o we ' re a fraid of these yams here - we ' re not
c lear about t heir owners . "
• . . •
The recurrence of the theme ,
plac e ;
' This i s a hot place , we come from a cold
if we eat foods here and then go home , we get s ick ' , may be
based on the observation of visitors to the town who contract malaria
there , but exhibit the symptoms only when they have gone hom e .
The third kind of fear is simply fear of the unfamil iar , and in
particular of the more exotic foods such as turtl e , crab , l arge fish ,
and l izards ;
a f ew people were a fraid of eating sago .
A 1 7 -ye ar-old ' s
fear of eating turtle was expres s ed thu s :
" I ' m afraid .
I don ' t want to eat that kind o f thing .
I don ' t
want to get sick .
Myse l f , I think it ' s no good my skin should
grow short ( hunching his arms and shoulder s in i l lu stration ) .
Mys e l f , I feel thi s , so I don ' t l ike to eat it . "
Fear of c oastal food s , then , ranges from spe c i f ic fears bas ed
on quite logical , if mistaken beliefs ( e . g . mosquito egg s -fruit-malari a ) ,
through an amorphous set of bel iefs which to the European observer seem
le s s rational and coherent , to a general fear of pecul iar and unfamiliar
foods .
Two or three people expre s s ed no fears whatsoever of coasta l
foods
Beliefs and preferences regarding particular foods
a . Root c rops , bananas , sago , breadfruit .
Sweet potato is still popular
in the town , but is not the indispensabl e staple which it is in the
vil lage .
One third of the
not at all while in Lae .
respondents said that they ate it rarely or
S everal added that they find it d i f ficult to
76
eat for several weeks after they return to the village , because it
' sticks in the throat ' , and their ' stomachs are too small ' .
Taro , both taro tru and taro kongkong , are a s popul ar a s sweet
potato , be ing r eadily available at the market and easy to grow .
There
is no f e ar of coasta l taro .
Cas sava and cooking banana are both used regular l y ;
yam is l e s s
popular , some people fearing it , and some c laiming its t a s t e i s infer ior
to vi llage yam .
S ago is a s trong food , but one which only a few people use
regularly .
I t i s already familiar to migrants from the extreme south
of the Fore region , where it is grown .
S everal men wer e introduced to
it by their coastal wives and enj oy it from time to time .
About half
the sample had tried it and disliked it , or had never tried it .
Bread fruit seeds are s trong food , l iked by some but not by
others .
The flesh of the varieties available at Lae is apparently not
good to e at ;
one man compared it unfavourably with the bre adfruit he
had e aten at school on Karkar I s land , near Madang .
b . Nuts .
Red pandanus and pandanus nuts are eaten only if they have
been brought down from the Eastern Highland s .
Loca l red pandanus i s
widely feare d , while local pandanus nuts a r e too tough t o eat .
Peanuts are a popular snack , usually eaten r aw .
The ga lip nut
is a seas onal delicacy which only a few people know .
Coconuts are universally liked , both in the cirai form to ' grease '
food , and as kulau , drunk to quench thirst .
Eating the meat of cirai
coconuts can c ause diarrhoea .
Sugarcane i s much l e s s swit in Lae than
c.
in the village ;
it grows thinner and shorter , and is tougher to chew .
Neverthel e s s , it is quite a popular item .
Corn i s similarly tougher in town than i n the village , because
of the heat .
Too much can c ause diarrhoea .
Of the green l eave s , pumpkin and choko shoots are the best l iked ;
aibika , and Chinese and common cabbage s are a l so popular .
are an acquired taste ;
many find them too bitter .
Tulip leaves
Green onions are
popular , but some prefer the round onions which c an be bought in the
supermarkets .
77
Coastal pitpit i s feared by some people , but eaten b y others ,
e special l y the S outh Fore to whom it is already famil iar from the
village .
Pumpkins are generally l iked , as are the local • yard-long ' beans ;
haricot beans are not often available .
Tomatoes are not o ften bought or
grown .
Of the fruits , pawpaw , pineapple , ripe banana , guava , mango and
muli ( orange s , lemons , grapefruits e tc . ) are l iked , though there is said
to be some danger from overripe fruit , as discus sed above .
Some people
buy expensive imported apple s and oranges from the supermarkets .
d . Fre sh meat and egg s .
Pork is not much l iked in town ;
i t is taboo to
Seventh Day Adventis ts in any cas e , and other peop le tend to prefer the
other meats ;
there i s some mistrust o f local pork , and some men had
heard a story about someone recently being impri soned for butchering
and cooking their own child , and sell ing it in the market as pig meat .
' Freez er meat 1
is mos tly beef and chicken ;
mo st popular meat , though rather expens ive .
bought fresh chickens at the market
the latter is the
One household r egular ly
to cook in mumu-s tyle
Fre s h and smoked fish taste good , but many people f ind their
preparation too much bother .
S hel l f i sh and prawns are l iked by a few peopl e , but feared by
many .
Two men had acquired a l iking for prawns while working in a
Chinese restaurant .
e . Common store foods .
Ric e is an urban staple equal in importance to
all the root crops combined ;
it tends to be thought of as s trong , but
is quite often eaten together with sweet potato or taro .
Bread is a r egular breakfast food ;
spreads inc lude butter ,
peanut butter , spaghetti , tinned meat , baked beans , tomato sauce and j am but all these are expensive , so it i s often eaten alone .
Hard biscuits often substitute for bread ;
with sweetened ti
they make a s trong breakfast .
Flour is s trong , whether bought as ready-made s kon
or fried at
home .
f.
Ti ( te a , coffee and milo ) i s always
sweetened with white sugar , and o ften tinned evaporated milk is added .
78
I t makes a good breakfast with bread or bi scuits , i s a popular item
during work break s , and is drunk by all the family at night .
good f o r
Milo i s
S eventh Day Adventists , who are supposed t o take neither tea
nor coffee , but tend to ignore the latter taboo .
Tea itsel f is disliked
by many peopl e , who f ind it bitter .
Aerated soft drinks are extremely popular , Coca-cola most of all .
They are drunk at the lunch break , and when going round town at weekend s .
They are not really
s trong , but ' de ceive the stomach ' into feel ing full
for a while .
Beer i s taboo to all SDAs , and of the re s t only seven men admitted to
drinking it o ften or even occasionally .
Many spoke of its bad e f fects ,
and of the problem of drunkenness among other migrant groups .
Of the hot snack foods , f ish and c hips and chicken and chips are
much liked , though chips at 35 toea a portion are too expensive . Such foods are
they are eaten for
not
e specially when going around
pies
meat bal l s
hot sausages
a
commonest
of lunch
men .
I c e-c ream , ice blocks
are popular snacks for
the first two are good
is hot .
Among Fore men in Lae , the distinct ion between traditional and
modern food beliefs exists as it does in Awand e , but in Lae modern
beliefs are more prevalent than in the v i l l age .
The c ategory of good
foods for the body has expanded to include many vegetabl e s , and abus
such as freezer meat ;
awarenes s of the dangers of bottle-feeding and of
unhygenic food preparation is more widespread ;
c linics and hospita l s
a r e looked to f o r advice as wel l a s treatment .
However , a new set o f
bel ie f s h a s emerged in relation to particular c oa stal food s :
these
beliefs rest partly on traditional fears o f sorcery and magic , and
partly on fragments of received s c ientific knowledge , such as that
relating to mosquitoes and malaria .
In the town the range of readily avai lable foods is wider than
in the villag e , and tastes and preferenc e s are correspondingly more
varied .
Ric e ranks with sweet potato and taro as one of the most
79
popular s tapl e foods , and many urban Fore have come t o pre fer its taste
and texture to that o f their traditiona l stapl e .
Fresh meat , and snack
foods o f all sorts are universall y popular ; c ertain s tore items like
spaghetti , fresh eggs , and j am are l iked by some individua l s , and
ignored by or unknown to others .
Some people develop a strong l iking
for a number of coastal foods , such as coconut and fre sh f i sh , while
other people dislike or mi strust them and maintain their accustomed
preferences .
All the Fore adults now l iving in Lae were brought up in the
villag e environment , and many of them will probably return to it for the
latter part of their live s , taking some of the ir urban habits and
attitudes with them .
However , tho s e who remain in the town wil l g ive
rise to a new generation of Fore and part-Fore children born and raised
in Lae .
The food habits and preferenc e s of this new g eneration wil l
probably b e influenced l e s s b y traditional Fore culture than b y factors
which affect all cultural groups in the urban environment :
the nature
of the diver se food resourc e s , both natural and proc e s s ed ;
the visible
example of thousands of other urban consumers from varying socio
economic and cultural backgrounds ;
advertising and sales techniques ;
via schools , c lini c s and the media .
the pres sures of commerc ia l
and the nutritional advice relayed
Thes e factors wil l be considered
in more detail in the di scu s s ion following the next chapter , which deal s
with women ' s attitude s and b el i e f s regarding infant feeding, in Awande
and Lae .
80
CHAPTER 6 1
Introduction
Cultural variation in infant feeding practic e s in Papua New
Guinea has been quite widely reporte d , mos t c omprehensively i n a s tudy
by Oomen and Mal c o lm ( 1 95 8 ) which dea l t with s ix contrasting rural
l oc ations throughout the island of New Guine a .
Becroft ( 19 6 7 a and b )
s tudied child-re aring practices among highlanders a t B aiyer Rive r ,
giving particular attention to breast-feeding .
In general , more
information is available on practi ces than on underlying attitudes and
belief s , and there is l i ttle data on the urban situation .
Rawlinson ( 19 77 ) undertook a s tudy " to a s se s s the reception o f
Child Health Record Booklets b y New Guinea Highlands women and to
investigate the ir understanding of Key Nutrition and Hea lth c oncepts
which underpi n the e f fe ctive use of the booklets " .
She also inves ti gated
the unders tanding of the booklets by a group of health worke r s .
On the
basis of s tandardised interviews with forty-six uneducated High land
mothers attending the Family Health C linic at Goroka
, she
s tate s :
" Many uneducated mothers do not see themse lves in an active
role as a promoter of chi l d development . Although mos t had
received nutrition education , child feeding s t i l l appears to
be contro l le d by demand concepts rather than by need concepts
which e ducation attempts to ins ti l . "
I n one o f the few published s tudie s o f nutrition in an urban
population in Papua New Guinea (Hitchcock and Oram, 1 96 7 ) , Hitc hcock
inc ludes an appendix on infant feeding , and another on the means of
improving nutritio n , among the inhabitants o f the Rabia Camp migrant
settlement in Port Moresby .
She found that food intake appeared to be
insufficient in total quantity , and s ugge s ts that :
"A rise in real income is probably the most important pre
requis i te for the succ e s s of any nutrition improvement
program
It is difficult to find , among the usua l agencie s ,
one through which suc h a program could operate for the camp
Any program must be aimed towards the adult women responsible
for the c ooking and for making many o f the food purchase s but
•
•
.
•
.
l Mos t of this chapter was written by Eluned R . Jeffries , who collecte d
all the d a t a o n which i t i s based .
.
81
i t i s equally important that the men b e included and
persuaded to give their support to the program . " ( ibid . ,
p . 11 7 ) .
H i tc hcock does not make any direct comparisons between rural and urban
conditions , and , as already stated , it is in this re spect that the current
s tudy has i t s particul ar value .
Twenty interviews were carried o ut with women in Awande , a l l but
one of thes e through an interpreter , a teenage vil lage girl who had
The interviews were
learned to speak Pidgin during a s tay at the coas t .
all tape recorde d .
In s ome case s , men were present for part o f the
interview and o ften made comments , which largely agreed with the women ' s .
On the whole looking after small children i s c onside re d the woman ' s
responsi bi l i ty , and children do not spend much time with their fathers
until a fter they are weaned ;
4- and 5 -year-olds are o ften s ee n to spend
more time w ith their fathers than with thei r mothe r s .
The sample was not selected in a s tric tly random fashion , .but an
attempt was made to include as many of the d ifferent hamlets as poss ible ,
and to c over a wide range of ages and c onditions
women were
own ;
grandmothers
Although seven of the
mo s t of these s ti l l had young children of their
there were very few women in the vi llage over fifty , this being the
generation which was mos t severely affecte d by kuru .
All the women were happy to be interviewe d , and mo s t spoke
readily , though one or two of the younger women were rather shy .
The
format o f the interview was flexible to all ow topics to be covered if the
informant rais ed them, but i t tended to follow a general pattern .
topics c overed were :
The
suitable foods for sma l l chil dren , the introduc tion
of solid foods , the treatment of diarrhoea and bun nating , taboos and
special food s in pregnancy and lactation , weaning practices , and attitudes
to the Maternal and Child Health Clinic .
Awande :
findings
Good foods for children
The main finding was that there is no special theory or practice
of i nfant feeding .
Chi ldren are not perceived to have need s that dif fer
from thos e of adults , nor are they consi dered partic ularly vulnerable .
82
When asked what was good food for young children , a mother would
rep ly :
"When the child i s young , i t j us t drinks milk .
I t goes on
doing thi s , gets
and bigge r , then it eats sweet
potato . "
The best foods for small chi ldren were s aid to be sweet potato ,
kumu , sugarcane and banana , with four mothers mentioning rice and fish ,
one mentioning p ig , and one mentioning biscuits and cheesepops
There
was no differentiation made between what children eat , and what they
should eat .
Nor were any foods mentioned that children should
eat ,
except i n the case o f pig , where opinions were very mixed a s t o whether
the l ean mea t , the fat , both , or neither should be given to smal l
A few women spontaneous ly said that pig
body strong ,
the skin fat .
The
and eats swe e t potato . We go
sweet potato , take
with us , then
or sweet potato , he can have i t .
Midday
a fternoon , he can e at .
he
When the women were walking some distance t o a garden they tended to take
only those childre n , up to 6 or 8 months old , who were still smal l enough
to be carrie d in a bi Zum ( ne t bag) hung from the head .
Thus a s lightly
older child who was still dependent on breast milk for mos t of his energy
intake might be l e ft in the care of o l de r children or another woman for
perhaps s ix hours a t a time .
83
I n order t o see how mothers l inked their i deas of feeding and
health, they were asked what they would do for a c hi ld with diarrhoea ,
and for a child who had s ome s ickne s s and then bec ame bun nating .
For diarrhoea , the universal remedy i s taro roasted in the fire ,
and then peeled ;
hospi tal .
only three mothers s ai d they would take the chi l d to
I f spe ci fically que s tioned about s tore foods as aure s , mos t
mentioned e ither hard bi s cuit or ' sugar wate r ' with or without salt .
The latter treatment has been learnt by many mothers , but some alaim i t
a s their own i de a rather than something advocated b y th e c l inic nurses .
in Awande ;
This s e l f- re l i ant attitude i s very
one i s not
taugh t , e i ther by other women or by outsi de sources , how to look a fter
chil dre n :
each mo ther claims to follow her own way , and knows how to
c ope .
many mothers mentioned kwnu as be ing useful ,
To cure bun
and recourse to tradi tional remedies
quite
" We ' ve got p lenty o f
pig , the c hild will eat and
helpful , plenty o f
who
The o l de s t
was
probably
when she said ,
the re '
rice and fish , w e g e t these
sweet potato , and give them to the child and
becomes
Before , it used to be
lot of
now good food has come and we can buy
and
cook them
he e ats and
hard work , but
give it to them.
Few women made any reference to clean lines s in food preparation or
in the home genera l ly , and it was not
was very prevalent i n the vi llage .
to d i scove r that s c abies
A s triking exception was the mother
of two o f the fattes t and healthies t- looking young children in Awande
She was aware of the nee d for good food and for regular feeding , and
o ften i nc luded ri ce and fish in the household's diet , but she attributed
the s uperior growth of her children mainly to her insi s tence on c lean
line s s :
" I always was h my hands before I give food to the children .
And I wash my children ' s hands , and then they eat . Al l the
time I do thi s , and wash my breasts , and so on . "
84
Foods in pregnancy and l actation
There did no t seem to be any connec tion made between eating
good foods in pregnancy and bearing a heal thy baby .
A taboo on tinned
fish was mention e d by al l mo thers , al though some said they did not
follow the taboo themse lve s , particul arly in l ater pregnancie s .
Thi s
appears to b e equivalent to the o l d taboo mentioned b y a couple o f
women agains t eating kwrru o r drinking water from a narrow bamboo .
The
tin or bamboo was likened to the woman ' s womb , in being ' closed ' or
' fas tened ' .
Eating tinned food woul d , by a k in d o f imitative pro ce s s ,
lead to a hard labour ( see pp . 61 - 6 3 above ) .
No special food i s required at the time o f birth, though the
other women wi l l bring plen ty o f food to the new mother while s he remains
in the Zik lik haus , and after a couple o f days a mwrru wil l be held to
mark the birth .
N o worries were expre s s ed about the mil k supply , but it was
said to be good to chew plenty of sugarcane and to drink tea with sugar
from the s to re .
B reas tmilk was cons idered a drink rather than a foo d :
it was important for the mo ther t o have "planti wara i s tap insai t long
susu" ( "plent¥
o f ' wa ter ' in the mi lk " ) .
Babies are entirel y breas tfed for the firs t few months , and
whil e mos t o f thes e babie s look chubby and healthy , they do not s eem to
receive much immuni ty from the ubiquitous kus ( cough and runny nos e ) .
The mo ther s worry about thi s in thei r young bab ie s , and some times those
only a coup le of weeks o l d are taken to hospi tal for treatment .
Weaning p racti c e s
B reastmilk i s s ee n a s the natural food f o r small children , and
in theory i s ava i lable as o ften as the child wants i t , until he deci de s
t o wean hims e l f .
This 1 Zaik bi long pikinini ' however , may be abrup tly
terminated when the mo ther becomes pregnant again .
Traditional ly , there
was a taboo on interco urse for three to four years after the birth of a
child .
Al though a child wil l s ti l l b e bre a s tfed for this long i f the
mo ther doe s not become pregnant , permanent cohab itation o f man and wi fe
has reduced the usual birth interval to two or three year s .
When a
woman i s pregn an t , she may wean her previous child by going away for a
while , but more o f ten she will continually try to push i t away from the
breast when i t trie s to drink .
Mother s o ften said this was dif ficul t ,
85
and some time s the birth o f the new baby i s the terminating incident :
" A ch ild eats swee t potato , drinks mi lk , and then when
another baby come s , he will leave the milk .
He l ike s to
drink , but the mother s ays , ' You go ! ' , and pushes him away .
When his mother is pregnant , he fights to go on drinking ,
but when the new baby come s , then the b i g one i s pushed
away . "
On one occasion , we observed an o lder chi ld bre a st feeding whi le its
3 -month-old s i s ter was a sleep , but this practice was said to be unusua l .
However , l ac tating mo thers en j oy breastfeeding the small babies o f o ther
mothe rs , and we obs erved thi s quite o ften .
I t i s not c on s i de red harmful to bre astfeed whi le pregnant .
If
a chi l d has to be weaned abruptly on the birth o f a s ibling , there i s
no concern that the displaced child wil l suffe r , so long a s i t i s e ating
1
p lenty of sweet potato •
Seve ral o f the mo thers regularly attended the Maternal and Chi ld
Hea l th C l inic which vis i ts Awande monthly , but said they were not to ld
anything by the nur se s , who j us t wei ghed the children .
One husband
interpo sed as fol lows :
" Do you have thi s in your coun try , people who come and wei gh
the children?
They come here , and sometimes they bikmausim
( bo s s , shout at ) the women , and tel l them what food to give .
But we know how to look a fter the children , to give them food
so they grow wel l .
Taro i s a goo d foo d , and we give i t to the
chil dren , and they eat i t , but they ( the nur se s ) s ay the children
are fee l ing hungry now .
They s ay swee t potato , water, i s not
eno ugh , you mus t give them l o ts o f di ffe rent kinds o f foo d or
they will become bun nating . "
•
.
.
The advice o f the c l inic nurse s doe s no t s eem to be taken s eriously by
many o f the mothe r s , for two main reason s .
One , as we have seen , i s
that women tend t o adopt a sel f-reliant attitude t o infant feeding , and
do not generally we lcome the advice of outs ide r s .
probably the tone in which the advic e i s given :
A s econd rea son i s
i t tends t o take the
1 No one mentioned the application o f repellen t subs tance s to the breasts
s . Glasse ( 1 9 6 3 ) implie s that thi s was normal
as a method of weaning .
pra c ti ce among the S outh Fore , but S oren sen ( 19 7 6 ) c laims that i t
occurred only under special circumstance s s uch as the impending b irth
o f a siblin g , and even in this case a mother might pre fer feeding both
children to forcibly weaning the e l der .
86
form o f a sharp , short le cture , rather than a dis cussion ;
furthermore ,
it i s always given in P i dgin , which many o f the women do not unde rs tand
well .: 1
The findings show that there i s consi de rabl e varie ty in women ' s
atti tude s , be liefs
and prac tices in in fant feedin g .
S ome are more
responsive than other s to new i deas and outs i de advice , and some more
ready to experiment with new foods or feeding technique s .
B earing in
mind the e xi s tence of these individual di ffe rences , the following
generalisations can be made .
In spite o f the a ttempts by c linic nurse s to convince mothers
of the nee d for frequent feeding and a more varied diet , traditional
attitude s to infant feeding s till prevail
They are based on the
a s sumption that , a fter a period o f breastfeeding , children can develop
a die t
o f swee t potato ,
abus
a
Chee sepops
of an interview
not only
( tinned fi sh,
in the He i t
"When we go to wei gh the child , they say ,
is
growing l ike this - i t goe s down , i t goe s up ' ( indicating
growth line ) .
This mark , they say , ' I f this goe s up , your
child i s growing big;
if it goe s down , the chi ld ' s skin i s
They tel l us thi s kind of thing .
a bit l o ose . 1
seems likely that thos e children who can be s t make the i r demands heard
and fel t (not infrequently by displays of temper) will receive more food
than those who are more placi d .
Thus the chil d who is congenital l y weak ,
or s uf fering from a debilitating infection , i s at a double disadvantage
and hi s or her chance s of survival are much reduced .
11
87
A s for the treatment o f nutriti on-re lated conditions s uch as
diarrhoea or bun
mos t women in Awande are very willing to use
the MCH c l in i c or the Okapa Hospi tal , at the same time a s trying the
tradi tional remedie s .
The cl inic i s not general ly seen as a source of
advice , though regul ar attenders presumably gain some sense o f
rea s surance from the monthly weighing o f their chi l dren .
Cle ar ly , traditional attitudes and practices are changing in
Awande , under the in f luence s o f new i deas and new foods
The p ro ce s s
can b e e xpe cted t o continue as e ducation, h ealth s e rvic e s , and o ther
con tacts with the outsi de world expan d .
In Lae
carried out .
seven teen interviews involving twenty-three women were
Two of the women were from Kainan tu , and one
Hengano fi
o the rs
(both di s tric t s in the E a s te rn H i ghlands )
Fore
and
The intervi ews
all but
mo ther had a
breas tfeeding .
one family
All
some land , e i ther by the house or in the bush , where they grew vegetable s ,
and al l the husbands were emp loye d .
I n these respects they were
privileged than many town-dwellers .
The o rder
Awande
which the ques tions were a sked was flexibl e , a s in
but the content was fai rly uni form .
good food for small childre n ;
ho spital attendance ;
to bottle�fee ding ;
foods ;
The topics covered were
the introduction of foo d ;
treatment of diarrhoea and bun
pregnancy , l ac tation and weaning ;
and atti tude s to coas tal foods .
clinic and
attitude s
s tore and snack
S ince the conten t of the inte r
views was no t quite the same as in Awande , the findings are reported
under s l i ghtly di fferent headings .
88
Good food s an d fee ding p rac tices for young children
Good food for small children meant a mixed diet , with so ft foods
firs t , then a progres s ion to an adult-type diet .
Children rece ive d
thei r portions o n their own plate s , and mos t a l so had the i r own cup and
spoon .
Ripe banana was mentioned sixteen times as a good food for small
chil dre n , sweet potato ten time s , and k:urnu nine time s ;
pumpkin e a ch five time s ;
eggs three time s ;
rice , p awpaw and
and tinned baby food and
tinned f i sh twice .
S everal mothers said you should s tart solid food at four months ,
o thers at five or s ix month s ;
e ruption o f teeth .
o ccasionally the answer mentioned the
Mo s t mo thers sai d thei r children wanted to eat three
time s a day , mo rning , midday and afternoon ;
a few expre ssed concern
that thei r children did no t want to eat thi s o ften and were becoming
thin .
S ome mo thers gave detailed de scriptions o f how they prepared
food for their small children .
nur se s , and o ther sour ce s ;
They had l earnt how to do thi s from
for example :
"We get pumpkin and banana , and mix it up with milk - milk
like mothe r ' s milk . We get i t and pour it in , mix i t up
with banana , pumpkin , eggs , give i t to the children
I
used to work for a European woman with four childre n , and
she taught me how to make the foo d . "
.
•
.
Clin i c s and hospi tal
Nine mothers s ai d they were going regularly to an MCH c l ini c ,
and two o ther s were taking a child regularly to the ho spi ta l .
Others
said that they u s ed to go , but had s topped when thei r children were a
year or two o l d .
A few sai d that the nurs e s j u s t weighed the babies ,
but mos t said that they received nutri tional advice , which put the
emphasis on a mixture o f local vegetables and fru i t , and tinned fish .
Asked whether the nurses s aid anything about food , one mother answered
as follows :
"Yes .
They s ay , ' What i s he ea ting? 1 and I tell them . When
he was eating swee t potato , they said , ' Give him pawpaw , and
ripe banana , get tinned fish, and pour the wara ( fi s h o i l ? )
in to h is food ' , and I d i d as they s ai d . "
One woman had re cently attended a mobile cooking demons tration
89
Her account
by some nurse s , near her home in the Taraka S e ttlement .
is worth quoting at length , because it illustrates how succe s s ful suc h
education c a n b e i f it reaches those who are keen t o learn :
" The nurs e s talked to us the day b efore yes terday .
They
came here , by the church , all we women gathered together and
they taught us about cooking food for children
The nur s e s
tol d us women t o fetch foo d , the chil dren ' s plate s and spoons .
One woman fetched sweet potato , one taro , one banana , one kumu ,
aibika , Chine se taro . Then we went to the home of one woman .
They washed their hands , then the nurse s showed u s :
they
pee led the sweet potato , put water with i t , cooked i t . We
s tayed watching . When it had f1nished boi ling , they shared
it o ut .
( Later) I came back and s aw them getting onion s ,
kumu , aibika . There weren ' t all that many women . The food
was cooking in a s aucepan .
S ome meat and fish was mixed in
with the sweet po tato , taro and banana .
I t was a l l mixed
till it was very so ft .
They said , 1 Now you mus t give i t to
the children . '
That ' s how they taught us
They say ' Don ' t
give j us t one kind o f food .
Get kumu , swe e t potato , taro ,
banana
if you give j us t sweet pota to , they won ' t get good
bodi e s , they 1 ll get s i ck . Pumpkin too .
Ge t them all , cook
the m , eat them togethe r . '
When a woman knows how to look
a f te r her c hi ldren , thei r weight goe s up .
Some women ' s
children are bun nating , their weight goe s down . "
•
•
•
.
.
•
This degree o f in te re s t was exceptional , but there was plenty o f evidence
of the inf luence of nutrition education through the c linic s .
The
hospi tal , which for some mother s meant quite a long j ourne y , was al so
regarded as a ready source o f help and advice .
Diarrhoea and bun nating
Mos t mothers s ai d they would take a c hild with diarrhoea to the
hospital .
Nearly everyone mentioned the importance o f giving p lenty o f
water t o drink , and many de s cribed how to boi l the water and mix in
sa l t and sugar be fore giving it to the child .
One mother , re cently
ar rived from the vill age , re commended Fanta for a chi l d wi th diarrhoea .
Opinion s on underweight chi ldren were in marked contras t to
those in the vil lage
Seve ral women ins i s te d that it was the p arents '
faul t , fo r no t c aring for the children prope rly , and g iving them the
wrong food;
one mo ther put i t l ike this :
" The y don ' t know what food
They give them taro
them .
that . We know how to look
al l kinds o f food from the
to give them or how to look a f ter
or sweet potato or banana , j us t
a fter our children , and give them
s to re and the marke t . "
90
Four mo thers attributed b wi nating directly t o bottl e- feeding, and
very few people thought bottle - feeding was good .
Many under s tood the
problem o f clean l ines s in its preparation , like the woman quoted
e arlie r , who had hers e l f worked for a European :
" Fo r European women , who have everything for mixing it and
giving i t , i t ' s all right .
For us kanaka 1 , we c an ' t get
I f a woman c an get o ut all the dirt be fore
things c lean .
mixing up the milk , it ' s all right . "
A couple o f women who had tried bo ttle- feeding had abandoned
the practi ce af te r b eing severe ly scolded by the clinic nur se s .
One
had been bottl e- feeding a toddler with T . B . :
" I used to do thi s , but the nurse s were c ro s s with me so I
left i t .
They sai d , ' You ' ve got your own milk , you mustn ' t
do thi s . '
He was weaned, but the baby was drinking .
Now
the two drink together ;
he ( the o lde r child) doe sn ' t drink
in the day , j us t at night .
n
One woman in the s ample was c urrently bo ttl e - feeding her 10-mon th-old
infan t ;
the mo ther had gone into hospital t o have h e r spleen removed
afte r an accident , when the child was only five months
s upply had dri e d up .
and her mi lk
The child was now seriously underwei ght , de spite
the mo the r ' s e fforts to feed him four times a day , and he frequently
had diarrhoea .
Another woman had partially bo ttl e - fe d her fifth child
because her own mil k s upply was inadequate .
The child was put onto
solids e arly , and at the time o f the interview , at 1 8 months , had l e ft
the bo ttle but s ti l l sucked at the bre a s t o c casionally .
When p regnant , few women followed any taboos , which were
thought o f as s omething for the vil l age and the older generation .
woman was a sked about the taboo on tinned fish ;
One
she hersel f had been
pregn an t in the vil lage , but said :
" Th at ' s a custom o f the twnbwia ;
you can ' t bel ieve thei r talk .
I a te i t , and I didn ' t lis ten to their talk .
I t ( tinned fi sh)
is abus for me , that ' s what I said to them. They are j u s t
foo l in g . "
lKanaka :
a term o f ten used derogatorily by urban-dwe llers to de s c ribe
unsophis ticate d rural people ;
here presumably being used to re fer to
' us village women in town ' .
91
A few women were S eventh Da y Adventists , a n d were never allowed
to use tea or c o f fee , tobacco , be tel , pork or game .
pregnant had avo ided tinned fis h , yam and sago .
One woman when
Yam and s ago a re two
o f the c oa s tal foods that are wide ly suspec ted o f c ausing s ickness either malaria or non- spec i fi c ' swe l l ing up ' - i f eaten too soon after
coming to Lae .
Famil i ar foods s uc h as sweet potato , banana and taro
are readi ly e aten , and mo s t people soon become very fond of c oconut ,
using it to ' grease '
food in the coas tal fashion .
In pregnancy , many people had individual dislike s , s uc h as sweet
potato o r rice , and mos t said they quickly fel t full up .
said they ate p lenty of dbus , kumu and tinned fish;
Seve ral people
but the only person
who clearly linked thi s to the s i ze and hea l th of the baby was a
Kainantu woman , married to a coas tal man , who j oine d in an interview :
" I f we j us t eat swee t potato , the baby doe sn ' t get gris .
We e at abus, kumu , ripe banana :
thi s sort of food give s
gris to the baby .
11
Many mo ther s recormnended plen ty of fluids
drinks , to encourage lactation ;
obvious anxiety ove r thi s .
espe c ially milk-based
but as in the vi l l age ,
there was l i ttle
There was no apparent trend towards earlier
, whi ch in theory i s s ti l l " 'laik bi fong
A c oupl e o f
mo thers said that the milk i s n o longer good once the mother becomes
pregnan t .
These are accepted as a normal part o f the diet , and are no t the
luxurie s that they are in the village .
Children are given a l l kinds o f
snacks when the family goe s around town a t weekends , including i ce
blocks , i ce - c ream , fi sh and chip s , meat pie s , soft drink s , c hee s epop s ,
and biscuits .
One mother said the nurses had told her not to give
cheesepops and b i s cui ts bec ause they rot the teeth , so s he had s topped .
Few mo the rs were que s tioned dire c tly about thi s , and only one s aid she
had heard of i t .
S na ck foods i n general are e n j oyed a s a part o f the
outin g , and are not thought of in terms o f good or bad food .
Tinned baby foo d , on the o ther hand , is cons idered good food .
Only four mo thers had never tried i t , and ten said they used i t
1 But s e e Chapter 1 3 ;
there i s some evidenc e o f a s l i ght tendency towards
earlier we aning in the town as compared to the village .
92
regularly .
Some mothers s aid one child l iked i t , another did not .
Mos t people did no t know exactly what was i n the tins - one mother
sugges te d sweet potato , kwnu and pig fat - and the abs ence of picture s
on the tins mus t have made choos ing a haphazard proce s s .
Lae :
Sununary and conc lusions
The Fore women in Lae repre sent a trans itional s tage be tween
rural and full urban l i fe .
Few have been in the town for longer than
five year s , and n early all go home to the village from time to time .
In town they rece ive vis i ts from wantok who bring e agerly accep ted gifts
of village food .
While many of the women appre c iate the advantages of
town-dwe lling , and a regular c as h income , mos t of them long for the
plen ti ful ' free ' vil l age foo d , and what they see as the hea l thier
c l imate o f the highlands .
Overa l l , there i s a s trikingly higher leve l of awarene s s of the
nutritional needs o f young children than in Awande .
For example , the
use of tinned baby foo d , while neither an economical prac tice , ncr one
encouraged by c l ini c s , doe s sugge s t that urban parents are at leas t
aware of the need for del iberate attention to thei r youn g children ' s
die ts .
I t was o f ten s tated that i f children did not grow well they were
no t being prope rly cared for , or had some si cknes s which needed treating
at the hospi tal .
The se l f- suffi cient attitude typical of Awande mother s
h a s in mos t women b een replaced by a readines s t o absorb the teaching
o f nur s e s and doc tors , whose advice was o ften repeated in some detail .
A mo re varied diet for children i s encouraged no t onl y by
nutrition education , but also by the wide range of foods available in
Lae .
Sweet potato and kwnu are s till conside red the mos t important
foods , but rice , t inned fish , tinned and fres h meat , eggs , and milk are
all popular .
Howeve r , the indulgent attitude towards children ' s
reque s ts , which was noted in the vil l age as well , leads to
frequent consumption of re lativel y expens ive snack foods , who s e poor
nutritional value is not general ly recogni sed by the mothers .
As women
grow more accus tomed to urban li fe , their attitude s to foods and child
feeding practice s wil l continue to change .
s cope for further education an d advice .
There i s s till plenty o f
93
FOOD BELIEFS AND PREFERENCES I N THEI R E COLOGICAL SETTING
Two general trends are apparent i n the findings reported above ,
for both vil lage and town , and for women as wel l as men .
The first
trend i s towards an increas ing c onsciousne s s o f the s i gni ficance of
food to hea l th ;
the second trend i s towards an increasing range and
diversity of food p re ference s .
To c onclude Part I I I , thes e trends wil l
be dis cussed i n terms o f the re lationship between vil l age and town , the
relationship between the sexe s , the influence o f s c hools and c lini c s ,
the rol e o f adve rti sing and the me di a , the nutritional imp l ic ations o f
the obs e rvations , and the relationship o f food be lie fs and pre ferences
to food c onsumption and food res ources .
This discussion is impli citly
based on the conceptual model shown in Figure 1 (p . 8 ) , re ference to
which may c lari fy the main points .
The relationship between vil lage and town
Tha t Fore food belie fs and p re fe rences should be exhibiting
s imi lar trends in both vil l age and town is a r e sult of s everal fac tors
c ommon to both environments .
First , the adult Fore now l iving in Lae
were themse lves brought up in the village environment , and thus underwent
the same proc e s s of social i s ation in their e arly years as did those who
now remain in the village .
The basi c set of beliefs and pre ferences i s
therefore common t o both group s .
Secondly , the new foods ava ilable i n
the vil l age through trades tores are a sub-s e t o f the many s tore foods
ava i lable in the town .
Thir.dly , of tho s e men with s ome s c hool education ,
mos t went to Mi ssion schoo l s in the Fore are a , and even those few who
went to Government s c hools e l s ewhere were taught according to a s imi lar
syllabus .
Fourthly , the type o f nutrition education given at MCH c l inics
i s bas ically the s ame throughout the country , with minor mo di fi cations
relevant to local c ondition s ;
system o f nurses ' training .
this re flects the relative ly centralised
Finally , and perhaps mo s t important , the
constant movement of wan to k between vil l age and town ensures a continuing
exchange o f ideas , attitudes and belief s .
The degree to which beliefs and preferences wil l in future
diverge in rural and urban environments will therefore depend on the
various factors influe nc ing the food resourc e s available in each
94
environment , on the extent to which government health and education
policies di f fe rentiate between them , and on the opportunitie s for
personal mobil i ty , in the form o f migration to and from the town .
Curtailment of these opportunities , for ins tance through the introduction
of o ffic i al c ontro l s as has been advocated in some quarters , would
reduce the e xchange of information between village and town , and loosen
the sociocultural bonds between urban migrants and thei r wan to k .
As would be expected , where members of both s exes were questioned
on a particular topi c , the ir answers tended to agree
Thi s agreement i s
due not only t o the obvious factor o f their common cultural background ,
also to exchanges between the sexes of i nformation derived from outside s ourc es .
For examp l e , several men
received from
Lae quoted nutritional lesson s
c l inic nurses .
In the other
i deas
to examine briefly the resemblance between
s c hool
was
S choo l
Two years of village
which teaching is done e ither in Pidgin or in the
local language , would
Fore men .
is recalled l ater
representative
the s chool education of many
In the Awande Lutheran B ible S c hoo l , the second year of the
'Haisin ' ( Hygi ene ) c ourse includes two or three l es s ons on nutrition ,
based on the i dea of three food groups l .
'Kaikai hi Zong kisim s trong '
l The summary p re s en ted here i s derived from a 1 9 7 0 Tea che r s ' Text prepared
at a Lutheran teachers • training col lege , as used in Awande .
95
( ' Foods for s trength ' ) include s tarchy s taples , sugar and f at s ;
' Kaikai bilong mekim yumi kamap bikp e la ' { �oods to make us grow ' )
include meat , f i s h , eggs , peanuts and dried b eans ;
and ' Kaikai bilong
paitim sik ' ( 'Foods to fight s icknes s ' ) include green vegetabl e s , tomatoe s ,
carrots , pawpaw and pineapple .
In addition , the l e s s on s c over the
importance of c l e anline s s in food preparati on , nutrient-c on s e rving
cooking methods , how to prepare soft food for babies , and dental c are
in re lation to food .
The o fficial Government syllabus for Health Education in primary
schoo l s i s a l s o based on the three food group s ;
by Standard VI the
groups are de scribed in terms of energy , protein , and vitamins and
minerals respectively .
Other lessons deal with the c aus e s of malnu
trition , the use of MCH c lini c s , and the selection of foods giving
nutri tional value for money .
None of the intervi ewe e s referred to the three food groups as
s uch ;
many spoke of foods for growth , and foods to make the body s trong ,
the two ;
without always
s icknes s .
no one mentioned foods to ' fight
The l es s on s recalled from s c hool present an a s s ortment o f
more o r l e s s accurate snippets o f knowledge , with spec i fi c advi c e , such
a s to give children chopped up vegetables in soup , remembered better
than instruc tion in the general principle s underlying good nutri tion .
The c urrent o fficial syllabus empha s i s e s that nutr i tion education
in s chool s s hould be made relevant to local conditions , and that children
should carry out practi c al pro je cts , involving mothers and o ther people
in the community .
S uc h recommendations s eem who l ly worthwhile , but
whether they are acted upon will depend l argely on the enthusiasm o f
individual teachers .
At the moment, there are too few Fore chi ldren o f
school age in Lae t o make any comparisons between what they have l earnt ,
and what the i r rural counterparts have l earnt about nutrition .
In Awande ,
nutrition education in s choo ls doe s not appear to have d i ffused through
the loca l community .
MCH c linics and hospita l s were o ften quoted , by men and women ,
as sources o f nutritional knowledge .
The advice given in the s e settings
is usually related to speci fi c p roblems , e specially tho s e of underweight
and other malnouri shed children , and is de livered in the form of clearcut
instruct ions rather than theoretical explanations .
96
I n Awande , and p re sumably in mo s t other Fore vil lage s , nutrition
education for mo thers is limited to advice given at the monthly vis its
of the MCH c l in ic .
Our observations of the c linic in Awande sugges t
that the nurs e s ' advice, which i s always well-meant but o ften i gnore d ,
would mee t with more respons e i f i t was delivered more sympathetically . l
The nurses '
j ob would also be made easier i f a reliable interprete r
could be secured a t each clinic s i te .
In Lae , there are permanent MCH c lini c s at the Angau Hospital ,
at Butibam , and at the Haikost Community Centre ;
Taraka .
a mobile c l inic visits
In addition , there are occasional mobi le c ooking demonstrations
by s tudent nurses , a t which nutrition i s a lso di scus sed .
There i s a
Nutrition Ward at the hospital , where mo ther s admitted with their
malnouris hed children are given nutrition education by the S i s ter-in
charge .
Howeve r , no Fore women mentioned this source o f information ,
and probably none had been admitted to the ward .
Nutrition education by hospital , c l inic and Aid Pos t personnel
i s based on the Department of Health Publication ,
New Guinea '
( DPH , 1 9 7 5 ) .
' Nutrition for Papua
The value o f thi s excellent manual wil l be
further enhanced when a P i dgin version i s available ;
i t might then be
used by les s educated but influential people s uch as primary s c hool
teachers , Vil lage Committee representative s , and Aid Pos t Orderlie s .
The Department of Public Health also produces two booklets in Pidgin ,
'Kaikai Bi long SkuZ ' , ( Food for S c hool } , and ' Gu-tpe Za Kaikai Bi Zong
Beb i BiZong Yu ' ( Good food for your baby ) , as wel l as s everal pos ter s ;
none of the s e publ ications was seen in Awande , or in any Fore households
in Lae .
We did no t attempt any systematic enquiry into mothers ' under
s tanding of the weight c hart found in the ir children ' s He l t Buk ( Health
books ) , but our impres s i ons agreed with the findings reported in the
s tudy by Rawlinson which was cite d earlier .
S he concluded that :
" In the case of uneducated Highland women , the Health Record
Booklet as a signi ficant motivator towards better nutrition
appears to be limited in i ts role , f ir stly by insuffic i ent
l The o fficer-in- charge at Okapa Hospita l came to the same conclus ion
a fter a s e ri e s of mee tings with village women in the di s tri c t : one
of their chie f c omplaints about the c lini c s was the way in which
mothers were sometimes shamed and embarras sed in front of othe r s
when reprimanded by t h e nurses for n o t feeding their children
( Pe rson al communication July 2 0th , 1 9 7 7 ) .
properly .
97
understanding o f re l atively sophi sticated concepts contained
in the " green road to health " ;
s econdly by mothers ' attitudes
to the booklet resul ting from attenuated understanding ;
and
thirdly by incomplete ins truction from Health Extens ion
Workers . "
( Rawlinson , 1 9 7 7 )
•
To s um up , i t seems that nutrition e ducation through c lini c s
and hosp i ta l s wil l continue to influence attitude s and belie f s , b u t more
slowly than might be de sirable .
For the education to be more rapidly
e f fe ctive , at least three conditions are neces s ary :
rate , e specially among young mothers ;
a higher literacy
a greater degree of motivation
among mo the r s , whic h can only come from changing perceptions of the
nutritional needs of their children ;
and a greater sensitivity i n the
a ttitudes and behaviour of heal th extension workers towards local
circumstanc e s .
Commercial adverti s i ng o f food and drinks i s probably not yet a
very s ignificant influence on food pre fe rences among the Fore , either in
the vil lage or in the town .
Few people read newspapers or magazine s
even i n Lae , and novel snack foods have quickly become popular in rural
area s in the virtual absence of adverti s ing .
A s trip cartoon advertis ing
a brand o f meat pies i s one of the few printed advertis ements in Pf dgi n ,
but it is published in the English-language national newspaper ( see
Plate 9 ) .
I ts mes sage , that meat pies provide s trength for heavy work ,
is not , as we have s een, reflected in the opinions of mos t Fore men i n
Lae , despite their regular consumption o f the pie s concerned .
Commercial
advertising on national radio may come to exert a mo re pervasive influence
in the future , but i ts introduction in 1 9 7 7 was s till too recent for i ts
e ffects to be j udged while we were in the field .
The National Broad
casting Commis s i on has formed a Heal th Advisory Commit tee to advis e them
on the des irabil i ty of adverti s eme nts , but this committee has no direc t
powers .
From the outset o f commercial broadc a s ting , t h e Commis sion
prohibited the advertisement of infant formula and special baby foods ,
and in 1 9 7 8 it agreed to s top the adverti s ing of " rubbis h foods " of the
cheesepops variety ;
agains t the wishe s of the Department of Health
Nutrition Section , it s till al lows the adverti s ing of aerated drinks or
to ti wara ( J . Lambert , personal communication , 1 9 7 8 ) . l
l cinemas may provide a more e ffective channel for commercial adver tising
than the o ther media , but I have no information on the content o r form of
cinema adve rtis ing . Cine.ma-going i s a popular pastime among many urban
dweller s .
98
S everal male informants mentioned the media , both pres s and
radio , as sources of parti cular items of nutritional knowledge ,
e specially in relation to the dangers o f
Given the
sma l l s i z e of the sample , thi s sugge s t s that information carried in
the me di a is quite
received , and that more mate rial o f thi s kind
might use ful l y be produced .
However , none of our informants in Lae
spontaneously mentioned the series of programmes on Nutrition and Health
being broadc a s t , in P idgi n , on Radio Morobe ( Lae ' s local , non-commercial
s tation) whil e we were i n Lae .
Assuming for the moment that s tated food be l i e f s and preferences
do in fact coincide with actual behaviour , it is pos s ible to summarise
the main
implications of these beliefs
preferences in
settings .
bene ficial
e f fe c ts
the food
pork , but
of l e s s nutritional bene fi t .
is a nutritious one
as tinned f i sh ,
to snacks such a s cheesepops is
The replacement i n trades tores s tock o f
cheesepops and lo li wara by salted peanuts and real fruit j uice would
improve the nutritional e ffec ts without inter fering with the underlying
cultural a ttitude i n any way.
99
I n the urban s etting , the evidence suggests that c hi ldren s hould
receive a diet which i s ri cher in prote in , less bulky , and more varied
than the rural one .
This is partly a result of the nature o f the
available food resources themse lve s , but is also encouraged by a more
directive atti tude towards child feeding , which incl udes an
emphasi s on mo re frequent feeding .
However , chi ldren are also
to
be given nutritionally unde s irable snack foods and drinks which may be
swe e t , s ti cky o r both , and low in vitamins ;
mos t adults too expres s a
l iking for s uch items , which carry risks of obe sity and dental caries .
Education about the low nutritional value o f many snack foods , and the
relative co sts of di fferent foods in terms of their nutritional value ,
should rec eive priority in the urban environment .
section s , s everal sources o f influence on
there
spe c i fic food beli e f s
remains a
People
considered here
o ften
r e j ected
grounds
c l ear i s
have nothing whatsoever to
do with be liefs regarding their value or otherwis e to health ;
s uch bel ie f s
later as rationalisations o f food preferences
formed on o ther c ri teria .
This is true of al l societies , except
with other people the s ignificance
as a facto r in determining food consumption has been rai s ed
For example S tandis h {personal commun i c ation) states
several time s .
that rice is a highly prestigious food among the rural Chimbu .
In a
relatively short period of fieldwork it is difficult to
a c l e ar
picture o f the ways in which people compete for , and express pos i tions
of prestige or s tatus .
Among the Fore , the owner ship of pigs i s
so . Al so , at
related to s tatus , but pork consumption i s l e s s
nrumu feasts large pres entations of food may take p l ac e , and the s tatus of
the donor group is enhanced by exceptional genero s i ty in such gifts ,
i f they are accompanied by cash . However , and contrary to our
expec ta tions , we s aw little evidence to sugge s t that partic ular foods
conferred s tatus on their purchasers or consumers .
100
the mos t fanatica l ly health and nutrition-cons cious o f s ub cultures , and
it should not be l o s t s ight of in any consideration of the potential
value of nutri tion education .
The l atter should be made as relevant
a s po s s ible to the food beliefs and preference s which already exist ;
hence the importance o f s tudying these .
As indicated in the conceptual mode l , the interaction between
the available food re sources , and the food belie f s and preference s , of
a population or an individual wil l l argely determine what food is actually
consumed .
There are , however , certain intervening factors which may
prevent the ideally pre ferred diet from b eing consumed , even when the
food i s avai labl e ;
in the conceptual model these are ref e rred to as
' competing needs and value s ' .
For example , in the town peopl e may p re fer
to spend money on a vis i t to the cinema rather than on a meal ;
in the
vil lage , people may decide to s tay at home in rainy weather and eat
l eftovers , rather than make the long and uncomfortable trip to the
garden s to fetch fresh food .
Many s imilar c ircumstances can be envisage d ,
s o that i t s hould be n o surprise t o discover that people d o n o t always
eat what thei r s ta te d bel iefs and preferences might l e ad one to expec t .
This should become clearer i n Part I V o f thi s report , when I look at
actual food consumption by the Fore in Awande and Lae .
PLATE
1. 1 :
General view of part of �wande .
left background .
foreground.
for
mumu ,
AWANDE :
THE SETTING
Small hamlet left foreground ,
S e condary fore s t on right .
tre e s and small coffee garde ns .
1.
1. 2 :
Traditional and new-style houses .
Large area of primary fore s t in background .
and leaves for wrapping i t .
Old Kuru Hospital
(now primary schoo l )
Large hamlet near centre of village ,
1.4:
1. 3 :
mid
surrounded by Casuarina
Hamlet built on ridge .
Kunai
gras s in
Woman and chi ld returning t o hamlet with food
Swee t potato i n side hamlet fence on left .
PLATE
2.1:
Large
garden near fore s t ,
been ringbarked .
2.
AWANDE FOOD RESOURCE S :
subdivided into several plots in various s tages of development .
Pandanus nut palms l e f t foreground .
young sugarcane in part o f same garden.
potato with digging-stick ,
pi tp i t in another garden ,
GARDENS
Chine se taro ,
Note small children in mid-right ,
another part o f the garden .
October .
2. 2 :
2.4:
highland pitpi t ,
for scale .
2 . 3 : Man
kwnu ,
Woman plantinq sweet potato ,
Drainaqe channe l s running downh i l l .
De a d tre e s have
c l imbing yarns and
harve sting sweet
and highland
3 . 1 : Pig
haus
in
i:irior to
cooking in earth oven ; p i t
f o r hot stones on l e f t .
P ig was
shot a fter spo i l i ng
another man ' s garden .
meat will be
villagers
household s .
and cheesepops
PLATE
3.
AWANDE FOOD RESOURCE S :
DOMESTIC ANIMALS ,
BUSH AND TRADESTORE
Cooked
sold to other
PLATE
4.1:
Parcel s of pitpit ,
4.
A MUMU IN AN AWANDE HAMLET
sweet potato and wing bean root prepared for cooking .
stones for second mumu are being heated .
Left foreground ,
o f pitpit placed on banana leaves over first pit .
bean root cooked in first mu.mu;
4.4:
4.6:
Men push hot stones into first mumu pi t , while
Bundl e s o f wing bean root placed on top of pitp i t .
pig and sweet potato cooked in second one .
earth thrown on too to seal the oven .
4.2:
senior male cut s up half pig bought from Okapa freezer .
4.5:
4. 3 :
Bundles
Only pitpit and wing
Fern fronds and leaves cover f ir st p i l e of food ,
Water poured in to qenerate steam for cook ing .
Winq bean roots cook for
2�
hour s .
5.1:
PLATE
5.
rice and tinned f i s h .
5.2:
Corn cob s ,
hou se s .
5.3:
feast shown in Pl ate
kumu ,
4.
C entre saucepan contains
cooking over embers of a f ir e used for
Wire g r id behind is u sed for cooking food i n saucepans i n side
Tinned f i sh is r el i shed by young chi ldren ;
Tinned f i sh mixed
mumu
and bamboo tubes conta1ning
preparing ston e s for a mumu on andtner occasion .
5.4:
FOOD CONSUMPTION IN AWANDE
Food being d i s t r ibuted by the senior mal e s at the
nearly empty t in s are often given to them to f i n i sh off .
in with bo i led r ic e , whi l e mumu cooks in background .
6.1:
S e l f -help homes in the
Boundary Rd .
sett lement ;
married
men from Awande l ive in the lower
two hou se s .
Beans c l imbing stakes
in front of right-hand house ;
banana and coconut palms nearby .
6.2:
Large sel f-help dwe l l ing in
Two-Mile settlement ,
occupied
by five married coup l e s and
five single men ,
6. 3 :
Water
all South Fore .
supply for house
shown in P l ate
2;
some water
a l so col le cted in drums from roof .
Housing Commi s s i on house
in Taraka ,
occupied by North Fore
couple with one chi ld ,
and several
Bananas and pawpaws in
garden .
PLATE
6.
FORE DWELLINGS
IN L..2\E
Atzera range in background .
7.1:
PLATE 7 .
FOOD RESOURCES IN LAE
F i sh caught i n Bumbu River by young Fore boy from Taraka .
sweet potato ,
bar s in town .
taro ,
cucumber ,
choko , wild fern s , pumpkin shoot s ,
7. 2:
Produce in Lae Coun c i l Market .
yam,
red pandanus ,
sugarcane .
7.3:
7 . 4 : Another view of market , on quiet day .
Coconuts i n centre , water melons on right .
5:
11Mit pai na Coke " - a typical midday snack for urban dwe l l er s .
7.
shed in background .
L.
to r . :
bet e l ,
One of many snack
F i sh sold in
8.1:
Weighing a child at the
Awande MCH c l inic ,
using coffee
scal e s .
8. 2 :
General view of Awande
c l inic .
Basic medical supplies
in t in patrol box.
Clin i c staff
and equipment are brought out
by car from Okapa .
8. 3 :
The MCH c l inic at Three
Mile Community Centre ,
8.4:
Weighing a child at the
Thre e-Mile c l in i c ,
permanent .
13 . 2
PLATE 8 . .MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH CLINICS IN AWANDE AND LAE
Lae .
which i s
Ul 4-1
f1l 0
UJ
.µ
u
QJ
p..
ui rn
.:i: t1i
OL PIKININI I MAS KAIKAI
3-PELA TAIM LONG OLGETA DE
OIPATMEN BILONG PUBUK HELT
HELT BUI<
l1
fit �t
KAMAP STRONG WANTAIM KANTRI
��ft�s1'A. NAMBA [===:J
0
WEIGHT CHART
No
0
1s
1
10.l Cover of book. Name a nd
register number on front, nutrition
advice on back. 1 0.2 I nside page
for weight a nd treatment record.
10.3 The weight chart . key tool
for mon itoring progress. Shaded
area between 100 & 80 percent
weight-for-age lines called the
'Road to health'. Lower line is 60
percent weight-for-age, diagnostic
severe malnutrition or disease.
101
PART IV
FOOD
CONSUMPTION
102
CHAPTER 8
food consumption in various parts
Many s tudie s have been made
of Papua
Guine a ,
mos t of them have involved quantitative measures
food i ntake , l ater converted
Their
and nutrient
figures for
adequacy or
has usually been
through
phys ical
of
by
con s i dered
the
than those reported
generally
and protein
margin for
l eave
women , are
toddlers
vulnerable .
at b es t ,
pregnant and lactating
Vitamin and mineral intak e s are
generally sati s fac to ry in highland areas , where large amounts of fre sh
green vegetable s are always availabl e .
The l ack o f detailed nutrition surveys in urban areas was mentioned
in Part I of this report, and the main f .indings of the few s tudi e s which
103
have been publ i shed were summa ri sed o n pp. 4-5 .
As i s the c a se with food
bel i e f s and p re ferenc e s , no s tudie s have been made which d irectly compare
the food con s umption of culturally re lated populations in rural and urban
environments .
B e fo re one can draw any firm conc lusions about the
nutr itional implications of urbanisation , such compar i son i s necess ary ;
thi s was the aim and j ustific ation of my own s tudy of Fore food
consumption .
In comparing the food consump tion o f rural and urban Fore , my
main concern was to obtain a general pic ture o f the frequency o f con
sumption of di fferent i tems in each environment , rather than to make
detailed measurements o f energy and nutrient intake s .
The latter can
only be vali d if they are made on large populations over an extended
period, and with accurate and rel iable techniques and equipment .
Given
the l imitations on the time and re source s availab le , it seemed more
sensible for me to concentrate on the general consumption patterns of a
obtaining data from
large number o f individua l s over a short
which nutritional implicat ions might be indirectly derived .
This work is
de scribed in Chapter 9, where direct comparisons , based on dietary rec a l l
surveys , a r e made between food consumption i n Awande and Lae .
The pos s ibility of doing a sma l l weighed intake survey in Awande
was at first rej ec te d , because of l ack of time , and doubts as to i ts
use fu lnes s .
Howeve r , the exi s te nce o f the earlier report b y Reid and
Ga j dusek ( ibid) made such a survey seem worthwhile , and a short return
vis i t to Awande in O c tober provided the opportunity .
described i n Chapter 1 0 .
This survey i s
Unfortunately the time spent in Lae was too
short to allow a comparable survey to be made there .
In the urban environment , one of the
po ints of interes t
to the nutrit ion i s t i s the cos t o f foods , and their importan ce , re lative
to each o ther and to non- food i tems , in the hous ehold budg e t .
For thi s
reason , I made a survey of expenditure over one fortnight in a sma l l
number o f Fore hou seho lds in Lae .
These data, analysed in Chapter 1 1 ,
some b as i s for ass e s si ng the budgetary cons traints o n food
consumption in a group o f urban migrants .
The final chapter in Part IV
returns to the e co logical c ontext o f my work, and draws out some o f the
interrelationships already mentioned between environmental variab l e s and
a spec ts of behaviour involved in food consumption .
The remainder of the present chapter consi s ts o f a general
104
description o f meal patte rns and cooking methods o f the Fore i n Awande
and Lae .
Awande 1
The meal pattern
The typ ical day in Awande begins at about 6 a . m. , when the fire ,
still containing embers from the previous evenin g , i s built up to prepare
the morning meal .
Thi s usu�lly c on si s ts o f sweet po ta to , e ither c ooked
in the hot ashe s , or,
l e s s o ften , boi led in a large s aucepan ;
i n the
latter cas e , salt2 is o ften added , and the cooking water is drunk a fter
the sweet pota toe s are removed .
I f any i s avai lable in the hous e ,
sweetened ti ( tea , cof fee , milo or even hot water alone with white s ugar)
may accompany the meal .
Otherwise cold water may be drunk ;
it i s
col lec ted from nearby s treams i n long bamboo tubes o r i n metal o r plas tic
c ontainers .
The meal i s a l e is urely affai r , and people o ften move from
house to house within the hamlet , sometimes being o ffered foo d , and
sometime s carrying their own with them.
eaten during the day ;
Le ftover cooked tubers wil l be
s choolchildren carry them to school ( but sometimes
eat them on the way) , and mothers o ften take them to the gardens for their
young children to eat.
Usually the hamlet i s more or l e s s deserted during the day , and
the house s are padlo cke d .
However , there are many c i rcumstanc e s in which
people choose to stay at home , or to return there in the middle o f the day
a fter per forming some task in the morning .
When this i s the cas e , a simple
midday meal , u sual ly a sweet potato or two , is l ikely to be prepared .
Mumu feasts are generally eaten in the early afternoon , but sometimes
earlier ( see b elow) .
When men and women are working in the gardens , they commonly cut
a length of sugarcane in the middle of the day to drink its j ui c e .
may also eat raw
or pit'pit heart s , picked from the garden .
They
Sometimes
l This acc ount may be compared with that by S orensen and Gaj dusek ( 1969 ) who
describe food habits in the South Fore in the e arly 1 9 60 ' s .
I ncome from
co ffee in the Fore region has greatly increased s ince that time , and
trades to re goods , including cooking uten s i l s as wel l as foo d , are conse
quently much mo re common today .
2only salt from the trade s to re i s used ;
traditional s alt-making a s
de s cribed b y S o rens en and Gajdusek ( ib id . ) i s n o longer practised .
105
they w i l l prepare a f ire , or even a mumu , i n the garden and cook a
smal l meal of sweet potato and leafy. vegetabl e s .
Children spend a s
much time i n the bush and forest as i n the garden s , and often f ind
small items o f food such as wild ferns , insec t s , berrie s , or mushrooms ;
if such items require cooking , a fire may be made u s ing a glowing ember
from a nearby hamlet , or they may be taken home and cooked later .
The
tradestore i s another sourc e of daytime snacks popu lar with adults and
children al ike , and if cash is to hand , for instance after a roadside
coffee s ale , people wil l drop in to buy biscuit s , chewing gum , cheese
pop s , soft drinks and so on .
However , it i s quite common for people
to have nothing to eat from when they leave the hamlet in the morning ,
till when they return towards dus k .
The main meal i s usual ly eaten between 6 p . m . and 8 p . m .
predominantly in family groups , although there i s again a good deal of
movement between houses , especially by children ;
they o ften stay on to
sleep with the hous ehold whose meal they have shared .
still the main item , but may be accompanied by
Swee t potato is
pitpit hearts or
both , and by other vegetable items such as corn , beans
mushrooms .
pumpkin or
Leafy vegetables are either boiled in a saucepan , or steamed
in bamboo tube s , tightly stu ffed and placed on the embers .
fre sh meat may a l so be cooked in this way .
P ig and other
These bamboo tube s last for
two or three mea l s before they become too charr ed for further u s e , when
new one s wil l be cut .
Despite the e ffort involved in their preparation ,
they are u s ed s everal times a week ;
this method of c ooking , which
requires no addition of water , is highly conservative of both nutrients
and flavour s .
I f money i s availabl e , a family may buy rice and tinned f i sh or
tinned meat for their evening meal , boi ling the rice in a l arge saucepan
unti l the cooking water is absorbed , and then adding the meat or f i sh and
perhaps kumu , green onions , or another vegetable ;
hamlet will often be given portions of the food .
friends within the
Even when rice i s
cooked i n quite l arge quant ities , i t i s normal for sweet potato to
accompany the meal .
Qu ite often the evening meal inc lude s leftover s
from a nearby mumu feast he ld in the early afternoon , or from a more
formal mumu feast held in another village , where pig meat may have been
distributed .
106
The mumu ( see P l a te 4 }
The mwnu i s an inte gral feature o f rural Fore s o ciety , with
re spec t both to day to day social interaction within the hamle t and
the vi llage , and social re lati onships with groupings in other vi l lage s .
I t is the re fore pertinent to des cribe brie fly i ts main material and
s ocial aspec ts .
This method o f c ooking is found throughout the Papua
New Guinea highl ands , with variations from place to place .
The
foll owing de s cription applies to what I observed in Awande .
The mumu itse l f consi s ts of a p i t , up to a metre deep , dug into
the ground and fil led with rounded s tones which have been heated on a
l arge platform of firewood;
banana l eaves are p l aced over the hot
s tone s , and bundle s o f food are piled on top o f the se 1 •
i s com�lete
When the pile
another layer o f l arge leaves i s wrapped around it, and
the whole heap is covered over with earth , dug from the s urrounding
Water from bamboo tubes , or metal drums , is poured into holes
ground .
The mumu is
left in the top o r side s , generating c louds o f s team.
finally sealed with more e arth , and l e ft to cook for anything from one to
four hour s , depending on i ts s ize and contents .
In e f fect , thi s e arth
oven ac ts as a gian t pre s sure cooker , and i s another method o f cooking
c on s e rve s nutrients .
When the food is thought to be ready , the
layers of earth and leaves are removed , and the bundle s
owner s .
to
the mumu
opened in mid-afternoon , but some-
times it wi ll be as early as midday or as l ate as S p . m.
feasting which fo llows
foods
food dis tributed
In the period o f
there i s a good deal o f sharing a n d exchange o f
usua l ly some cooked food is taken away and eaten late r .
The foods mos t commonly cooked i n the mumu are swee t potato and
and the more seasonal root c rop s , s uch as wing b ean roots , yam,
and taro .
Cooking banana is o ften grated , mixed with herbs , and wrapped in
breadfrui t leaves be fore being placed in the mumu . Other vegetable foods
which c an be cooked in the mumu include corn , beans ( s til l in their pods ) ,
who le cabbages o f the European var ie ty , and pumpkin .
When pig or other
fresh meat is c ooked in the mumu it is placed in pieces on top of the
vegetables ;
in the case of pig, the whole skin may be p l aced over the
the food is p laced in a wooden cylinder made from a hollowed
out treetrunk .
There were seve ral of these drums in Awande , but they
are no longer made ;
young men say they would not know how to make one .
107
top o f the pile , under the outer covering o f leave s and earth .
There i s a c l e ar sexual divis ion of labour in the preparation
and conduct of the mwnu .
Men are responsible for heating the s tone s ,
and loading , sealing , and opening up the oven .
Women are responsible
for coll e cting food , and gathering leaves for tying it up into bundles .
Men cut up meat , and may also prepare grated taro o r cooking banana for
the mwnu .
Ric e and tinned fish are o ften prepared whi le the mwnu i s
c ooking , and are primari ly a male responsibility .
Women may cook kwnu
and pi tpi t hearts in bamboo tubes , on the embers of the fire which was
used to heat the s tone s .
Throughout , men and women s i t apart .
The maj ori ty of feasts are shared by a sma l l number of related
households in a hamlet , the dec i s ion to hold a mwnu being a communal
one prompted by s uch factors as good weather , or the availab i l i ty of a
particular valued garden crop .
a week in mos t haml e ts .
Thes e small mumu are held several times
Large feas ts , attracting up to s everal hundred
people , are held to mark s uch events as funerals , initiation s , marriages ,
and settlements o f dispute s .
At the large gathering s , pigs are often
kil led by the hosts , and given to the vis i tors in c eremonial payments .
Between the small , i nformal feasts , and the very l arge ceremonial
occasions l i e s a range of gatherings of intermediate s i ze .
The following
l i st of occasi on s on which pigs were cooked at mwnu fea sts over a two
month period whi le we were in Awande gives an i de a o f the varie ty
involve d ;
all the hamlets mentioned are in Awande :
May 1 5 th : at Karomarari hamlet , l pig , fol lowing the death of
a relative at the N . Fore vi l l age of Anumpa 1 0 miles
away .
at Karomarari , 3 pigs , k i l l�d whi le marauding in a
May 2 2nd
nearby garden .
at Umanti , � freezer pig , c elebrating return of
May 2 4th
young man from pris on .
at S eve ' agori , 2 pigs received as g i ft s at funeral
June 1 2th
feast in another village on previous day re-cooked
and distr ibuted among l ineage .
at Aibamuti , 2 pigs and l cow ( from Dumpu ranch in
June 2 0 th
Ma rkham Val ley) , to c elebrate initiation o f 3 boys .
at S eve ' i , small pig ' marketed ' to o ther villagers
June 2 3rd
for about K20 .
June 2 3rd
a t Agaramanti , 2 pigs and l cow , at a party for an
old woman ( ? to pre-empt large funeral fea s t later) .
June 2 9 th
at Toborobeti , 5 village pigs and l freezer pig
cooked in 4 earth oven s , for funeral o f 4 -year-old
boy who died of dysentery on 2 7/ 6/ 7 7 .
Over 2 0 0
people presen t ; mothe r ' s brother ' s l i n e given meat
to take b ac k to their vil l age .
Feasting continued
for next 3 days .
108
July
3rd
July
6 th
July
9 th
July l O th
July l 3 th
a t Akongai ' ari , 1 pig , k i l l e d in a garden , cooked
and 1 marketed 1 to other villagers for Kl06 .
at Kumeri , 2 pigs , piece of mutton , and piece o f
cow ;
party for a n o l d woman .
at Porototi , � freeze r p i g , party for relatives
from S . Fore vil lage of Kume , in connec tion with
e arlier funeral feas t at Kume .
at Aibamuti , l pig marketed to other villagers .
at Aibamuti , � freezer pig , � freezer sheep , to
celebrate girl ' s fir s t menstruation .
Thi s list may not be complete .
I t should also be noted that individuals
and groups from Awande were invited to feas ts at other village s , probably
at lea s t once a month .
The s haring of food is a universal way of expre s s ing social
relationsh�ps between human individuals and group s .
The e s s ential
feature o f the mwnu i s that it enables l arge amounts o f food to be
cooked at one time .
At small feasts the enj oyment of the par ti cipants
is evident , not only in the consumption of food , but in the preparation
of the mwnu and in the conve r sation which c ontinues throughout the
proceedings .
At large feas ts , the nature of the social relation ships
between tho s e pre sent may make the atmosphere l e s s relaxe d , but this
only underline s the s i gn i ficance o f the occ as ion .
From the nutritional
point of view , the mumu is a bene fici al feature of Fore food habits ;
from the
point of view , the mwnu is a central insti tution
in hamlet , vil l age , and wider s oc ial l i fe .
The large c eremonial pig feasts c ommon to mo s t area s o f the New
Guinea highlands are , according to S orensen and Gaj dusek ( op . cit . ) , held
at 5- to 1 5- year inte rvals in the Fore area ;
the Enga, and even the Chimbu .
they are smaller than among
One was he ld in Awande in 1 9 7 2 , but no
one could s ay when another was due .
Much more common than the singsing
bilong pik , is the new form of singsing which has developed in the area
only over the last four or five year s , consequent on the inflow of cash
from coffee s a le s .
The singsing c on s i s ts of a night of dancing , s inging , eating , and
drinking , i ns i de a large c i rcular enclosure , the ha.us singsing .
The
perimeter of the ha.us s ingsing is made up of a ring of partitioned low
roofed , cane-and-thatch booths , each with a small counter from which
food i s sold to the vi s i tors to the singsing .
E ach booth i s used by a
separate group of people from the hos t vil l age , or Zain within the
109
vi l lage , while the visitors come from vil l ages all around .
They pay
an entry fee , normally of 30 toea per adult , which goes to the papa
bi Zong s ingsing , the man who initiated the construction of the haus
singsing and organis e s the event its el f ;
he also col lects K2 . 0 0 from
each of the s tallholders , except his c los e s t re latives ;
f inally , a s
part o f a complex economic network which I d o n o t fully under stand ,
cash payments are made to him by groups from o ther vill age s , apparently
in s e ttlement o f debt s incurred by them in the c ours e of organ i s ing
previous singsing of their own .
These singsing are held throughout the coffee s eason , but
e specially in the drier months of Augus t and S eptember .
Mos t vil lage s
contain at l east one haus singsing , which needs to be l argely rebuilt
each yea r .
I n Awande i n 1 9 7 7 there were two completed haus singsing , and
two more under c onstruction , e ac h the property of a particular Za in
within the vil l age .
One singsing was held in each of the completed haus
One of thes e , which I attended , was held on August 1 2 th :
Five pigs were k illed , and three cows bought from Dumpu at
The other
K245 each , to be cooked and s old to s tallholders .
i tems sold included flour sko n ;
cooked sweet potato , taro ,
yam and bananas ;
plate s of rice , vegetables and tinned meat
or fish ;
cigarette s and tobacco ;
tea and coffee with white
sugar ;
sugarcane ;
bread sandwiches ; peanuts , coconuts and
betel brought up from Lae ;
c heesepops and bubble gum ;
and
beer .
The l atter is one of the main attractions of the singsing ,
and b eing i llegal without a l icence , was sold ' under the counter
at the high price of 6 0 t . a bottle .
The singsing , attended by several hundred people from Awande and
surrounding village s , continued from early afternoon to dawn of
the fol lowing day , a large central fire lighting the scene
The man who organised the singsing
through much of the night .
reported
net takings of K96 0 , inc luding gate money , s tal l hire
charge s , and debt payments .
He s ai d the money would be used by
hi s Zain when they thought of a purpos e for i t ;
they did not
want to waste it on consumption , but were uncertain as to how
to inve s t it productively .
The new form o f singsing has both economic and social s i gnificance
at the l ocal leve l , as another channel for cash exchange and social inter
course between Fore vill age s and group s .
I t is regarded by s tallholders
as a way o f making money , and by vis i tors as an enj oyable form of
recreation .
Nutritionally, it makes a minor contribution to varying the
normal die t , mainly in the forms of fresh mea t , flour products , and beer.
From the wider point o f view , the non-productive nature o f the activities
110
involved i n the singsing , and the e conomic and social implications o f
high cash expenditure on large amounts o f b e e r must be regarded with
some mis gi vings .
In Lae , where most Fore men are in full -time emp loyme nt , the meal
patterns of men and women are dif ferent , at lea s t during the working
week.
Men tend to rise at dawn , and drink a cup of sweet ti , o ften
accompani ed by bread or plain biscuits , be fore leaving for work .
At
work tea and biscuits may be supplied in the mo rning , and at lunchtime
working men may use e ither the work canteen , or a snack bar nearby ;
many , howeve r , have nothing at midday .
morning , with their young children ;
Women tend to eat l ater in the
whether , and what they eat in the
middle of the day depends on thei r activi ties , whether they remain at
home , go to a garden , or go vis i ting e l s ewhere in town .
In the evening the family general ly eats togethe r , and o ften with
other fami l i e s sharing the house .
Cooking i s usua l ly done in a make
shi ft shel te r separate from the main dwe l ling , or in the open yard i f
the weather i s fine .
S ome people have kerosene s to ve s , but thes e
frequently break down and are not very e fficient ;
fire is more common .
cooking o n a n open
The evening meal is variable , but gene rally includes
rice , a s tarchy vegetable staple such as taro or cooking banana , or
both ;
abus i n the fo:rm of fresh meat or tinned fish or meat ;
green vegetable .
and some
Tea , milo , or coffee is drunk after the meal .
At weekends , the mo rning meal is l ik el y to be more substantial
than on working days ;
and the common activity of going around town a s a
family or with fri ends means snack foods are more frequently c onsumed
then .
The mumu i s a rare occurrence in the town .
I t i s difficult to
obtain suitable s tones and s uffic ient firewood , and expensive to buy
large quantities of fresh food .
One fami l y I met cooked chicken and
vegetables regularly at weekends in an improvi s ed mumu , con s i sting o f a
lr had l e s s opportunity to observe meals and cooking practices in Lae than
in Awande , so thi s section can only o f fer a general summary , based on
informants ' comments and my own impre s s ion s .
111
metal drum containing a l i ttle wate r , over which the food w a s placed
on a rack and sealed in with leave s and earth ;
the whole drum was
heated over a wood f ire , and the contents thus steam-cooked .
Although
small rrrumu feasts are occas ionally held , they do not consti tute a
regular feature of Fore social li fe in the town 1 •
At weekends , small
informal gatherings of Fore from particular vil lage s are quite common ,
and on such occasions food , and s ometimes beer , wil l be share d .
It
seems unl ikely that such gatherings can provide people with a sense o f
communal involvement as s uc c e s s fully a s the vi llage mwnu appears t o do ,
and this may c on s titute a s igni ficant cultural los s as soc i ated with
urbanis ation .
l I was not aware of any insti tutionalised formal ' Pa ti ' among the urban
Fore , s uch as M . S trathern ( 19 7 5 ) describes for Hagen migrants in Port
Moresby .
I t may be that the Fore place l e s s importance on ceremonial
however ,
exchanges than do the Hageners , with their Moka background ;
my period of fie ldwork was too short to a l low inve stigation of such
matters .
112
Dietary intake in Awande and Lae was a s s e ssed b y means o f a s impl e
recall technique .
E a c h sub j ec t was directly ques tioned a s t o what he or
she had had to eat and drink on the previous day .
The re spons e s were
reco rded in a notebook , as items consumed in the morning , at midday
( be lo in P i dgin) , and in the a fternoon :
thi s categor i sation into three
distinct meal times is somewhat mis leading , bec ause some snacks , and
some larger meals as wel l , may be consumed in mid-morning , mid- afternoon ,
and late at night .
However , provided that this qua l i f ic ation i s borne
in mind , the conveni ence and e as e of interpretation of the three fold
categoris ati on outweigh its disadvantages .
There are o ther disadvantages o f the rec a l l method .
The mos t
obvious i s that people will tend t o forget the detail s o f thei r previous
day ' s consump t ion , and in p articular the
items between the main
of small s nack
A related problem i s the poss ibility
give a false report , by omitting i tems o f
that people wil l
which they think the inves tigator may disapprove , o r adding items o f
which they s uppos e him t o approve
Al though it i s impos s ible to be
certain , I b e l ieve that the l atter problem was much l e s s s i gnificant
than the former in my surveys .
A l imited amount of promp ting was used
when it seemed l ike ly that the re spondent might have forgotten something .
The third disadvantage of the recall method i s that i t provides
no data on
of food consumed , and hence cannot be used in
asses s ing nutrient intake .
For example , the quantiti e s of pig consumed
by individuals in Awande were frequently o f the order o f l OOg . or l es s ,
and sometime s con s i s te d entirely of fat , at other times o f l ean ;
in
Lae , much smal le r quantities of green leave s were cooked for a meal
l water was excluded from the recall data , s ince it seemed one of the mos t
l ikely i tems t o be forgotten o r mi s reported .
Salt w a s excluded f o r the
same reason .
113
than was the case i n Awande .
Such variability in s ize and composition
of portions of the same food is not re flected in the recall data , which
reco rd merely whether or not a particular item was consumed .
The advantages of the reca l l technique are several .
It i s quick
and s traightforward, so that the diets of a re latively large number o f
people c an be recorded i n a short time .
Because it is retrospective ,
it doe s not in itself dis tort eating behaviour in the way that weighed
intake surveys may do .
Finally, use of the technique in culturally
re lated popula tions , as were the Fore groups surveyed in Awande and Lae ,
should yield data between which comparisons are quite valid ;
this
might be les s true where the populat ions to be compared are c ultural ly
unrel ate d , because of the pos sibility of their having differing attitudes
to the survey approac h .
In both Awande and Lae , the dietary recall survey met with
universal co- operation , and a good deal of inte re s t .
P eople were keen
to j o g e ac h other ' s memori e s where nec e ssary , mos t of the recall s being
col le c te d whi le all the members o f a household were together .
Re cords were only accepted directly from the individuals concerned,
and from adults speaking on behalf of chi ldren too young to reply for
thems e lve s .
S light di fference s of approach in Awande and Lae wil l be
dealt with below .
Methods o f analy s i s
Data collected i n t h e f i e l d were immediately tran sferred onto
coding sheets , where the sex , approximate age and marital status of each
respondent were recorded along with his or her consumption of food and
drink items in each part of the day , as des cribed above .
S ixty- five
items were l isted, some l e s s speci fic than others ( for example , a l l
forms o f green l eave s , including traditional kumu , common and Chine se
cabbage , pumpkin s hoots and choko shoots were recorded as one item} .
The data were l ater punched onto computer tape at the Aus tralian
National University , and analysed on a UNIVAC 1 1 0 0/42 computer , using
the S tatis ti cal Package for the Social Sciences ( SP SS ) .
The analys i s
con s i s ted mos tly o f s traightforward cro s stabulations o f consumption
rate s for each i tem by age group s ;
at a later stage , mos t items were
amal gamated into mo re inclusive categories , s uch as starchy s tap l e s ,
1 14
green/yellow vegetab l e s etc . , to give a more general picture o f dietary
patterns .
Thes e categories are fully de s cribed i n the results s ection ,
below .
Methods and sub j ec t s in the two survey locations
a . Awande .
I n Awande , three separate surveys were carried out , in May ,
July and October 1 97 7 , in o rder to sample the diets at di fferent times
of the year 1 •
In each survey the same repre sentative series o f hamlets
was visite d , the survey lasting one week and covering one , or sometimes
two haml e t s per day , but never the same hamle t twice in the wee k .
Many
individua l s were therefore included in all three surveys but some were
omitted on one o r two occasions .
The total number of hou seholds covered ,
and a breakdown o f the survey sample s by s ex and age , are shown in
Table 2 , whic h a l so shows the corresponding figure s for Lae .
TABLE 2
HOUSEHOLDS AND INDIVIDUALS BY SEX AND AGE GROUP
IN DIETARY RECALL SURVEYS , AWANDE AND LAE 1 9 7 7
LAE
AWANDE
May 16-22
No . o f hous eholds 1
Individua l s , b y s ex
July 8-14
70
M
Oct . 2 - 8
77
F
M
Aug . 2 8-Sept . 2 1
76
F
M
84
F
M
F
1 5 years and over
63
65
81
81
78
74
102
81
5 - 1 4 years
59
43
57
47
56
46
16
6
0 - 4 years
31
29
42
34
43
24
39
26
Total
153
137
180
162
177
144
157
113
Total , sexe s combined
290
342
32 1
2 70
Household ' def ined as commensal unit , usuall y larger in Awande than in
Lae , where the families are younger ;
figure for Lae inc lude s 2 3 single
mal e s counted as independent households , though they may sometime s eat
in company.
l A fourth survey was c arried out from January 26 to February 2 , 1 9 7 8 , by
S teve Mil l ar from the Papua New Guinea Insti tute of Medical Researc h ,
Goroka.
These results have n o t been analysed in detail , but they reveal
no ma jor divergence s from the pattern common to the o ther three surveys .
1 15
Hamle t s were vi s ited early in the morning, while nearly everyone
was stil l at home .
I f people had l e ft exceptionally e arly , for their
gardens or on o ther bus ine s s , they were excluded from the sample unless
they could be located later in the day.
People were usual ly quite clear
about the divi sion of their food consumption into morning , be lo , and
afternoon , except sometime s in the case of mumu meal s .
Mos t mumu were
reported as a fternoon me als , except in October , when they were split
almo s t equa l ly be tween midday and afternoon ;
recogni sed as being somewhat arbitrary .
the divis ion must be
When food was eaten at a mumu ,
this fac t was recorded , giving data on the frequency o f mumu meal s .
b . Lae .
In Lae , diet recal l s were collected over a period of about
three week s , in settlements all over the town .
The Lae sample was
comparable in size to the Awande sample s , but its age and s ex s tructure
were di fferent in several respects . as s hown in Table 2 .
I t contained
many fewer children in the 5 - 1 4 years age group , a l arger number of single
men , and fewer single women, than the Awande samp le s ;
adu l ts in the Lae sample were under 4 0 .
nearly al l the
The survey sample was larger
than the contac ted Fore population whose charac teris tics were de scribed
in Chapter 3 (pp� 3 3-37) because it included a number of individuals whos e
household a n d e c onomic circumstance s I d i d n o t inves tigate .
The urban recall survey was done in the late afternoon , and at
weekends , when working men were more like l y to be pres en t .
Remembering
the previous day ' s food intake did not s eem to po s e any p roblems , once
it was
clear that ' yesterday ' really meant yes terday and not today .
Re sults
In Tables 3 to 8 , and Figures 2 and 3, the results are expre s s ed
in terms of the frequency o f consumption of different items of food and
drink ;
the ' consump tion rate ' of a partic ular item is de fined as the
percentage of re spondents who reported consuming that i tem during the
spe c i fied period on the previous day .
The percentage o f respondents who
had no food or drink is also reported for e ach period o f the day .
The
res ults wi l l be de scribed separate ly for the age groups 5 years and ove r ,
1 - 4 years , and infants under l year .
There was l ittle qualitative
di fference in the c ompo s i tion of the diets of 5- to 1 4 -year-o lds and
116
those o f adults in Awande ;
in Lae there were too few c hi ldren over five
years to make any valid comparison .
Re sults for the two s exes have been combine d , s ince the only
s i gni ficant sex di f ference revealed on analysi s was in the con sumption
of meat pies and aerated drinks at midday in Lae ;
men were more l ikely
to consume these i tems than were women .
a.
( se e Table 3 ) .
In Awande , the overriding importance o f sweet
potato at the morning meal is obvious , with over 9 0 % of individual s
consuming i t i n each survey period ;
n o other i tem had a consumption
rate of over 1 0 % , excep t for green leaves in the July survey ( 10 . 9% ) .
A number o f o ther i tems were consumed by a small percentage of people ,
but sweet potato alone was the mos t c ommon morning meal .
In Lae , hot sweet beverages were c onsumed by 6 0 % of the s ample ;
they were frequently accompanied by bread { 17 . 6% ) , plain biscuits ( 1 5 6% ) ,
sweet potato ( 14 . 1 % )
or rice ( 12 . 2 % ) .
sub s tantial number of people { 2 2 . 4 % )
in the morning .
Awande ;
b.
Unlike those in Awande , a
in Lae went without food or drink
The range of items consumed in Lae was greater than in
thi s was true for all meals .
( se e Table 4 ) .
Nearly hal f o f each Awande s ampl e had no food
or drink ( except perhaps water , which was not recorded ) at midday
Of
those who d i d e a t , the maj ority had sweet potato , with s ugarcane , pi tpit
and green leaves the next most common items .
I n the October sample ,
9 . 1% ate pork at midday , a l l of it cooked at mumu gatherings ;
a higher
percentage of people ( 18 . 1 % ) r eported attending midday mwnu meal s l i n
October than in May ( 2 . 2 % ) or July ( 9 . 0 % ) .
Of the l e s s c ommon items at
midday , some ( root c rops , c ooking banana , meat , rice , tinned f i s h etc . )
were c onsumed at mumu meal s , whi le other s ( bi s c uits , tea , co ffee , berrie s ,
orange j ui c e e tc . ) were in the nature of snack s .
for percentage of sample eating at mwnu are not shown in the
dis ti nc tion between midday and afternoon mwnu was not always
tables ;
Comb ining f i gures for midday and afternoon mwnu shows that ,
easily made .
in a l l three Awande surveys , over one third of the sample attended a
mwnu on the previous day .
In other words , people in Awande , on average ,
attend a mwnu approximately every third day .
TABLE 3
CONSUMPTION RATES OF MAIN FOOD I TEMS BY INDIVIDUALS 5 YRS AND OVER , MORNING .
N
AWANDE
MAY 16- 2 2
AWANDE
=
2 30
Sweet potato
Tea/coffee/mi lo, + sugar
(with mi lk , 3 . 9% )
%
N
AWANDE
JULY 8 - 14
266
%
N
LAE
OCT . 2 - 8
%
254
94 . 3
Swee t potato
91 . 4
Sweet potato
5.2
Green leaves
10 . 9
Tea/coffee/mi lo, + sugar 7 . 9
(with mi lk 0 . 8 % )
Pork
6.0
94 . 1
Taro
No food o r drink
4.3
No food or drink
3.4
AWANDE AND LAE
No food or drink
7.5
3.5
t
AUG . 28-SEPT . 21
N
205
Tea/coffee/mi lo, + sugar 6 0 . 0
(with mi lk , 2 7 . 3 %
Bread (wi th butter 1 5. 1 � 1 7 . 6
P lain b i s cuit
15 . 6
Sweet potato
14 . 1
Rice
12 . 2
Green leaves
8.8
Cooking banana
6.8
No food or drink
sugarcane , green
, rice , tinned fish ,
taro ,
,
bean root ,
ripe banana , pork , tinned
meat .
rice , coffee ,
meat , yam , taro ,
corn , green b eans , beef ,
sugarcane , tinned fish .
green leave s ,
sugarcane , rice ,
tinned fish ,
,
pumpkin , ripe banana , corn ,
tinned meat , bee f , plain
b i s cuit .
22 . 4
skon *� tinned meat ,
, taro , aerated
drink , cucumber , swee t bi scuit ,
green beans , ripe banana , pork ,
eggs , bandicoot , meat pie , buns ,
ice cream , peanut s .
*Skon : flour and water fried
in dripping .
t consumption rates are given as percentages of individual s ques tioned who reported
morning of the previous day .
See text for further detai l s
!--'
f--'
-...)
speci fied items in the
CONSUMPTION RATES OF MAIN FOOD I TEMS BY INDIVIDUALS 5 YRS AND OVER , MIDDAY
TABLE 4
N
AWANDE
MAY 1 6 - 2 2
AWANDE
=
230
%
AWANDE
JULY 8 - 1 4
N
266
%
Sweet potato
34 . 8
Sweet potato
39 . 8
S ugarcane
13.9
Sugarcane
10 . 2
Green leaves
No food or drink
7. 8
49 . 6
Green leaves
No food or drink
6.4
46 . 6
N
LAE
OCT . 2 - 8
=
2 54
%
AWANDE AND LAE
AUG . 2 8 -SEPT . 2 1
N
=
39 . 8
Rice
18 . 0
Sugarcane
20 . 1
Aerated drink
17. 1
Pitpit
17. 3
14 . 2
Tea/coffee/mi lo , + sugar
(wi th mi lk 4 . 9 % )
13. 7
Green leaves
Green leaves
11 . 7
Taro
9. 4
Pork
9.1
42 . 9
Tinned meat
cooking banana , cas sava ,
green beans , filee f ,
mutton , possum , rice ,
tinned fish ,
bread , sweet bi s cuit ,
ice cream* , peanuts ,
aerated drink * , tea ,
coffee .
*On vi s i t to wantok in
Goroka .
8.8
Sugarcane
7.8
Meat pie
5.9
Sweet potato
5.4
No food or drink
, corn ,
milo , coffee , yam , taro ,
cooking banana , mushroom,
green beans , ginger ,
berri e s , beef , mutton ,
rice , tinned fish , skon .
%
205
Sweet potato
No food or drink
tinned fish ,
meat , plain
bi s cui t , tea , coffee ,
yam, taro , wing bean
root , cooking banana ,
potato , pi tpi t , pumpkin ,
mushroom , ripe banana ,
insect larvae , orange ,
orange j uice , flying
fox .
t
42 . 4
tinned fish , cooked
, cooked fish , buns , cake ,
bread , sweet biscuit , cucumber ,
bee f , ripe banana , cooking
banana , guava , apple , kulau* ,
coconut mi lk , e ggs , cooked
chicken , meat bal l , skon , p lain
b i s cui t , i ce cream , baked beans ,
spaghetti .
*Kulau : young green coconut .
t consumption rates are given as percentages of individuals ques tioned who reported consuming speci fied i tems at
around the middle of the previous day ( ' belo ' in
.
See text for further detai l s .
I-'
I-'
00
CONSUMPTION RATES OF MAIN FOOD I TEMS BY INDIVIDUALS 5 YRS AND OVER , EVENING .
TABLE 5
AWANDE
MAY 16- 2 2
AWANDE
%
N
N
2 30
Sweet potato
AWANDE
JULY 8 - 1 4
%
266
N
OCT . 2 - 8
=
254
LAE
%
AWANDE AND LAE t
AUG . 2 8-SEPT . 2 1
N
=
205
%
97 . 0
Sweet potato
89 . 1
Sweet potato
84 . 3
Green leave s
75 . 6
70. 0
Green leave s
63 . 9
Green leaves
46 . 9
Tea/coffee/milo
(wi th mi lk 3 2 . 2 % )
66 . 8
Rice
63 . 4
Tinned fi sh
36 . 1
Sweet potato
33 . 7
Tinned meat
23.9
Beef
12 . 2
Cooking banana
10 . 7
Taro
10 . 2
38 . 2
53. 0
Green leaves
65 . 2
Wing bean root
20. 0
Pork
16 . 5
Taro
23.2
Sugarcane
17 . 4
Taro
15 . 0
Sugar c ane
20 . 9
Mushroom
14 . 8
Sugar cane
14 . 7
Pork
15 . 7
Pork
12 . 6
Corn
14 . 3
B ee f
15 . 7
Tinned fish
12 . 2
Green beans
9.4
Corn
9. 1
Rice
9. 1
Mushroom
9. 0
Taro
9.1
8. 0
Cooking banana
6.5
Tea/coffee/milo
(with milk 1 . 2 % )
Green beans
6.5
Yam
5.2
No food or drink
0.9
dripping
green leaves ) ,
insect larvae , bee f ,
ripe banana , tinned
meat , corn , potato ,
pineapple , flying fox ,
cheesepops , tea .
(with
green leave s )
6. 8
Yam
5. 3
No food or drink
3.4
, rice ,
tinned fish , potato ,
ginger , cheesepop s ,
mutton .
Dripping (with
green leave s )
7.1
Green beans
5.5
Freezer chicken
8. 8
Cooking banana
5.5
Coconut milk (with rice
etc . )
5.4
No food or drink
6.7
No food or drink
0.5
tea , coffee ,
5%
ginger , yam , pumpk in ,
mushroom, cucumber ,
ripe banana , coconut ,
possum , r i ce , tinned
fish , tinned meat ,
plain bis cuit , peanut .
Under 5 % :
sugarcane , green
beans , skon , cooked chi cken ,
aerated drink , kulau , cassava ,
pumpkin , carrot , ripe banana ,
bread , butter , chip s , plain
and sweet bi s cui t , ice cream ,
dripping , packet soup , beer .
who reported consuming specified items in
tConsumption rates are given as percentages of individuals
the afternoon or evening of the previous day .
See text for further detai l s .
f-'
f-'
\!)
120
E
E
ci
ci
c
c
c
c
E
E
0
0
0
0
d
d
II
�
E
ci
c
0
0
c
E
d
M
E
ci
c
0
0
c
II
E
d
u...:
a::i
E
E
c
0
0
0
0
E
E
ci
ci
c
c
c
d
N
<(
I
�
0
S2
I
�
0
I.!)
d
uJ
121
I n Lae , as i n Awande , over 4 0 % o f the s ample had no food or
For those who did have some thing , no s ingle i tem was
drink at midday .
outstanding ;
rice { 1 8 . 0 % ) was usually accompanied by green leave s
( 11 . 7 % ) , with tinned meat ( 8 . 8 % ) or tinned fis h ;
only 5 . 4% ate sweet
Many snack i tems were reporte d , including aerated drinks ( 1 7 . 1% ) ,
potato .
hot sweet beve rages ( 1 3 . 7 % ) , sugarcane ( 7 . 8% ) , meat pies ( 5 . 9 % ) , and a
variety of other pre-cooked hot foods , c akes and buns , and fresh fruits .
c . Evening ( see Table 5 ) .
The evening or afternoon mea l in both Awande
and Lae typically incl uded a wider range of i tems than did mea l s earlier
in the day .
In Awande , sweet potato , green leaves and pi tpi t were the
main items ;
the figures are not s hown in the table , but thes e three
i tems eaten together and with no accompaniments cons tituted the commone s t
s ingle combination at the evening mea l , being c onsumed by over 1 0 % i n
each survey p eriod .
Pork was quita a common i tem, mo stly e aten at
afternoon mumu feas t s , which were attended by 3 2 . 6% , 2 0 . 3 % , and 1 6 . 1%
of people in the May , July and October surveys respec tively ( se e footnote,
previous page ) .
In October , fresh bee f was eaten by 15 7% o f the sample ,
some of them at a mumu , and s ome buying i t at a nearby singsing .
Of the
root c rops , wing bean roots were s ti l l in season in May , while taro was
more common in July and October ;
corn also c ame i nto s eason after the
May survey .
The evening meal in Lae was dominated by rice ( 6 3 4 % ) , with the
starchy vegetable s taples ( sweet potato , cooking banana and taro) l e s s
commonly consume d .
The s tarc h , whether rice , vegetabl e or both, was
sometimes c ooked with coconut mi lk ( 5 . 4% ) , and usually eaten with green
leaves of s ome sort ( 75 6 % ) , and tinned fish { 36 1 % ) or tinned meat
( 2 3 . 9%) ;
free zer or fresh meat ( bee f , 12 2 % , and c hicken , 8 . 8 % ) was
les s c ommon .
The other main item c onsumed with or a fter the evening
meal was a sweet hot beverage ( 66 . 8% , with 3 2 . 2 % having milk with i t )
milo and coffee being more popular than tea .
Consumption of beer was
reported by only two men .
d.
( see Figure 2 ) .
To allow general comparisons
to be more easi ly made , the main food i tems were amalgamated into c ertain
categories , as shown in the figure .
The items included under each heading
are lis ted below , with comments on the c onsumption rates o f each category .
122
A . S tarchy s taples 1 ( sweet potato , yam , taro , wing bean roo t , cooking
banana , cas s ava , I r i sh potato ) .
The c onsumption rates of thes e were
very high at the morning and evening meals in a l l three Awande
surveys ;
at midday they were c onsumed by mos t of the minority who
had anything at a l l to eat .
In Lae the s tarchy s tap l e s were quite
impor tant at the evening mea l , but the ir consumption rate was hal f
that in Awande ;
at other meal times they were even l e s s important .
B . Rice .
This was consumed by very few people in the Awande samples .
In Lae it was a maj or item in the evening , but l e s s c ommon in the
morning and at midday .
C . S ugarcane .
A popular i tem in Awande at midday and in the evening ,
sugarcane wa s l e s s c ommonly consumed in Lae .
D . Tea/coffee/milo with white sugar .
The contras t between Awande and
Lae is particularly s triking in thi s case :
rarely consumed in
Awande a t any time , hot sweet beverages were a normal component of
both the morning and the evening meal in Lae .
E . Flour product s { bread , biscuits , buns , cake and s kon ) .
These were
common breakfas t i tems in Lae , where they were al so quite o ften
In Awande they were consumed by few people ,
eaten as midday snacks
and mostly as biscui ts during the day .
F . Green/yellow vegetables ( kumu , including a wide variety of green
leave s , local and European ; pitpi t , pumpkin , young corn , green
bean s , c ucumber , green onions ) .
These were predominantly c on sumed
at the main , evening meal , and the consumption rate s were s imilar
However , the nature o f the vegetable s
in both Awande and
eaten in e ach place was di fferen t .
I n Awande , the c ategory was
l arge ly made up of the main local variety of
( ebi 'a in Fore ) ,
and o f h ighland pi -tpi t ; while in Lae , ptunpkin and choko shoot s ,
and cabbage s were mo s t important , with no ebi ' a or highland pi tpi t
being consume d .
G . Meat/fish/eggs ( pork , beef , mutton , poultry , game , e ggs , insect
larvae , cooked fish, cooked chicken , meat pie , meat bal l s e tc . ) .
The consumption rates were s imilar in Awande and Lae , b eing highes t
in the a fternoon o r evening , but again the i tems within the category
di f fere d .
In Awande , pork predominate d , mos t o f i t coming from
vil l age pigs but some bought from the Okapa free ze r ;
n ext in
importance came beef , purchased from Okapa or further afield .
In
Lae , snack foods l ike meat pies were more common at midday , and
frozen or fre sh bee f and chicken in the evening ;
pork was not
eaten at al l in the samp le p eriod .
In Awande , these were c onsumed by a few people ,
H . Tinned meat/ f i s h .
sometimes acc ompanying a mwnu , and sometimes as part of an ordinary
mea l .
In Lae , they were the main form o f abus used in the evening
l s trictly spe ak ing , this term could include rice , which is a s taple in Lae
at least ;
as used here , the term re fers to s tarchy root c rops and bananas.
2 The low rate shown for Awande in the evening period in October may be
partly accounted for by the s l i ghtly higher rate for midday than in the
other two surveys , related to the higher incide nce of midday mwnu meals
in October .
123
mea l , usual ly mixed with rice and vegetab le s ;
by s igni ficant numbers at the midday meal .
they were a l so used
I . Other c a tegories .
Fres h fruit was eaten more often in Lae than in
Awande , but in neither place was i t a major i tem i n the die t .
Aerated soft drinks were a c onnno n midday item in Lae , but very
infrequent in the Awande s amples .
Milk , mo st of it tinned
evaporated milk , was added to about hal f the hot beverages drunk
in Lae , but was l i ttle used in Awande .
Other items consumed
occa sionally in Lae but not at a l l in Awande included butte r ,
peanut butter , coconut, ice-cream, and cooked c hips .
I tems
consumed only in Awande included mushrooms , and fresh ginger .
Age group 1 - 4 year s ( see Tables 6 , 7 , 8 , and Figure 3 )
The s ample s i z e s o f the 1 - 4 year age group ranged from 4 4 i n Lae ,
to 6 2 in the Awande July sample ;
the sma l l numbers provide a poorer
bas i s for comparison than was the case for the o lder age group .
However,
a few points emerge c learly from compari sons within the younger age group ,
and between it and the age group 5 years and above .
In mos t respe c ts ,
the diets o f the two age groups were very s imilar in kind ,
quantity .
if not in
The
Thi s is mos t c l e arly seen by c omparing Figures 3 and 4 .
differe nc e s whi ch are of some s ignificance were as fol lows .
a . Breastmilk .
Thi s was an important i tem in the diets of this age
group in both rural and urban samples , with no obvious d i f ferenc e s
between them in consumption rate s .
Between a third and a hal f of this
age group breast fed at each period o f the day in every s amp le ;
many
fed repeatedly throughout the day , but the detail s were not recorded .
b.
These were drunk by over 4 0 % o f the young
c hi l dren in Lae , in the morning and in the evening ;
this i s a lower
figure than for older children and adults in Lae , but s t i l l very much
higher than the corresponding figure for Awande .
c.
Comparing the consumption rates o f the di f ferent meals
between the younger and older age group s , i t appear s at first glance that
a much higher percen tage of the young children fed at midday in both
Awande and Lae .
Thi s differenc e , howeve r , is a lmo s t entirely accounted
for by the consump tion of breastmi l k ;
the proportions of the o lder and
younger age groups eating solid foods at midday are very s imilar .
Lae , very few young children went without food i n the mo rning ;
In
their
consumption rates o f rice , vegetables , and tinned meat or fish were over
twice thos e of the older age group at thi s meal .
CONSUMPTION RATES OF MAIN FOOD ITEMS BY 1 - 4 YEAR-OLDS , MORNING .
TABLE 6
AWANDE
N
AWANDE
MAY 1 6 - 2 2
=
50
Sweet potato
%
1 00 . 0
N
=
JULY 8- 14
AWANDE
%
N
62
LAE
OCT . 2 - 8
=
%
52
Sweet potato
88 . 7
Sweet potato
92 . 3
46 . 8
Bre astmi lk
38. 5
B reastmilk
40 . 0
Breastmi lk
Green leaves
10. 0
Green leaves
9.7
Taro
7. 7
Sugarcane
8.0
Pork
6.5
Green leaves
3.8
Tea , with milk
4.0
Ri ce
6.5
Sugarcane
3.8
Taro
4.0
Pitpit
3.2
Corn
3.2
AWANDE AND LAE
No food or drink
3.8
rice , tinned f i sh ,
plain b i s cui t , mi lo
wi th milk * .
*On vis i t to Wantok in
Goroka .
t
AUG . 2 8-SEPT . 2 1
N
=
44
%
Tea/coffee/mi lo, + sugar
(with mi lk 2 0 . 5 % )
40 . 9
Breas tmi lk
36 . 4
Rice
29 . 5
Sweet potato
20 . 5
Green leaves
18 . 2
Bread (with butter )
18 . 2
Cooking banana
13 . 6
Tinned fish
11 . 4
P l ain biscuit
11 . 4
Green beans
9.1
Tinned meat
9.1
Ripe banana
4.5
Skon
4. 5
Dried milk
4.5
No food or drink
6. 8
Consumed once only :
taro ,
tinned babyfood , bun , aerated
drink .
t
Comparisons of percentage consumption rates should be interpreted with c aution , because of small number s in
samples .
I-'
I:\.)
.!:::>
TABLE 7
CONSUMPTION RATES OF MAIN FOOD I TEMS BY 1 - 4 YEAR-OLDS , MIDDAY .
AWANDE
N
AWANDE
MAY 16- 2 2
=
50
%
N
=
JULY 8-14
AWANDE
%
N
62
AWANDE AND LAE
t
OCT . 2 - 8
=
52
%
Sweet potato
42 . 0
Breastmilk
46 . 8
Sweet potato
48 . 1
Breastmi lk
34 . 1
Breastmilk
38 . 0
Sweet potato
41 . 9
Breastmi lk
34 . 6
Rice
18 . 2
11 . 3
Sugarcane
8.0
Sugarcane
19 . 2
Ripe banana
9.1
Green leaves
8.0
Corn
4 8
Green leaves
15 . 4
9.1
Pitpit
4.0
Pork
4.8
Sugarcane
15 . 4
Tea/coffee/mile
(mi lk 4 . 5 % )
Dripping (with green
leave s )
4.0
Green leaves
3.6
Taro
5.8
Green leaves
6.8
3.6
Pork
5.8
Sugarc ane
6.8
Tea/coffee
( with mi lk 1 . 0 % )
4.0
Sweet biscui t
6.8
Aerated drink
6.8
Sweet potato
4.5
Tinned f i sh
4.5
Tinned meat
4.5
Skon
4.5
No food or drink
36 . 0
Pumpkin
No food or drink
25 8
No food or drink
3 8
25 . 0
No food or drink
22 . 7
rice ,
meat
mushroom , green
beans , mutton , plain
biscui t , chees epops ,
b lack coffee .
t
plain
peanuts , b lack
pie , plain bis cui t , i ce
cream , dried mi lk .
*On vi sit to wantok in
Goroka
Comparis on s of percentage consumption rates should be interpreted with caution , because of small numbers in s amples .
I-'
!\.)
lTl
TABLE 8
CONSUMPTION RATES OF MAIN FOOD I TEMS BY 1 - 4 YEAR-OLDS , EVENING .
AWANDE
N
MAY 1 6 - 2 2
=
50
AWANDE
%
N
JULY 8-14
=
62
AWANDE
%
N
.L
AWANDE AND LAE 1
LAE
OCT . 2 - 8
=
52
AUG . 2 8- SEPT . 21
%
N
=
%
44
-
Sweet potato
94 . 0
Sweet potato
77. 4
Sweet potato
75 . 0
Green leave s
72 . 7
Green leaves
72 . 0
Green leaves
54 . 8
Green leaves
40 . 4
Rice
54 . 5
64 . 0
Breastmi lk
46 . 8
Breas tmi lk
40 . 4
43 . 2
Breastmilk
38 . 0
Pitpit
45 . 2
Pi tpi t
32. 7
Tea/coffee/mi lo
(with mi lk 2 0 . 5 % )
Pork
24 . 0
Corn
16 . 1
Beef
19 . 2
Breas tmi lk
38 . 6
Tinned fish
31 . 8
Sweet potato
29. 5
Beef
29 . 5
Tinned meat
15 . 9
Sugarcane
18 . 0
Taro
16 . 1
Taro
17. 3
Wing bean root
16 . 0
Sugarcane
12 . 9
Pork
15 . 4
Mushroom
12 . 0
Green beans
11 . 3
Sugarcane
15 . 4
Green beans
12 . 0
Mushroom
Corn
6.0
Pork
9.7
Cooking banana
6.0
Rice
6. 5
Ric e
4.0
Tinned fish
4.0
Taro
4.0
Dripping (with green
leave s )
6.5
Yam
4.8
Mutton
3.2
Tea/coffee ( black )
No food or drink
r ipe
beef ,
larvae , tinned meat , tea
with milk .
F-'·"�:: aJ�1-1 .L c ,
t
9.7
Dripping
Green beans
7.7
5.8
Taro
6.8
Cooking Banana
6.8
Coconut mi lk (with r i ce etc ) 4 . 5
4.5
Dried mi lk
3.2
-
3.2
green beans ,
cooked
with butter ,
a
ginger , ripe
,
compari sons of percentage c onsumption rates should be interpreted with caution , because of small numbers in sample s .
I-"
N
en
127
E
E
ci
ci
c
0
0
c
0
0
c
c
E
d
II
�
E
ci
II
N
u..:
uJ
128
Because o f t h e very small numbers involved ( 10, 1 3 and 1 5 i n the
Awande May , July , and October surveys respectively , and 2 0 in the Lae
survey) the re sults for this age group are reported in a form d i f fe rent
from that used for the o lder age groups .
The results for the three
Awande sample s have been amalgamated , and they are shown in Table 9 ,
Thi s form o f pre senta
together with thos e for the s ingle Lae sample .
t ion give s some indication of the order in which di f ferent foods are
introduced into the die t , and at what age s this o cc urs .
NUMBER OF INFANTS CONSUMING VARIOUS I TEMS OF
FOOD AND DRINK ON P REVIOUS DAY, AWANDE AND LAE
Age in months
A . Awande
No . o f obs e rvations l
Breastmilk
Swe e t potato
Ripe banana
Chee sepops
Green l eaves
Sugarcane
0-2
3-5
6-8
15
10
7
6
15
10
7
7
6
6
l
l
4
2
3
1
1
2
l
l
Pitpi t
Taro
Wing bean root
B . Lae
No . of children
Breas tmilk
Tinned baby food
Fanta orange
Ripe banana
Sweet potato
Green leaves
Dried milk ( bo ttle fed) 3
Ric e
Tinned f i s h
Cooking banana
Bread
Plain bi s c ui t
Eggs
Chicken
Taro
I r i s h potato
9-11
7
4
3
6
7
l
1
4
3
l
1
l
5
1
2
2
3
4
l
1
1
l
l
1
1
1
l
l
Note s . 1 . Aggregate data from May , July and October surveys .
2
Fed from bottle at 2 months , by mother rec ently arrived in town .
3
Infant weaned from breast at 5 months because of mothe r ' s
prol onged s tay in hospital at that time .
129
In Awande , a l l infants observed were breas t fe eding regularly i
in Lae , one infant of ten months was being bottle- fed with dri ed milk ,
owing to i ts mother ' s prolonged stay in hospi tal after a s evere accident
when i t was aged five months .
Another infant in Lae , two months old ,
was being given Fanta orange drink from a bottl e , as we l l as breast mi lk .
The range o f early foods was wider in Lae than in Awande , and
included a number of store i tems not easi ly obtained in the vil lage , such
as tinned baby food , bread and eggs .
Sweet potato , ripe banana , and
green leave s were common i tems in the infant diet i n both place s .
The
data are too few to draw any conclusions about the average age at which
solid foods are introduced into the die t .
General observations
a.
The results from Awande
show marked seasonali ty in consumption o f wing bean roo t , which was high
in May { towards the end of the season for this c rop) , but nil in the
other two survey periods .
and July than in May .
Taro was consumed by more people in October
Consumption rates for corn and green beans were
highes t in the July survey .
Seasonal variation in these and other c rops
would be b etter revealed by a mo re continuous s urvey 2 •
The highe s t c onsumption rate f o r a s ingle item
b.
of purchased food in Awande was for fres h bee f in the October survey ,
{ c onsumed by 1 9 . 2 % o f the age group 1-4 years , and 1 5 . 7 % o f the age group
5 years and ove r ) .
Tinned fish was consumed by 1 2 . 2 % o f the o lder age
group in the May s urve y ;
green leave s ;
other significant items were dripping , with
hot beverages ;
tinned meat ;
ric e ;
All o f these had consumption rates of below 1 0 % .
and plain bis cuits .
There were no obvious
di fferences between the three survey periods , despite their fal ling near
the beginning , at the peak , and towards the end of the coffee seas on 3 •
in agricultural production in the Lae hinterland i s presumably
re f le cted in pric e s at the local markets , and there fore s ome seasonal varia
in cons umption rates of the various fresh garden c rops would be expected .
analysi s o f the Jan/Feb 1 9 7 8 recall survey in Awande { see
footnote , p . 1 14 ) shows that wing bean root was again in s eason at that time ,
as were pandanus nuts (karuka) and red pandanus fruit s (mari ta ) ;
taro was
still being consumed at rate s comparable to those of July and October .
3 s urpr i s ingly , the Jan/Feb 1 9 7 8 survey , c arried out when c offee was not
being s o ld at all , a l s o shows s imilar res ults .
130
Again , a mo r e continuous survey would b e more sensitive t o trends in
s tore food c on sumption and might be expected to reveal some relationship
between it, and trends in co ffee sales and other forms of cash income .
c . Pos s ible errors and omi s s ion s .
In Awande , the number of people who
reported consuming s nack items , such as c heesepops and aerated drinks ,
was very smal l indeed .
Casual observation sugge s t s the l ik e l ihood o f
some under-reporting o f these items , perhaps bec ause they were simply
not considered as proper food and were therefore easi ly forgotten ;
it
i s unl ik ely that people would have been reluc tant to admit to t heir
consumption ,
since there was little i f any awarene s s o f the i r nutritional
quality . Howeve r , such items do not form a sub stantial part of the diet
in the vil l age , and a l though the absolute figure s for consumption rate s
given here may be inaccurate , their re lative importance is very low.
S imilar arguments hold for many of the snack foods c onsumed in
Lae , which include hot snacks and i ce -creams , as wel l as the sispop na
lo li wara common to both environments .
Beer is another obvious candidate
for under-reporting , but because i ts consumption is concentrated at
weekends , and because it i s c ertainly avoided by many Fore households in
Lae , the e rror may not be great .
The delibera te omis sion o f water and sal t from the recall data
is in some ways unfortunate , but consumption rate s alone for the se items
would have b een of limited intere s t .
I t was my impres s ion that salt was
a commonly used item in both rural and urban households , while p lain cold
water was much more o ften drunk in Awande than in Lae , where it was
replac ed by hot beve rages and aerated drink s .
Discussion
The dietary recall surveys in Awande and Lae reveal maj or differ
ence s in food c onsumption patterns in the two environments .
In Awande ,
the pattern is one of heavy dependence on garden foods , e spec ial ly sweet
po tato , supplemented by much l e s s frequent consumption of domes ti c pigs ,
foods from the bush , and a narrow range of s tore items .
In Lae , the
Fore migrants are dependent l argely on s tore foods , many of which are
impo rted ;
the se are s upplemented by vegetable s from the market and from
smal l gardens .
Dif ferences in c onsumption between young chi ldren on the one han d ,
and older children and adults o n the other , are n o t very marked i n either
131
environment , with the obvious exception o f brea s tmilk l .
Infants are
introduced to a wider range of foods in Lae than in Awande , but there
are insufficient data to identify any s ignificant difference which might
e xi s t in the time of introduction of solid foods .
Compos ition of rural and urban die ts
Based a s they are on a s imple counting of the frequency o f
c onsumption o f di ffere nt i tems , the recall surveys cannot provide any
reliable bas i s for the compari son o f nutrient and energy intake s in the
rural and urban environments .
However , they can give some indication of
the compos ition o f the diets in terms o f different nutritional components .
To c onclude thi s chapter ,
these wi l l be tentatively described so far as
i s pos s ible given the nature o f the data .
I n Awande , by far the greates t percentage o f energy
a.
intake is provided by s tarchy tuberous s taple s , sweet potato foremo s t
among them , with taro , yam, and , in i t s season , wing bean root as other
ma j or contributors .
S ugarcane i s a secondary energy source , and the
o f pork , and
balance is made up o f green vegetab le s , sma l l
purchased foods including fres h meat , dripping ,
tinned meat and f i s h ,
sugar ( in h o t drinks ) , and biscuits .
In Lae , rice is the main energy source , with flour products
( bread and biscuits ) and tuberous s taples o f secondary impor tance
Energy
is al so provided by white sugar us ed in hot drink s , by fresh and tinned
meat and f i sh , and by a variety of snack foods and drinks
sweet , s tarchy , or fatty.
a l l of them
Energy is provided mainly by c arbohydrate s in
both village and town , with fat intake extremely low in the former , and
low by Aus trali an standards even in the latter .
b.
I n Awande , the predominance o f the sweet potato in
terms of frequency o f consumption means that it mus t also provide the
bulk o f the pro te i n intake , de spits its low protein content .
The high
l This f inding is not consistent with the s tated attitudes of urban mother s
towards frequency o f c hild feeding , which sugges te d that urban children
would be fed mo re frequently than their rural counterparts ( p . 88 above ) .
Howeve r , the number of 1- to 4 -year-olds in the Lae s amp l e was only 4 4 ,
o f whom 1 0 had n o food o r drink in the middle o f the day ;
a larger
sample might have revealed a signi ficant di fference from the rural
pattern .
132
consumption rate o f green leave s , mos t of them dark green and immature ,
and hence relatively rich in protein , must also contribute s i gni fican tly
to the p rotein intake .
In season , wing bean roots , which have a
protein content of up to 1 1 % wet weight ( Claydon , 1 9 7 6 ) , pandanus nuts ,
and seve ra l k inds of semi -mature green beans add to the vegetable protein
intake .
Animal protein comes mostly from the dome s tic pig , which is
eaten quite frequently ( approximate ly every fortnight on average ,
according t. • the re sults given above ) , but in small individual portion s ;
purchased pork , beef , and mutton , small game , and tinned f i s h and meat
are other s i gnificant contributors to the animal protein intake .
In Lae , protein is obtained from the rice
and wheat flour products
which provide mo s t of the energy intake , and a l s o , in much greater
than in Awande ,
from animal sources .
Tinned meat and fish ,
and frozen and fres h bee f and c hi cken are the main items c oncerned , with
e ggs and milk o f l ittle s igni ficance .
In contra s t to Awande , mo s t Fore
in Lae eat some animal protein at least once each day .
The vegetable s i n Lae , whi le consumed a s often a s
c.
in Awande , are generally consumed in much smaller quanti tie s , a r e not a s
fre s h , and probably consis t mainly of l e s s nutritious varieties than i n
the vil l age .
F o r these reasons , and b ecause o f the lower intake o f sweet
potato , vitamins A and C are probably in s horter s upply i n the town .
The
white rice cons umed throughout Papua New Guinea is forti fied with vitamin
B 1 1 by law,
so that this should not be a problem.
The die t in Lae i s much higher in refined carbohydrates , in the
form of white r ic e , white flour products , and white sugar , than in Awande ;
consequently, the intake o f fibre must be lower .
In summary ,
the dietary recall data sugges t that the diet in Lae
i s l e s s bulky , sweete r , more re fined , and higher in ·protein than is the
diet in Awande .
B efore describing the impl ications of thes e dietary
di fferenc e s for individual and communal heal th and wel l-being , I s hall
pre sent some further quantitative data , rel ating to weighed dietary intake
in Awande , and household expenditure on food and other i tems in Lae .
133
CHAPTER 1 0
Introduction
Any weighed intake diet survey fac e s a number of problems of
both execution , and interpretation 1 •
First , measurements of actual
food intake mus t be accurate , and pos s ible omi s s ions and the need for
e stimations minimi sed .
S ec ond , the sample s elected for study must be
representative of the group as a whole , and their intake during the
survey period must in turn be repre sentative of their normal diet .
Third , once the data on food intake have been collected , they mu st be
converted to f igures for nutrient and energy intake s , if po s s ible
through laboratory analysis of aliquots of the foods c on sume d .
If
chemical analys i s i s not practic abl e , a s e t of food compo s ition tables
must be used , introducing a potentially serious sourc e o f error exc ept
where the tables have been prepared spec if ically for the locality under
study .
F inally , if the intention i s to a s s e s s the adequacy of the
measured dietary intakes in the abs ence of biomedical examinations ,
reference mus t be made to theoretical recoIILmended s tandard s , who se
relevance to the specific population being s tudied may we l l be doubtfu l .
I t was with such problems a s the se i n mind that I dec ided t o ba se my
dietary investigations mainly on the recall techniques de scribed in the
previous chapter , to which the survey de scribed in thi s chapter should
be regarded as supplementary .
Reid and Gaj dus ek ( 19 6 9 ) report on a weighed intake survey
carried out in Moke village , some s ix kilometres from Awande , in 1 9 5 7
The survey was planned as part o f the extens ive research then beginning
into the aetiology of kuru , but its f indings stand independently as a
useful summary o f the nutritional compo sition of the traditional Fore
diet .
The survey covered only three households , measuring the dai ly
intake by each household over a one week period , with one further day
1 McArthur ( 19 7 7 ) discusses these problems in the Mel anesian contex t in
some detai l . Her criticisms of the nutritional work of a cultural anthro
pologi s t ( Rappaport , 1 9 6 8 ) are almost enough to frighten o f f the non
specialist altogether ;
luckily I did not read the paper unt i l my
fieldwork was completed !
1 34
spent weighing the intake of each individual in one of the hou seholds .
Food compo si tion and recommended daily allowances were calculated from
table s publi shed in H ipsley and Clements ( 1 95 0 ) .
Compari son was made
between the Fore diet , as a s s e s sed from the three hou s eholds in the
sample , and the d iets of five other New Guinean areas where the same
techniques and allowances were used ;
the fo llowing conc lus ions were
drawn :
" The Fore consumed s ignificantly more c alories and obtained
more calcium than any of the other groups , and only in the
Trobriand I s lands , with a diet rich in fish , did the pro tein
intake exceed that o f the Fore . "
I n my own surve y , I followed closely the methods u sed by Reid
and Gaj dusek , except in my use of more recent food compos ition tables
and theoretical requirements 1 •
Direct comparisons between the methods
and results u sed in the present survey and in the earl ier one are made
at the end of the results s ec t ion of thi s chapter .
Methods and Sub j ects
Household compo sition and rec ommended allowances
Three neighbouring households in one hamlet were selected for
the survey which took place from October 1 0 th- 1 6th , 1 9 7 7 .
Their
composition , and their theoretical requirements of energy and protein
are shown in Table 1 0 .
Household 1 c on s isted of a middl e -aged man and
two o f his chi ldren , with occasional vis itor s ;
hi s wife and three other
children were away visiting wantok in Goroka throughout the week o f the
survey .
Mos t of the garden food for this hou sehold was coll ected by
the 1 2 - ye ar-old daughter , but she was sometime s a s s isted by her father .
Household 2 contained a young married couple and their small child ;
the husband ' s adult brother , who was unmarried ;
( separated from her husband) and her c hild .
and their s ister
A woman and her three
young children came to j oin the evening meal on one day of the survey .
Household 3 contained a married couple and their five children ;
the
husband was absent from the hamlet overnight on one occas ion , and his
older daughter once s tayed overnight in Household l ;
from Hou sehold
one o f the boys
2 came to stay for one night .
l I did not rep licate their one-day survey of food intake by individual s
in a s ingl e household , nor calculate vita�in o r mineral intakes .
1 35
TABLE 1 0
HOUSEHOLD COMPOSI TION AND THEORETICAL ENERGY AND PROTEIN
REQUIREMENTS OF HOUSEHOLDS IN WEIGHED DIETARY INTAKE SURVEY , AWANDE
No . Age Sex
Wei ght
{kgs )
Relationship
to household
head
Days
eating in
household
Theoreti cal requirements *
daily ( 1 ) & for week ( 2 )
MJ
(1)
Household No . l .
(wi fe & 3 chi ldren absent)
M
45
53. 2
1.
Head
F
2.
13
33. 2
Daughter
M
12 . 7
3
2
Son
M
4.
( 6 0 e st )
35
Vis itor
F
5.
8
n.k. t
Vi sitor
M
10
n.k.
6.
Vis i tor
F
17 7
7.
8
Vis i tor
6�
7
7
l
1
1
�
10. 6
10. 3
5.7
11. 5
8. 8
10 . 5
8.8
Tot al theoretical requi rement over week
Household No . 2 .
M
49. 5
35
1
43 2
F
25
2.
M
11 8
4
3.
F
30
55 0
4.
M
5
14. 1
5.
M
63. 6
6.
25
F
25
( 5 5 est)
7.
M
5
n.k.
F
k
3
9.
F
10 .
Head
Wife
Son
S i s ter
S i s te r ' s son
Brother
Vis i tor { lactating)
Vi s itor
Vis i tor
Vis i tor ( whol ly
breastfe d )
Head
Wi fe ( lactating)
Son
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Son (breastfeeding )
Vi s i tor
Total theoreti c al requirement over week
(2)
{l)
68. 9
72 . 1
39. 9
11. 5
8.8
10. 5
4.4
43
45
23
49
35
43
35
(2)
279. 5
31 5 . 0
161 . 0
49. 0
35 . 0
43. 0
17 . 5
2 16 . l
7
7
7
6�
4�
5
�
�
�
�
9 00 . 0
37
9 . 6 67. 2
32
5 52. 5
7 2 50.
29
41
9. 2 59. 8
7. 2 32. 4
29
12 . 5 6 2 . 5
52
11. 5
5 7
65
29
7.8
3.9
6 4
23
3. 2
included in mother '
requirements
3 37 . 6
Total theoretical requirement over week
Household No . 3 .
M
35
1.
51. 8
30
35 . 0
2.
F
M
12
25 . 9
3.
M
19 . 5
10
4e
F
17 . 7
8
5.
F
10. 5
4
6
M
1
7. 3
7.
M
14. 1
5
8.
Protein ( g . }
5�
7
7
7
6
7
7
1
9.6
9.0
11 . 3
10. 5
8. 8
7. 0
4.9
7. 2
52. 8
63. 0
79. l
73. 5
52. 8
49 . 0
34 . 3
7.2
411. 7
259 0
2 24 0
203 0
2 66 . 5
130. 5
260 . 0
32 . 5
14 5
11 . 5
s
1401 . 5
42
50
43
43
35
29
23
29
231 . 0
350 . 0
301 0
301 . 0
2 10 . 0
203 . 0
161 . 0
29 . 0
1 7 86 . 0
* Calculated from WHO ( 19 7 3 ) , Table s 3 , 4 , 7 , 2 5 .
Requirements for chi ldren
not adj usted for body we ight .
Protein requi rement s assume prote in s core
of 7 0 %
tn . k .
not known .
=
136
The theoretical requirements for energy and protein l were
calculated from tho se li sted in the FAO/WHO publ ication ,
Protein Requirements 1
(WHO , 1 9 7 3 ) ;
' Energy and
requirements for adults were
adj usted for body weight , while those for children were not , on the
grounds that their growth might have been retarded as a result of
insufficient food intake .
Requirement s for protein are based on an
as sumed net protein utili sation value of 7 0 % , as sugges ted by the PNG
Departmen� of Health , ( 1 9 7 5 ) .
Requirements were summed for e ach
individual over the period he or she was eating in the household , a
s ingl e morning or evening meal counting one half the daily requirements
towards the total .
Requirements for each member of the hou sehold were
then summed over the week , giving a total theoretical requirement for
the week which could be compared with actual intake by that household .
Daily food intake was measured with the help of my vi llage
field a s s i s tant .
Each day , food brought into e ac h household from the
gardens was d ivided into
prepared for cooking .
pitpit
and weighed , before being
The main foods were sweet potato
and l eafy green s ;
the mo st important of
the l atter consisted almo st entirely of ebi 'a
Fore green l eafy vegetabl e s .
the late afternoon ;
household ' s pigs was set aside, as
remainder was weighed .
sugarcane
Most food was
any sweet potato intended for the
normal
before the
The households were again visited early in the
morning , and i f any surplus sweet potato f rom the previous night was to
be given
measurement .
the pigs
it was weighed and subtracted from the earlier
Coffee scales weighing up to 2 5 kg . were u s ed for weighing
quantities over 1 kg . ;
u sed for smaller
a
kitchen scales accurate to 2 5 g . was
Water intake was
recorded .
S tore food s , and portions of meat brought from other hamlets or
villages
also weighed whenever possibl e , and estimates made of any
small items c onsumed away from the hamlet ;
maj or meals c onsumed
use the term ' theoretical requirements ' throughout this chapter ,
following the terminology of the FAO/WHO expert committee .
It should
be noted that the theoretical energy 1 requ irement s 1 l isted by the latter
a�e average figure s , while the protein ' requirements are the average
plus 2 standard deviations , giving what the committee refer s to as f igure s
for ' safe leve l s ' o f protein intake , theoretically adequate f o r 98% o f
people . (See McArthur , op . cit . pp . 10 5 - 6 for comments on thi s approach) .
137
elsewhere were ignored , and a corresponding deduct ion made from the
recommended allowance s , as explained above .
S everal mumu were attended by the hous eholds in the sample , and
these were c arefully observed so as to minimise the errors which might
have resulted from undetected exchange s o f food ;
it was not pos sible
to weigh every exchange made , but overall , goods g iven and rec e ived
seemed to b� in approximate balance .
Before energy and protein intake s could be derived from tables
of food composition , the weights of raw unprepared foods had to be
converted to weights of raw edible portions , and thi s nec e s sitated
calculation of appropriate conver s ion
factor s .
Thes e were obtained
by s everal repeated measurements for each item , and those u s ed were as
follows :
sweet potato , whole to pee l ed , 8 6 % ;
ripe banana , whole to peeled , 7 1 % ;
portion , 3 6 % ;
taro , whole to peel ed , 7 8 % ;
pitpit hearts a s picked , to edible
pitpit , whole stems to edible portion from mumu , 2 0 % ;
sugarcane , whole to edible portion ( i . e . j uice ) , 5 0 % .
The c onvers ion
factor for green bean s was taken from Reid and Gaj dusek ( op . c it . ) , who
used a f ac tor of 6 0 % to convert the weight o f whol e pod s a s harvested
to the weight o f the edible portion of beans .
Weights of edible portions of foods were u s ed to c alculate
figures for energy intake ( in megaj oule s ) and protein intake ( in gram s ) ,
using the food c omposition tables produced by the Western Pacific
Regional Office of the World H ealth Organisation (WHO , 1 97 2 ) and
reprinted in the 1 Liklik Buk ' rural development handbook for Papua New
Guinea ( Melanesian Counc il of Churche s , 1 9 7 7 ) .
Thes e food tables are
themselves a compos ite of many previously publ ished sourc e s , and c ontain
figures for mos t of the items consumed during the survey .
The use made of the food table s in the case of the following
items should be noted :
per 1 0 0 g . edible portion , sweet potato was
taken to contain 1 1 7 kcals , and
l S g . prote in ;
taro , 1 0 4 kcals
and
leafy greens ( u s ing figures for ' dark green leave s ' } ,
41 kcal s . and 5 . 0 g . protein .
yellow squash ;
. 3 g . protein ;
Pumpkin was taken to be equivalent to
green bean s { fol lowing Reid and Gaj dusek)
as containing
hal f the energy and protein content of dr ied beans o f Phaseo lus vu lgaris ;
pig a s being medium fat ;
insect larvae a s equivalent to sago grubs ;
tinned meat a s tinned corned beef ;
and beer a s containing 3 . 0% alcoho l .
138
Mos t other items were exactly as l isted in the WHO Tabl e s .
Figures for
bee f , mutton , and dripping were taken from Platt { 1 962 ) , and f igures
for roas ted packeted peanuts from Corden and Thomas ( 19 71 ) .
A factor
of 4 . 18 6 was appl ied to the kilo calorie figure s to convert them to
kiloj oules .
Nutrient l o s s e s through cooking and overnight s torage
were ignored .
Results
Food , energy and protein intakes
The re sults for the three households are presented in Table 11 ,
where the apparent adequacy of the energy and protein intake s is also
shown , in terms o f the percentage s of theoretical requ ir ement s actually
consumed .
There are s everal quite striking difference s in the compo
sition of the d ie t s in the three households .
In Household 1 , energy intake was close to the theoretical
requirement ( 92 3 % ) , while protein intake was 6 9 . 2 % o f the requ irement .
Garden foods c ontributed over 9 5 % and 90% of the energy and protein
respectively , with small
of pork , mutton , r ic e , tinned meat ,
dripping and beer making up the balance .
Of the garden foods , sweet
potato was by far the mo s t important , with taro and sugarcane supplying
s igni ficant additional amount s of energy , and taro a l so , with l ea fy
greens , supplying sma l l amounts of protein .
In Household 2 , energy and pr otein intakes were both j u s t above
theoretical requirement s , at 1 07 . 8% and 1 04 . 2 % respectively .
S tore foods
were more s i gnificant in thi s hou seho ld , providing nearly 1 5 % o f the
energy intake , mostly as white sugar and ric e , and nearly 1 8 % of the
protein intake , mostly as ric e , and tinned meat and fish .
S everal small
portions of beef , pork and mutton accounted for 4 . 3 % of the protein
intake .
Sweet potato was again the largest s ingle contributor to energy
and protein intake s , but leafy greens , consumed in much larger quantities
than in the other two households , provided nearly 2 0% of the protein
intake .
In Household 3 , energy and protein intakes were both wel l below
the theoretical requirements , at 5 8 . 8 % and 44 . 3 % r e spectively .
foods contributed only 1% of energy , and 2 . 4% of protein intake ;
S tore
fresh
animal protein in the form of a few insect larvae and a smal l portion
TABLE 1 1
TOTAL FOOD INTAKE O F THREE AWANDE HOUSEHOLDS OVER ONE WEEK
( E xpre s s ed as uncooked w e i gh t of e dible portion ,
Hous e ho l d
Wt . E . P .
kg .
Swe e t p o tato
Taro
MJ
Househo l d
l
P rote in
Energy
e ne rgy content and protein content }
%
g.
%
Wt . E . P.
kg.
2
Househol d
Prote in
Energy
MJ
t
g.
%
%
Wt . E . P.
Energy
MJ
kg .
%
3
Protein
g.
%
34. 5 8
169 . 5 4
85 . 0
4 49 . 6
72 . 2
5 4 . 08
2 6 5 . 12
72 . 8
70 3 . 0
48 . l
4 3 . 35
2 . 42
10 . 54
5.3
45 . 9
7.4
2 . 18
9 . 52
2.6
41. 5
2.8
3 . 12
1 3 . 60
5. 6
59 . 3
7.5
0 . 80
3 . 15
0.9
10 . 4
0.7
0 . 25
0 . 98
0.4
3. 2
0.4
Ripe banana
2 12 . 5 2 8 7 . 9
56 3 . 6
71. 3
S ugarcane
2 . 26
6. 73
3. 4
6. 8
1.1
2 . 10
6 . 25
1.7
6.3
0.4
0 . 65
1 . 94
0. 8
1. 9
0.2
Leafy greens
0. 53
0 . 90
0. 5
26 . 3
4.2
5 . 80
9 . 96
2
7
2 90 . 0
19 . 9
0 . 40
2 . 41
LO
70 . 0
8. 9
P i tp i t
0 . 88
0 . 99
0.5
4. 4
0. 7
6. 21
7 . 03
1.9
31. l
2.1
2 . 64
2 . 99
1. 2
13. 2
1. 7
cabbage
0 . 15
0 . 16
0. 1
2. 4
0. 4
1 . 05
1 . 10
0. 3
16. 8
1.2
0 . 40
0 . 42
0. 2
6. 4
0. 8
Pumpk in
0 . 82
1 . 14
0.6
10. 7
1. 7
0 . 10
0 . 14
0. 1
1. 3
0. 2
0 . 50
0.27
0. 1
4. 0
0. 3
0 . 31
2 . 20
0.9
36 . 0
4. 6
0 . 08
0 . 61
0. 3
4.9
0.6
O . lOe
1 . 53
0.6
12 . 0
1.5
0 . 05e
0 . 75
o. 3
3. 3
o". 4
Cucumber
Green b eans
0 . 20
1 . 38
0. 7
22.6
3.6
0 . 30
2 . 11
0. 6
34. 7
2.4
Corn
0 . 05
0 . 18
0. 1
1.6
0.3
0 . 04
0 . 16
0.1
1.4
0.1
Beetle l a rvae"°
Pork
O . lOe *
1. 53
0.8
12 . 0
1.9
0 . 10
1 . 53
0. 4
12 . 0
0. 8
Mutton
O . lOe
1 . 04
0.5
15 . 0
2.4
0 . 13
1 . 30
0.4
18 . 7
1. 3
0 . 20e
3 . 02
1.5
13 . 4
2.2
1 . 35
0 . 06e
0 . 56
0. 3
11 . 2
1.8
0 . 03
1 . 12
0.6
Ri ce
2 . 20
0.6
32 . 0
2.2
2 0 . 36
5.6
90 . 5
6. 2
0 . 20e
1. 8 3
0.5
36 . 3
2.5
0 . 43
5 . 59
1.5
93 . 5
6.4
0 . 06e
0 . 79
0. 3
13. 2
1. 7
7.7
0. 5
0 . 06
1 . 04
0. 4
2.6
0. 3
790 . 9
100 . 1
0 . 20e
Bee f
( dry wt . )
Tinned meat
Tinne d fi s h
Dripping
B i s cui t s
0 . 16
3. 03
0. 8
White sugar
1 . 00
16 . 2 2
4.5
Peanuts
0 . 08
1 . 82
0.5
19 . 5
1. 3
0. 2
3 . 70
5 . 43
1.5
11. l
0. 8
199 . 3 7 1 00 . 2
6 2 3 . 0 1 00 . 1
80 . 41
2 16 . l
900 . 0
( pk t . )
0 . 37
Bee r
TOTAL INTAKE §
42 . 75
RECOMMENDED INTAKE
ACTUAL/RE C .
x 100
0. 3
0 . 54
1. 1
69 . 2 %
9 2 . 3%
36 3 . 9 8 1 00 . 0
1460 . 5 100 . 0
337 . 6
1 0 7 . 8%
1 40 1 . 5
52 . 57
2 4 1 . 92
4 11 . 7
58.8%
104 . 2 %
tFor de tai l s o f hous ehol ds and o f c a lculations o f food composi tion and re commended intakes s e e text .
*e - e s timated from verbal repor t .
oo Compo s i t ion e s timated as s ago
§ I tems not s hown :
Household 1 ,
grub .
30g .
salt ;
Househol d 2 ,
5 0g .
s al t ,
50g .
tea ,
175g .
ins tant c of fe e .
1 0 0. 0
1 7 86 . 0
44. 3%
I-'
w
'°
14 0
of pork provided only 2 . 1 % of total protein intake .
Sweet potato once
again accounted for by far the greate st part o f total food , energy and
protein intakes ;
taro , l ea fy greens and green beans were the other
garden item s c ontributing s ignificantly to protein intake .
I n F igure 4 , results from the three households have been combined
to g ive diagrammatic repres entations of the c ompos ition of the average
diet in terms of energy and protein .
The overwhelming importance of
the s tarc1 .; staple s , and predominantly of sweet potato , i s c l ear in
both .
S tore foods , having a protein : energy ratio which is generally
higher than that o f mos t garden foods , contribute disproportionately
to prote in , as compared to energy , intake .
U s ing data from the £ood
compos ition t ables already c ited (WHO , 1 9 7 2 ) , the percentage of dietary
energy derived from protein was calculated .
For the c ombined diets
of the three households , this figure was 4 . 2 5 % .
Once again , the
predominance of sweet potato , with only 3 . 0% of its energy as prote in ,
is the main determining factor .
S everal di fference s in methods of measurement and analys i s
render invalid a direct compari son between the r e sults o f thi s and the
earlier study by Reid and Gaj dusek { op . c it . ) ;
maj or dif ferenc e s in
method were as follows : i ) Measurement of food intake :
Reid and Gaj du s ek took no acc ount
of wastage through sweet potato or taro peel ing s , and a s sumed
a conver s ion factor of 5 0% for pitpit hearts as harve sted , to
edible portion ( c f . 3 5 % in present survey ) .
ii)
Food compo sition tables :
Reid and Gaj dusek used the table s
compiled for the New Guinea Nutrition Survey Expedition
( H ip s l ey and Clements , 1 9 5 0 )
The se tables g ive f igures for energy and protein c ompo sition
which d i ffer from those u sed in the present study for c ertain
important food s .
Per 1 0 0 g . edible portion , the f igure s used
by Reid and Gaj dusek were as fol lows ( figure s u s ed in present
study in brackets ) :
g . protein
Kcal s .
S weet potato
Taro
Pitpit
S ugarcane
Leafy green s
(117)
150
{ 10 4 )
145
38. 4 ( 2 7 )
( 35 . 5)
58
44
(41)
0.9
1.4
4.1
0.4
4.0
(1.3)
( 1 . 9)
( 0 . 5)
( 0 . 15 )
( 5 . 0)
( Re id and Gaj du s ek ' s f igures for pitpi t refer to the lowland
specie s , Saccharum edule , not to the highland spec ies ,
_;,.��- palmaefol ia} .
141
FIGURE
4 .
MAIN SOURCES OF ENERGY ( E )
AND PROTEIN ( P )
IN AWANDE DIET
( Percentages der ived from aggregate data from three household s )
starchy
stap l e s
85 . 1 %
ref ined sugar 2 . 0%
sugarcane 1 . 9 %
fresh meat 1 . 3 %
tinned meat and f i sh 1 . 2 %
other 1 . 3 %
( sweet potato 8 0 . 4 % )
6 . 4%
and f i sh 5 . 4 %
fresh meat 3 . 8 %
rice 3 . 7 %
starchy
stap l e s
65 . 3%
( sweet potato 5 9 . 7 % )
other 3 . 0%
142
i i i ) Energy and protein allowanc e s .
Reid and Gaj dusek u sed the
' Suggested Dietary Al lowanc e s for New Guinea Natives ' given
by Langley as part of the Nutrition Survey Expedition Report
( H ipsley and Clement s , ibid) .
These allowance s are on average
about 1 0% lower for energy intake s , and about 8 0 % h igher for
protein intakes , than thos e u sed in the pre sent study .
Compari son between the results of the two surveys can only be
made if the same methods of measurement and analy s i s are u sed in both .
To make such a c ompari son pos s ible , the data from the Awande survey
were reanalysed using the same .methods and source s as were used by Reid
and Gaj dusek for the Moke Survey 1 •
The two alternative sets of re sults
for the Awande Survey are compared with the re sults from the Moke Survey
in Table 1 2 .
COMPARIS ON OF 1 9 5 7 MOKE DIET , WITH 1 9 7 7 AWANDE DIET
Percentage o f recommended allowance s
( Average of three households over one week)
Survey
Energy
Moke , 1 9 5 7 ( Reid and Gaj du s ek , 1 96 9 ) 1
1 42 . 0
61 . 3
Awande , 1 9 7 7 , analysed by Reid and Gaj dus ek ' s
1 35 . 7
60. 3
86. 3
72 . 3
Awande , 1 9 7 7 , analysed by alternative methods 3
l Average o f re sult s shown in Table 3 of Reid and
Prote in
' s paper .
2 Methods described ful ly in Reid and Gaj dus ek ( ibid ) , and summ ari s ed in
thi s chapter .
3 Methods described fully in this c hapter .
re sul t s in Tabl e 1 1 .
Average f igur e s derived from
The s e r e su l t s are intere sting in two respect s .
First , the Moke
and Awande resu l t s , when calculated on the same bas i s , are r emarkably
s imilar .
Whether this s imilarity is mainly fortuitou s , or reflects a
real cons istency in the level of dietary intakes over a twenty year
I some items in the Awande diet were not li sted in the food table s in Hipsley
for such items , the WHO table s were used in the
and Clements ( ibid) ;
Figures for cal c ium , thiamine and ascorbic acid were not
reanalysi s .
calculated .
143
period cannot be e s tabl i shed , g iven the very small samp l e s and the
brief duration of the surveys .
most
The compo s ition of the diets differ ed
in the inc lusion of purcha s ed food s , inc luding fresh
meat a s wel l a s proce s sed store food s , in the Awande diet .
foods were c onsumed by the Moke sample hou seholds ;
No store
otherwise , in terms
of garden food s , the compos it ion of the d iets was not very d ifferent in
the two surveys , var iation within each being as great as var iation
between them .
The second intere st ing feature in Table 1 2 l ie s in the compar i son
between the alternative sets of r e su l t s for the Awande survey .
large differ ence in apparent adequacy of energy intake i s
The
accounted
for by the d if f erence s in the food tabl e s u sed in each c a s e ( see above } .
The dif ference in apparent adequacy of protein intake i s not so great a s
for energy intake ;
in my own analys i s , the effect of the muc h lower
allowance s derived from the FAO/WHO rec ommendation s is partly off set by
the very much lower f igure u s ed for the prote in content
Two important conc lus ions c an
from
c ompari son
the
of
dietary
can lead to
different sets
Despi te the narrow scope o f the survey described in thi s chapter
it is of some inter e st to c ompare the general f inding s with those of
other studie s , and with the finding s of the dietary recall surveys
described in the previous chapter .
Hip s ley and Kirk
( 1965 ) give figures for the percentage composition
1 Both these conclusi ons were , to some exte nt , anticipated in my original
dec i s i on not to use small weighed i ntake surveys as the princ ipal s ource
of data ;
the decis i on seems to be j usti fie d by the empirical e xercis e
des c ribed i n thi s s e ction .
1 44
of the average adult diet in the Chimbu vi l lage of Pari , in 1 96 2 . Sweet
potato contributed 7 7 % o f energy , and 4 1 % of protein ( cp . 8 0 . 4 %
5 9 . 7 % respectively in Awande ) .
and
Beans and corn were of greater importance
in Pari , but at the time of the Awande survey these crops were not in
their mos t productive s eason .
Leafy greens contributed 2 1% o f the prote in
intake at Pari , compared with 1 3 . 4 % at Awande .
The main di fference
between tre diets lay in the comp lete abs ence of s tore foods from the
Pari diet , whi le these items contributed over 9% of the energy , and over
1 3 % of the p rotein in Awande .
It is quite l ikely that by 1 9 7 7 , fi fteen
years after Hipsley and Kirk ' s survey , s tore foods would have become more
s igni fi c ant i n the P ari die t as wel l .
In a more recent survey in another
vil lage in the Chimbu are a , carrie d out in 1 9 7 5 , sweet potato contributed
8 3 . 5% of the total energy intake , whi l e s tore foods ( mostly rice , bread
and tinned fis h ) contributed 8 % ( Lambert , 1 9 75 a , Table 5 ) .
Another recent survey , at Lufa , an area of the E as te rn Highlands
about 50 km.
from Awande and in a simi lar e co logical s et ting , is reported
by Norgan e t . a l .
( 19 7 4 ) .
In the Lufa diet , sweet potato contributed 6 3 . 8%
of the energy , and 3 7 . 2 % of the p rotein intake .
contributed 5 . 3% o f energy , and 16 . 5 % of p rote i n .
1 0 . 3 % of energy , and 1 5 . 0% of prote in .
Animals , mo s tly pig ,
S tore foods contributed
Thus there was a les s e r dependence
on sweet potato , and a higher i ntake o f animal and s tore foods than in
Awande .
Had a pig been k i l le d and eaten within the s ample hamlet during
the Awande s urvey , the animal protein intake would have been greatly
increased ;
as it was , the small amounts of pi g , bee f and mutton that
were con s umed c ame as gifts from o ther hamlets , and from a singsing at
another village .
In general , the n , the composition of the Awande diet as assessed
in the wei ghed intake survey o f three households , i s close to that o f
other Easte rn Highland an d Chimbu populations s tudied .
S e as onal variation
in consumption of garden crops and s tore foods , and the i rregu lar pattern
of consumption of pork , are not re flected in the bri e f period over which
the Awande survey was carried out ;
the compos ition of the diet averaged
over the whole year might therefore be quite si gn i fi cantly di f fe rent from
the one des cr ibed here .
Adequacy of the diet
Because they were gathered on a household basi s , the results o f
the s urvey cannot be used t o calculate per capita intake f igure s .
Th e
14S
figures given in Table 1 1 for the actual energy and protein intakes , by
househo l d , as percentages of the FAO/WHO theoreti cal requirements sugges t
that there i s conside rable variation between households i n the adequacy
of thes e intake s .
In two of the househo lds , the leve l s of energy and
protein intakes were probably sati s fac tory , given the likely margin o f
error in the survey .
In the third household , however , the level s o f
energy and p rotein intake were we ll be low the recommendations , such that
clearly visible sign s of malnutrition might have been e xpec ted .
S uch
symptoms were not in fact obs e rved , but it may be re levant to note that
the mother in thi s household , aged about thirty years , weighed only
35 kgs . whi le her 18-month- o ld s on weighed 7 . 3 kgs . , about 6 5 % of the
Harvard s tandard wei ght for his age .
However , the point must be made
once again that the diet of a household over a s ingle week may not be
representative of its usual intake .
Averaged over the three househo lds , the percentages of theoretical
requirements actually consumed were 86 . 3% and 7 2 . 3 % for energy and protein
respective ly
These figures compare favourably with those give n by
Lambert ( op . ci t . )
men ts .
for the Chimbu in 1 9 75 , using the s ame FAO/WHO require
The Lufa survey (Norgan e t . al. , op. cit. ) uses a higher s core for the
quality o f dietary protein than the 7 0 % net protein uti lizat ion rate a ssumed
for Awande and Chimbu, and the prote in intake was well above the safe
leve ls for all adult groups except lactating women , whose intake was 88%
o f the s a fe leve l .
The Lufa survey c ompared energy intake s with actual
expendi ture , rather than with theoreti cal allowances , s o the results c an
not be compared with thos e from Awande l .
S innett ( 19 7 7 , pp . 71 - 2 ) , cit ing
an e arlier WHO expert committee on p rotein requirements (WHO , 1 9 65 ) ,
s tate s that , " i f the protein content of the diet contributes les s than
5% of the total c alorie intake , an optimum intake of protei n cannot be
achieved as appetite is sati s fied be fore protein requirements are met . "
In his own s tudy among Enga sweet potato cultivators living at Murapin
in the Wes te rn Highlands , Sinnett ( op . c it . )
for les s than 4% of total c alorie intake .
al .
found that protein accounted
In the Lufa study , Norgan e t .
( op . ci t . ) give figure s o f 6 . 5 % and 7 . 2 % o f total energy intake as
l The res ults for energy balance from the Lufa s urve and the associated
Y,
survey on Karkar I sland , were intriguing ;
they revealed an apparent
de ficit in energy intakes which the res e ar ch team found impo s s ible to
explain s atis factor i ly on either theoreti cal or practical grounds .
1 46
protein , for adult men and adult women respective ly .
In the Awande
survey , the f igure of 4 . 2 5 % is intermediate between the s e , reflecting
an intake o f s tore foods higher than at Murapin , and lower than at Lufa .
Because of the many potential sources o f e rror , alre ady dis cussed,
in the calculation of the figures for adequacy of energy and protein
intakes , the Awande survey s hould be regarded only as broadly indicative
of the general composi tion of the diet .
Reliab l e a s s e s s ment o f the degree
to which tue diet sati s fi es nutritional requirements mus t await a much
more thorough s urvey , not only of nutrient and energy intake but also
of physi c a l health itself .
The we ighed intake survey resul ts confi rm the conc l us ions reached
on the b as i s o f the recall s urvey res ul ts .
Both s e ts o f resul ts i ndic ate
the bulky nature o f the rural Fore die t , with its preponderance o f sweet
po tato ;
the low cons umption o f animal pro te i n ;
and the relative ly small
contribution o f s tore foods to the diet.
In two o f the households covered in the weighed i ntake s urvey ,
l eafy greens and
were consumed l e s s o ften during the week than the
resul ts o f tne r ecall surveys s ugges t is typic al for Awande as a who l e ;
in the c a s e o f one o f the households , this may have b een due to the abs ence
of the mo ther
garden .
who wo uld normally have col lected thes e i tems from the
In o ther respec ts
there were no obviously unus ual i tems in the
diets o f the three households .
The cons umption o f one kilogram o f white
sugar , us ed in ho t drinks , by one of the households doe s not represent a
regular feature of the die t , but , rather , a luxury indulged i n from time
to time by mo s t ho us eholds .
Compari ng the relative merits of the two kinds o f die tary survey
used in thi s s tudy , it is c lear that the recall method provides a better
overall p i c ture o f the nature of the typic al die t in terms of i tems o f
foods consumed , while only the wei ghed intake me thod c an provide fi gure s
for ac tual nutrient or energy intakes .
An alte rnative method might have
been to combine features o f the two described , by a sking people to recal l
not only what i tems were consumed on the previous day , but also thei r
approximate quantiti e s in terms of number of tubers , length of sugarc ane
e tc .
The data thus obtained might then have been converted to approximate
weights , derived from a s eries of s ample measurements , and s ubsequent
14 7
analysi s have been bas ed on the use of food tables and theoretical
requirements , as above .
However ,
this method would no t have provided
very r el i abl e fi gures for nutr ient and e nergy intakes , for which
s eriously inac curate figure s may be wors e than no f i gure s a t al l .
148
CHAPTER 1 1
F or peopl e whose food s upply i s mo s tly purcha s ed from s tores
and marke: '. s , rather than produced in their own gardens , the pattern o f
cash expend iture i s o f maj or s igni fi cance to the die t .
Such i s the
c a s e with the Fore l iving in Lae , and this chapter de scribes the findings
of a small ho usehold expenditure s urvey , de s i gned to throw some light
on the rel a tive value s pl aced by the urban Fore on di fferent food i tems ,
and on food compared to o ther ca tegori e s of expendi tur e .
Several household expenditure s urveys have b een carri ed out in
urban centres in Papua New Guine a , mos t of them in Port More sby .
Information contained in earlier s tudies ( Be lshaw , 1 9 5 7 , on Hanuabada ;
Spinks , 1 96 3 , on Hanuabada and Koke ;
Camp in 1 96 3- 64
Hitchcock and Oram , 1 9 6 7 , on Rabia
and Oeser , 1 96 9 , on Hohola in 1 96 2- 6 3 ) is now somewhat
dated , because of the great i ncrease in real incomes over the pas t
decade or so , and the sub s ti tution of cash for rations , a ma j or source
of income in kind for many employees included i n the survey s . Nevertheless ,
it is interes ting to note that a common
of all these e arly s tudies
was that the urban groups s urveyed were largely dependent upon imported
foodstuf fs , in parti c ular rice , for their energy intakes ;
and that this
choice was economically rationa l because o f the high price s of traditional
s tarchy s tapl e s in the Port Moresby markets .
Malcolm ( 1 9 7 3 ) us es data from a Department o f Labour i ncome and
expenditure s urvey carried out in 1 9 7 0 among low income public s ervants
in Lae .
Malco lm ' s intere s ts are spec i fically related to nutri tion , and
ne used the data to c a l c ulate figures for dietary intake in the 1 8
hous eho lds :
on food and beverages was $ 1 5 . 7 0 per
income .
Calorie s derived from protein ,
carbohydrate and fats were 1 2 per cent , 7 7 per cent and 1 1
O f the protein cons umed , 38 per cent
per c en t
was from animal sources . . . The protein intake was e s tima ted
to be 68 per c en t higher than the FAO/WHO ( 196 5 ) recormnended
a llowances per household and the only dietary defic i t shown
was calcium.
Calories derived from sugar and s ugar- containing
the changeover to Kina the $ PNG was at pari ty with the $ Aus t .
149
bi s c ui ts was 2 1 per cen t , pre s umab ly a ma j or fac tor in the
( ib i d , p . 1 6 2 ) .
high c aries rate obs erved in the town .
11
S tra the rn ( 1 9 7 5 ) , in a s tudy of Hagen migrants in Port Moresby
in 1 9 7 0 - 7 2
i nc ludes data on the budgets of nine unskil led migrants
over one for tnigh t .
Their wages ranged from $ 1 5 to $ 5 6 , and their
expenditure on food from $2 to $ 1 6 . 2 0 , with a further sum , reaching $ 20
in one case ,
s pent on beer ( ibid , Table 7 . 2 , pp . 32 2- 3 ) .
one of the men was married, and he had no children .
Only
S trathe rn s tates
that thes e budgets give " some i dea of the proportions in which migrants
se e thems e "lves as spending mone y " (p . 3 2 0 ,
my ital ic s )
Four more
budgets , b ase d on accoun t-keeping rather than no tional figures , are
p re s ente d in an appendix ( ibid , pp . 4 4 1- 9 )
They show grea t variab i l i ty
be tween sub j ec ts , and between pay pe riods
S trathern s ummarises
"it wo uld s eem that unsk i lled workers on a rela ti ve ly low
wage also spend relati vely less on food and hous ehold items
than higher wage-earners .
The borrowing and
of
sma l l amounts o f money ( • spending o n soc i a l re la tionship s )
i s a l s o more frequent . Higher wage-earners may s e nd more money
back home , but be less financially involved in the urban
ne twork s .
( ib i d , p . 44 1 ;
original parenthe se s ) .
The mo s t recent data available on household expenditure ari se
from the B ureau o f S tatis ti c s Household Expendi ture S urvey 1 9 7 5/ 7 6 . The
s urvey was intended mainly to provide up- to- date in formation on
expendi ture patterns for use in calculating the Cons umer Pric e Index,
but i t also sought in formation on housing condi tions , income and
househo l d compo s i tion .
Preliminary res ults for Lae ( B urea u of S tati s tics
1 9 78b ) , are based on a salll]? l e o f 84 Papua New Guinean househo lds ,
them in low covenant
26 in sel f-help
2 0 in a variety o f other dwe l lings
38 of
and the
The modal income o f
these hous eho l ds was K4 0 to K59 per fortn i gh t , comparable to that o f
the Fore hous eho l ds con tac te d i n 1 9 7 7 .
Unfortunately the
hand tabulations so far avai lable do no t inc lude data on food expenditure
as s uch , but inc l ude i t in the "other goods and s e rvic es " which on
average accoun te d for 71 . 3% of household expendi ture .
One of the findings
of the preliminary analys i s is that ,
" Compared t o s imilar s urveys ove rseas i n both developed and
developing coun tries , the proportion of expendi ture on rent
i s very low and the expenditure on b eer , tobacco and
c i garet te s is very high . " ( ibi d , p . 39 ) .
Beer and spi r i ts accoun ted for 7 . 4 % , and tobacco and c i gare tte s for 5 . 8 %
o f average ho useho ld expendi tur e .
Comparab l e figures for Port Moresby
150
were 5 . 9 % and 5 . 1 % r espec tively ( Bureau o f S ta ti s tice , 1 9 7 7 ) .
The B ureau o f S tati s tics survey shows the impor tance of gi ft
exchange , both as c ash and in kind , among urban househo l ds , and between
them and vis i ting wan tok from rural areas .
I t a lso shows that home
produce is an importan t source o f in come in kind for many ho useholds
( e . g . it contrib uted an average cash equi valent of Kll 47 per fortnight
to hous eho l ds in sel f�he lp dwel lings in Lae ) .
Ca lculations of income
and expendi ture patterns are further complicate d by the p rac tice o f
' me kim Sa:nde ' , whereby several wage-earners f o rm a money- sharing pool
to which each con tributes every fortni ght , the pooled sum going to each
con tributor in turn . 1 Al l these fac tors emphasise that urban budgeting
behavio ur in Papua New Guinea cannot be s tudied without givin g due
a ttention to c ul tural norms and a tti tudes which contras t marke dly with
tho se prevailing in indus trialised Wes tern countries .
Methods
My own s urvey of in come an d expendi ture o f Fore hous.eho lds in
Lae was small in scope , and serve s to i l l us trate the variability which
exis ts in a small number of budge ts , particul arly as re gards food
expendi ture , rather than to provide a s ta ti s tically rel iable s ummary
for the urban Fore population as a whole
E i ght separate households were selec te d , each of them s a tis fying
three condi tions :
firs t , they con taine d at l eas t one l iterate a dul t ;
second , they were will ing to co-operate ;
and thir d , thei r loca tions
were s uch that e ach ho us ehold co uld be vi s i te d at least e very second
day for checking its e xpendi ture records .
De tails of househol d
compos i tion , employmen t , and ho us ing conditions are included i n the
re s ul ts sec tion , below , where each household is treate d as a s eparate
c ase s tudy .
In each hous ehold , those adul ts who could read and write Pidgin ,
which in practice meant the adult males , were asked to record de tai l s o f
daily income and e xpe ndi ture on prepared s hee ts .
As well a s l i s ting
e very i tem purchased by themselve s or their dependants , i ts price and
l This s cheme is a lternatively known as going 1 kampani 1 , or • bung wantaim '
( co llec t togethe r ) ;
see S trathern ( 1 9 7 5 ) for e xamples from Hageners
in Por t Mo re sby .
1 51
where i t was bough t , the respondents were al so asked to record de tai ls
o f the fo l lowin g :
any foods brought from their own garden ;
of food from o uts ide the hous eho ld ;
plac e o f work ;
any gi fts
any food or drink provided at their
any wages receive d , incl uding overtime ;
their dependants had so ld any food at the marke t ;
whether they or
and how many men ,
women and c hi l dren ate in their ho use that morning and evenin g . 1
The pro cedure was given a tri al run over one or two days in each
househo ld , and then c ontinued over a ful l fortnight with record sheets
being c he cked e ve ry two , or at mo s t three , days .
S eventeen individual s
( fi fteen adul t male s and two s choo lboys ) were i s s ue d with record s heets .
One man le f t Lae to vi s i t his home vi l l age for a funeral four days after
tne s tart of the s urvey , and did no t re turn until the survey period was
ove r ;
a l l o ther respondents were pre sent a t the s tart and the end o f
the ful l s urvey period , though with some temporary abs e nc e s .
The que s tion on daily expendi ture was answered , as far as can be
j udged , quite ful ly and accurately , as was the que s tion on income from
wage s .
The remainder o f the ques tions were answered l e s s reliably , in
particular those concernin g the quan ti ty o f food co l l e c te d from gardens
or given to the ho usehold by o uts iders , and the number of people eating
in the househol d each morni ng and e vening .
For this reason , the resul ts
have no t been analyse d in terms o f food expendi ture p er c ap i ta or in
terms o f total food i ntake .
Both would be mis leading given the uncert
aintie s regarding the value of foods received as gi fts , or coll e cte d
from gardens , an d re garding n umb ers o f people present at main mea ls .
Re s ul ts
The budgets o f the e i ght househo l ds in the sample are s ummarised
in Table 1 3 , arranged in de creasing order of househo l d incomes from wages .
I t sho uld be no te d that ' c ash in han d ' at the beginning and end o f the
s urvey period was no t recorde d , and some s avings bank transac tion s and
informal cash loans and gi f ts may a lso have b een mis sed .
Thus the
1 No attempt was made to include data on expendi ture ove r a longer period
on ma jor i tems , or rec urrent expenditures s uch as s choo l fee s ( c f . Bureau
of S ta ti s ti c s , 1 9 7 8b , p . 36 ) .
Thus the resul ts re fer to ac tual expe nditure
by the household ove r a particular fortn i ght, no t to the e s timated
average fortnightly expendi ture by that househo l d .
152
fi gures for the apparent cash balance over the fortnight do not
neces sarily imp ly indebtednes s on the one hand , or spare cash on the
o the r .
A b re akdown o f total food and drink expendi ture for each house
hold is shown in Fi gure 5 , with the households arranged in the same
order as in Table 1 3 .
The income and expendi ture patterns show
considerab le variation between households , thi s bei ng a s so ciated with
variation in s uch fac tors as household s i ze and s tructure , number o f
vis i tor s , and individuals ' priori tie s i n how they spend thei r money .
Be fore dis cuss ing the re s ul ts in mo re general te rms , the resul ts will
be di s cussed s eparately for each househo ld , in relation to i ts particul ar
c i rc ums tanc e s .
This hous ehold consi s ted o f seven people :
to a coas tal woman , as yet without any chi ldre n ;
D . , a Fore man married
D ' s cous in K . , al so
married to a c oas tal woman , with two young son s , one 2 � years , the other 12
months old;
and another co usin about 16 year s o ld , attending S tandard V
in a Lae primary s choo l .
The household o c c upied a s e l f-bui l t two- room
wooden house in the Boundary Road se ttlement.
Usually the whole house
hold shared thei r meals , but there was some mutual vi s i ting and sharing
of meal s between this household and Househo ld 4 , which was nearby and
whose male members were from the same vil lage of Kagu , in North Fore .
D . worke d as a cook in a res taurant in Lae ,
for a bas ic gros s
K. worke d in a match factory for K60/ fortni ght .
wage o f KS
K ' s wife had a part- time j ob as a dome s tic ,
for K32/fortni ght .
the ground rent of Kl 2/year to the municipal authori ty .
D. paid
The household
shared a garden in the foothi lls above the settlement from whi ch they
coll e c te d swee t po tato n early every day o f the s urvey , and cas sava , taro
and high land pi tpit l e s s frequently ;
from a small plot ins i de their
yard they regularly picked aibika .
In the s econd week o f the s urvey p eriod , D . went to a funeral
party in his home vil lage
Thursday .
l eaving on the Tue sday and returning on the
On the way he bought s even chickens in Kainantu for Kl6 and
l some fi gure s have b een rounded for convenience , or where accurate data
were no t availabl e .
TABLE
13.
CASH
I NCOME
AND EXPENDITURE OVER ONE
Household 1
FORTNIGHT I N E I GHT FORE HOUSEHOLDS I N LAE
Household
Household 3
Household 4
Household 5
Household 6
Household 7
Household 8
Mean
for
e i gh t households
Fu l l - t ime wage earners
1
l l:i
K.
K.
INCOME
1 30 . 5 0
( a fter tax)
loans ,
cash g i fts
9 3 . 10
K.
89. 91
K.
78. 10
K.
78. 01
K.
71 . 7 2
K.
K.
61. 3 3
7 1 . 30
2
K.
84 . 25
8 . 64
2 5 . 00 4
Other
1 21 . 1 0
230.
TOTAL INCOME
12 . 47
11 4 . 9 1
7 8 . 10
94 . 1 1
71. 72
7 1 . 30
61. 33
105. 35
6 . 63
3. 75
3 . 60
19.96
2 . 16
7. 33
7. 9 5
1. 2 5
l. 9 7
0. 12
2.45
2 . 62
2. 5
1 . 27
1. 55
1 . 24
1. 2
1. 06
o. 3 7
o. 5 0
o. 5
EXPENDITURE
Food
tota l
Drink
10. 74
Rice
4 . 57
4 . 01
1. 02
5 . 60
White
2 . 01
1. 3 8
1. 3 5
0 . 91
Butter,
o.
o . 70
Flour ,
bread,
biscuits
spreads
&
82
1. 48
1 . 08
%
expenditure
15. 04
2 0 . 04
56. 39
3 . 90
4 . 66
5. 25
14. 57
3 . 19
4 . 69
3 . 09
2 . 41
0 . 44
5. 21
6. 0 5
Tinned meat
5. 35
1 . 30
3.44
2 . 99
2. 8
Tinned
8. 2 9
3 . 85
4. 96
2 . 52
2 . 01
i . 08
4 . 17
4 . 40
4 . 66
4.4
0.4
1. 95
0 . 87
o.39
0. 20
0 . 40
1. 3 8
Freezer
fresh meat
f i sh
3. 09
13. 8
2. 73
1 . 40
0. 65
0 . 60
starchy vegetab l e s
1. 80
2. 60
3 . 70
2 . 35
Other vegetables
3 . 43
2 . 30
7 . 12
2 . 33
3 . 00
1 . 10
1. 00
3. 20
1.
9 . 40
1 . 43
1. 2 0
1 . 10
0 . 40
0. 3 0
2 . 28
2. 2
8. 4 2
8. 99
1 . 60
1 . 41
2 . 96
5 . 97
5. 7
10. 84
6 . 34
2. 8 8
3 . 06
2. 3 6
6. 22
5. 9
2 . 90
1 .45
1 . 00
0 . 60
1. 58
o. 20
o. 90
0. 9
1. 35
mi l o ,
tea ,
coffee
"ncrar,-,rirtP
17. 76
6 . 65
16. 73
s. 84
1. 74
1 . 76
2 . 74
2. 5 4
0 . 20
5 . 00
12 . 45
0 . 17
o. 40
9 4 . 98
7 3 . 08
111. 79
6 . 00
9. 20
1. 06
Beer
Other
food
SUB-TOTAL :
Other
FOOD
&
DRINK
0 . 47
50. 5 9
4 4 . 99
9 . 80
so. 95
1 . 16
2 . 54
1 0 . 00
o. 20
1 . 28
1. 1
1. 3
2. 4
1. 2
3. 43
3. 2
0 . 16
0.2
2 3 . 58
3 1 . 88
60. 23
57. 0
2 . 83
2. 7
5 . 70
2 . 40
0 . 60
4 . 93
4. 7
9. 00
7. 9 0
8 . 70
8. 2
o. 30
0. 50
1 . 38
1 . 67
4 . 80
20. 70
28. 58
34. 26
expenditure
Rent
7 . 40
Transport
1 0 . 90
1. 80
1. 60
6 . 60
Clothes
17. 60
16. 50
9 . 60
9. 00
Tobacco
8. 29
9 . 05
1. 49
Kerosene
o . 90
1 . 00
1. 80
3 . 76
3 . 18
1. 50
Cleaning materials
Other goods
&
loan s ,
SUB-TOTAL:
services
cash g i f t s
2
OTHER
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
APPARENT BALANCE OVER FORTNIGHT
Notes
1 . 05
1.
Part-time
6 6 . 00
57. 00
1 0 8 . 67
96 . 61
25. 50
44 . 61
5
12. 00
2 3 . 59
3. 94
3. 7
o. 53
0. 5
1 . 55
1. 5
6 . 07
5. 7
16. 87
16. 0
1. 55
4 5 . 42
43 . 0
135. 38
7 6 . 09
8 9 . 60
79. 53
5 7 . 84
3 3 . 43
105. 65
- 20 . 4 7
+ 2 . 01
+4. 51
- 7 . 81
+13 . 46
+2 7 . 9 0
-0. 30
loans ,
4.
Bank withdrawa l s .
5.
Includes K2 0 . 00 f o r rad i o .
expenditure
10. 60
o. 75
1 6 9 . 69
g i ft s
!:i.
see text .
tax refund.
total
7. 82
o. 2 0
1. 09
- 4 8 . 59
Income
of
0 . 80
1. 38
203 . 6 5
3.
6.
1 1 . 41
o . 70
+ 26 . 5 7
counted as
2.
1. 70
-
whole
samp l e .
s
7. 5
( 100 . 0 )
I-'
Ul
w
FIGURE 5
•
·fOTAL FOOD EXPENDITURE OVER ONE FORTNIGHT
IN LAE (Derived from f igures in Table 1 3 )
Kl 2 0
KEY
Other
Beer
Cold snacks :
aerated
K80
drinks, buns, i ce cream etc .
Hot '
cooked
meat p i e s etc .
foods
f i sh & chip3,
I-'
U1
.i:::.
Expenditure
Fruit, vegetab l e s , nuts
Tinned meat/fish
K4 0
Freezer & fresh meat, eggs
White sugar, fat s , spreads
Flour, bread, b i s cuits
Rice
3
4
Household number
5
( see text )
6
7
8
1 55.
contributed K 3 0 towards the purchase o f a cow from a c attle ranch at
Dumpu.
This expendi ture i s included under ' gi fts ' in Table 1 3 .
received only KS in wages for thi s week .
He
His income for the previous
week , howeve r , was boo s te d by an income tax re fund of K44 . 72 .
He al so
received K2 0 from hi s sande partne rs in the fir s t w eek , but did not
contribute in the s econd .
K ' s incomings and o utgoings were l e s s compl i cated ;
he received
K6 0 . 7 0 in ne t wage s with overtime , contributed K20 to his sande pool in
the firs t week , and rece ived K35 from it in the second .
His wi fe
receive d Kl6 . 90 ne t wage s e ach week .
Turning now to actual expenditure on goods and servi ce s , nearly
K95 o f the total household expenditure ( including gi fts ) of K2 04 went on
food and dri nk .
In th is food budget , the mo s t notable feature was the
very h i gh expenditure on ho t ' takeaway ' foods , and cold snack foods and
drink s , espec i al ly aerate d drinks ;
K 39 .
the s e c ate gorie s accounted for nearly
The o ther main i tems o f food e xpenditure were fre sh and free zer
meat , tinned fish (wi th smaller quanti tie s of tinne d meat ) , and rice .
Fre sh vegetables , fruits and nuts added up to only KB . 4 3 ;
only Kl . 80
was spent on s tarchy s taples , a l l of it on bananas , refl e c ting the s upply
of swee t po tato and taro from the househ0 ld ' s own garden .
Excl uding sande contribution s , and contributions by D . to the
funeral party in h i s vi ll age , c lo thes and tobacco were the main non- food
i tems in the budget .
The fi gure o f Kl0 . 9 0 for transport incl uded Kl 0 . 00
spen t by D . to ge t to and from the village .
The e xpe nditure pattern of this househo ld is i l l us trative o f
several common features i n urban Fore budge ts :
firs t , the enduring
importance of the relationship to the home vil lage , expres s ed in D ' s
trip home , which involved him in considerabl e expense ; 1
s e cond , the
high expenditure on snack i tems whi ch , from a nutri tional po int of view ,
are highly uneconomic ;
and thir d , the s i gnifi c ance of the food garden
in provi ding s tarchy s taples , though the data are inadequate to quanti fy
i ts con tribution in kind to the budget .
The househo ld , with one part
time and two ful l- time wage-earners , was re lative ly a f fl uent , and wel l
1 1 did no t enquire a s to whether K . had any share i n thes e expens e s ;
he
di d no t indicate any s uch e xpendi ture on his daily record , but thi s may
have been an oversight;
alternatively , his relationship to the de ceased
in the vi l lage may not have placed any obligations on him.
1 56
able to s upport i ts dependent chi ldren , including the teenage s choolboy .
Household 2 :
This household cons i s te d o f o . , a 25-year-old man from Awande ,
with his Kei agana wi fe , and hi s 1 2-year-old niece who was l ivin g wi th
them in town on a semi-permanent basi s .
o . worked as a taxi dri ver ,
for a bas ic gro s s wage o f K95/fortni gh t .
Th e househo ld o c c upied one
room on the s econ d floor of a block owned by the taxi company , at a rent
o f K6/fortni gh t .
They use d the communal latrines and k erosene cooking
s toves provide d on the ground floor , and had electric l i ght in their
quarters .
They had no garden .
During the s urvey fortni ght, O . was vi s i te d by his fathe r 1 s
brother wi th h i s w i fe and thre e c hildren , from Awande .
They s tayed in
Lae for a week , s taying wi th 0 . on some nights , and with o ther wantok
on o ther nigh ts .
0 . was also vis i te d by hi s b rother ' s wi fe and her two
children , who were on hol i day from Port Moresby , where his brother
worked in the De fence Force .
Thes e vis i tors put cons ide rable s train on
the househo ld ' s budge t , as well as on its living spac e .
O . had to borrow
KB from hi s employe r , and wi thdrew K20 from his savings bank .
As wel l
as providing food for h i s vis i tors , o n their departure h e gave the party
from Awande K4 9 in cas h .
He recei ve d some re turn i n the form o f food
donated by his vi s i ting wanto k .
They brought taro , banana , sweet po tato ,
kwnu and pandanus nuts from the vi llage , and contr ibute d K4 . 1 0 ' s worth
of foo d purc hase d in Lae .
His s is ter-in- law from Moresby bought K9 . 5 8 ' s
worth o f food , and a wan to k from Awande employed i n Lae gave him food
worth anothe r KS . 5 1 .
Thi s total o f K22 . 40 ' s worth o f purcha s e d food
is no t i nc l uded in the budget in Table 1 3 .
Food and drink acco un te d for K 7 3 o f the househo ld ' s total
expenditure o f Kl 7 0 .
Jus t over K20 wen t on fresh and free zer meat , nearly
al l of it on poul try ( KS . 00 for a fresh chicken from the market , Kl2 . 5 9
on frozen chicken ) .
Rice , tinned meat , tinned fish , aerated drinks and
ho t takeaway foods were a lso major i tems o f expendi ture .
0 . frequently
consumed Coca Col a and meat pies during his work , and he and his wi fe
often gave snac k s s uc h as chee sepops and i ce-creams to the vi s i ting
children .
The e xpendi ture o f K6 . 1 0 on vegetables , frui ts , and n uts
included K2 . 60 on s tarchy vegetable s , which , given the re lative cos ts
per uni t of energy , provided much less of the energy in take
of the household than did rice . 1
o.
spent K5 . 00 on ten
Appendix B , i n which relative cos ts of energy and
various fresh and proc e s se d foods are l i s te d .
contents o f
bo ttles o f beer , immediately a fter the departure o f his wanto k .
Of
non- food expendi ture , clothe s , rent and tobacco were the maj o r items ,
other than the c ash gi fts alrea dy des cribe d .
Overal l , o • s budget showed a n apparent de fic i t o f nearly K4 9
ove r the fortn i ght , despi te hi s loan and bank wi thdrawal s .
It is
po s s ible that he rec eived some help in the form of unreco rded cash gi fts
or loan s from his employe d wanto k , in Lae , but it is clear that the
vis i tors from the vil lage were a major c ause o f hi s high expendi ture , a
poin t which 0 . emphasised himse l f in conve rsation with me .
Thi s hou s eho l d con sisted o f J .
wi fe from the same vi llage ;
from Kasoru i n North Fore ;
their 1-year-old daughter ;
his
his s i s ter ' s
son , 1 9 years old and wi th a full- time j ob in Lae , and two younger
chi l dren , 15 and 10 y ears o l d , from his wi fe ' s lain .
e lec trician in a maj o r radio repairs business
K95 Sl/fo rtnigh t .
a f ter KS . SO tax .
J. worked as an
a t a basic gro s s wage o f
Hi s n e t income in the s urvey fortn i ght was K89 . 91 ,
Unfortunately I di d no t obtain de tai l s o f his s i s ter s
son s income or e xpe nditure , but according to J . , he rare l y contributed
1
food to the househo l d , though he o ften a te with them.
The hous eho ld lived in a Ho using Commi s s ion ho us e in Taraka
( se e P late 6 . 4 ) with two bedrooms and a k i tchen/living room (with two
e lec tric rings for cooking)
and an outside laundry and latrine .
Sometimes they cooke d on an open fire o uts ide .
for tnigh t .
Their rent was K9 . 60/
They had a few swee t potato e s left in an old garden near
Boundary Road , and in their yard they grew some bananas and pawpaws ,
but no home-produc e d food was harves te d during the survey period .
For the whole o f the survey period, two young women from Kasoru
were s taying in the househo l d , and on the fir s t day of the survey ( a
S aturday } , seve ral wantok arrive d fo r the weekend , bringing some swee t
po tato , corn ,
and c abbage with them as gi fts .
There were
other vis i tors for mea l s throughout the fortnigh t , b ut I found it
impo s s ible to record the e xac t details .
Of J ' s total expenditure o f Kl 3 S , nearly Kll 2 was spent on food
and drink .
Of the Kll 2 , one hal f was spent on fre sh and fre ezer meat ,
bee f and chicken accoun ting for about equal propo rtion s .
K 3 . 70 was
spent on fre sh e ggs , for which J . and his family expre s se d a particular
l iking .
Ove r Kl2 was spen t on beer , mos t of it drunk by J . and
158
his wantok from the village on the first
day o f the s urvey .
( Hi s wi fe was a Seventh Day Adventi s t , b ut J 1 s
membership o f the church had lapsed s i nce leaving his S DA primary
school ) .
Tne household spent over K20 on vegetables , fruits and nuts :
K4 . 5 0 on s tarchy vegetab l es , K7 . 1 2 on greens and tomatoes , K4 . 30 on
pineapples and pawpaws , K2 . 00 on peanuts , and K2 . 10 on s ugarcane .
Rice ,
tinned meat, tinned fi sh , and s nack foods and dri nk s made up the balance
o f food expendi ture .
Of non- food e xpendi ture , rent accounted for K9 . 20 , clothes for
K9 . 60 , and transport , tobacco and household cleaning materials for the
remaining K4 . 7 9 .
The departing vi l la ge wantok received no gi fts of c as h .
J ' s budge t , t o s ummari se , was dis tingui shed b y very hi gh
expendi ture on fresh foods , espe c i al ly meat , and relatively low expend
iture on s nack foods and drinks , and on non- food i tems .
De sp i te with
drawing K25 from his bank ac count , J. ended the fortnight with an apparent
de fic i t of K20 . 4 7
I t would be interes ting to know whether his rather
extravagant p attern of expendi ture on fresh meat would be s us tained over
the long term , or whether the survey period was unrepres entative in this
respe c t .
4
As h as been mentioned , the men o f this household were related to
those of Household 1 , coming from the s ame vil lage , Kagu , in North Fore .
The household c ons i s te d of E . and his wi fe , who c ame from S.alamaua, south
of Lae ;
E ' s p atril inea l c ous i n A . , whose wi fe and two chi ldren were
s till living in Kagu;
another cousin R . , 17 year s o ld and in Form I at
a hign s chool in Lae ;
and L . , E ' s wi fe ' s brother , in S tandard IV at a
Lae primary s choo l .
Tney occ upied a house in the Boundary Road s e ttle
men t , s e l f-bui l t to a higher s tandard than i s common .
The hous e was on
a con cre te b as e , with fibro walls and a corrugated iron roo f , with two
rooms and a she l tered front verandah .
Cooking was mo s tly done on a
kerosene s tove , but sometimes on an open fire .
In the yard was a small garden plo t , containing taro , s ugarcane ,
aibika , be ans and banana .
Two do zen taro tubers were harve s ted during
the fortnight of the s urvey .
further a field.
The household did not culti vate any land
159
E . worke d in a brewery for a gro s s bas ic wage of K5 6/ fortnigh t ,
b ut ac tual ly receive d K78 . 1 0 ne t , with overti me , i n the s urvey period .
His wi fe worked as a part- time dome s ti c in an e xpa triate home for Kl O/
week .
A . worked as a packer for K54 / fortnigh t , but di d not receive any
wage s in the s urvey period be cause he left for the vi l lage on the fourth
day and di d no t re turn .
E . went to the vi l lage for two days in the
second w eek of the s urvey ,
for the s ame funera l as D . ,
from Household 1 .
He did not , in contras t to D . , contr ibute cash towards the funeral party .
He brought b ack three c a s sava tubers and three c abbages from the vil l age ,
giving two o f the c abbages away to his wantok i n Lae .
The two s choolboys
in the hous eho l d , R. and L . , were given cash gi fts of K4 . 4 0 and K2 . 00
re spec tive ly , by E . and wantok in o ther househo l ds ;
they also re ceived
some food at mi dday a t their schoo l s .
The househo ld ' s to ta l recorde d expenditure o f K76 inc l uded K5 9
spent on food and drink .
The large s t expenditure on a s ingle category
was Kl0 . 84 on aera te d drinks , the two boys accounting for K�. 3 3 o f thi s .
The next hi ghes t expendi ture was KS . 42 on ho t takeaway foods , o f which
mea t pie s were the mai n i tem.
ice-creams , mi lk s hake s e tc .
A further K4 . 2 5
wen t on cold snack foods ,
Thus we ll ove r one- third o f to tal food and
drink expendi ture was made up of hot and co l d snacks .
The hous ehold
spen t KS . 6 0 on flo ur produc ts ( excluding buns and c akes which are inc l ude d
unde r snack foo ds ) , mo s t o f it on p lain b i s c ui ts , some on bread, and the
remainder on flour , cooke d into skon at home .
Ve ge tab l e s , frui ts and
n uts a cco un te d for a further K6 . ll , and the bal ance was spen t on rice ,
fre sh mea t , tinned fi sh , tinned mea t and mis c e l l aneo us i tems s uch as
tinne d mi lk , butte r , dripping and s ugar .
Expenditure on non- foo d i tems amounted to K25 . 5 0 , clothe.s
accounting for K9 . 0 0 of thi s , and transpo rt for K6 . 6 0 ( inc luding K4
contribute d by E . for pe trol fo r the j ourney to and from the vi l lage ,
made in a wantok ' s PMV) .
The balance was spen t on c leaning materials ,
enter tainment ( so c cer and snooke r game s ) , s ta tionery , ke ro sene , and bete l
nut { o f which 6 0 toea ' s worth was bough t ) .
Household 4 ' s expenditure , then , was dominated by nutritional ly
wasteful items of food and drink , but no money was spent on tobacco or
beer ( A . and R. were f irm Seventh Day Adventi sts ;
hearted , allowing himself the occ a s ional beer ;
j ob , thi s i s hardl y surpr i s ing ! }.
E . was more half
g iven the nature of his
E ' s visit home c au sed l ittle d isturbance
to the budget , but the effect of A ' s absence on h i s individual budget
160
and that o f t h e c ommunal household could not b e a s s e ssed. Over the fort
night , ignoring A ' s income and expenditure while abs ent from Lae , the
hous ehold ' s budget appeared to be roughly in balance ;
through l e s s
extravagance i n the form of snack foods and drink s , savings c ou ld
eas ily have been made .
Thi s household was occupied by E . A . , a young man from Awande ,
with his wife who came from Salamaua , their 3 -month-old son , and E . A . ' s
brother S . , 1 7 years old .
Boundary Road s ettlement
They l ived in a self-built home in the
{ see Plate 6 . 1 , l eft-hand house ) , with iron
wall s and roo f , and a wooden
rais ed on posts .
Cooking was done
on an open fire in a small kitchen built of wood and s i tuated behind
the house .
The household grew a few vegetables near the house ,
including sweet potato , taro , sugarcane , banana , and snake beans . During
the survey period the only food harvested was a hand of r j pe bananas .
On one occasion E . A . ' s wife picked a few leaves of tulip f�om a wild
tree growing nearby .
E . A . worked in a bi scuit factory for gro s s wage s o f
but received K2 9 in overtime i n the survey period .
S . was unemployed ,
and spent a good deal of his time going around town visiting his many
wantok .
On these visits he was o ften
food , and sometimes money ;
the cash gifts he received account for the f igure of K6 . 1 0
in �able 1 3 ,
but thi s does not inc lude K2 . 00 from E . A .
During the survey the household was v i sited by two wantok who
had been home to Awande , and returned with gifts of a variety of foods
including swe e t potato , taro , banana ,
sugarcane .
pitpit , pandanus nut s and
There was also mutual visiting and meal- sharing between
their household , Household 2 ( the taxi driver s ) , and another Awande
couple living in Lae but not included in the survey .
Such v i s it s are
commonplace but were made more frequent by the arrival of the party
consisting o f the taxi driver ' s uncle and his family , recounted above .
The hou sehold spent a total of K90 , hal f of which went on food
and drink .
Beer was the biggest s ingl e item of thi s expenditure ,
consisting of a carton of two dozen bottle s bought for Kl 2 on the black
market (a wantok from Lae contributed K2 towards thi s )
The next largest
expenditure was K8 . 99 on hot takeaway foods ( fi sh and c hips , chicken and
meat pies ) , fol lowed by K6 . 34 on aerated soft drink s .
Freezer meat ,
161
rice , green vegetables ( mostly European cabbage ) , fruit s and nut s , and
tinned fish accounted for over K2 eac h , the balance being spent on
biscui ts , bread , cof fe e , tea , ice-cream, milk shakes and tinned mea t .
Non- food expenditure included cash gi fts of K5 to E A . ' s s i s te r ,
l iving i n Lae with a Fore man , and K 7 to E . A . 1 s father- in- l aw .
A further
Kll . 4 1 went on cigare ttes and tob acco , both E . A . and s . smoking quite
heavi ly .
K9 . 80 on transport was used by E . A . to get to and from work ,
Other
and by the whole household on their numerous trips around town .
items included K 7 . 5 0 for a bi Z wn bought at Lae market by E . A . ' s wi fe ,
K 3 . 00 for c i nema tickets , and KO . SO for kerosene .
This househo ld,
like Household 4 , spent a remarkably high
proportion of i ts income on snack foods and drink s ;
spent further large amounts on beer and tobacco .
in addition , it
Whil e mos t of thi s
money was spent by the wage-earner in the househo l d , h i s young unemp lo yed
wan to k spent about a quarter o f i t .
The fac t that emp loyed peop le are
prepared to s upport their wanto k in this fashion tes ti fies to the s trength
of the
kinship bonds which pers i s t in the urban environme n t .
As f a r a s
I c ould tel l from the day-to-day atmosphere i n the household, the
s i tuation c aused ne ither re sentment on the one hand, nor embarras sment
on the othe r .
This household cons i s te d o f H . , from Amusa i n North Fore ;
wi fe , from Kainantu;
wife ' s 1 8-year-o ld s i s te r ;
his
and his adopted 1 0- year- o l d ' brother ' ,
treated a s one o f h i s own chi ldren .
Day Adventi s ts
his
their 2 -year-old son and 2 -month-o ld daughter ;
H . and h i s wife were firm Seventh
They live d in a Housing Commis sion house in Tarak a ,
simi lar t o that o f Household 3 , and only a couple o f hundred yards from
the latte r .
Cooking was done on an open fire under a polythene-roo fed
she lter in the front yard , s ince the kerosene s tove in the kitchen was
broken .
H . worked as a s toreman in a chemicals company , for a gro s s wage
of K72/fortni ght , which inc luded a housing allowance of K7 40 equivalent
to three-quarters o f the fortnightly rent .
Perhaps bec ause of the nature
of his j ob 1 and his comp le tion of s ix year s of primary s choo l , H . kept
neater records than did mos t of the sample ;
h i s budget was a lso l e s s
c ompli cated than many b y vis i tors and communal household arrangements .
H . and h i s wife tended two gardens in the bush , where they grew
162
sweet potato , taro , c a ssava , banana , corn , sugarcane and kumu ;
in the
house yard they grew pineapple , pumpkin , snake beans and banana . During
the survey period they harves ted two large bags of sweet potato ( about
15 kg . each) , two sticks of sugarcane , and two meal s ' serving:; o f beans .
They were al so given a bag of sweet potato by a friend in Taraka , and a
whole frozen chicken by another friend .
For the whole of the second week , H . provided ho spital ity to a
male wantok from his village ;
another wantok accompanying him on the
trip to Lae stayed for one night with H . , then moved on to a different
wantok in Taraka .
Of H ' s expenditure of K9 . 00 on c lothe s , K8 . 2 0 was
spent on c lothes for his brother in the village , to whom he a l so sent a
teapot c osting K4 . 80 .
O f H ' s total expenditure o f nearly K80 , food and drink accounted
for K51 .
The high expenditure of Kl9 . 96 on ric e included a 25 kg . sack
costing K9 . 50 , bought two days before the end o f the survey period . The
other maj or i tems were fresh meat , tinned meat and t inned f i sh , adding
up to Kl7 . 64 .
H ' s regular midday meal was a meat pie and a bottl e o f
Coca Cola , together accounting for most o f the K4 . 48 spent on hot and
cold snacks .
The remainder of the food and drink expenditure was fairly
evenly d ivided among flour products ;
and vegetable s , fruit s and nut s .
white sugar , tinned milk and milo ;
Other expenditure was on r ent , the
c lothes and teapot for H ' s brother in the village
and transport ;
c leaning material s ,
the l atter cost K5 . 7 0 , and included trips into town by
the whole household at the weekend .
H ' s food expenditure shows a more rational use of resource s ,
from the nutritional point of view at l east , than the high expenditure
on fresh meat and on snack foods described for other households in the
sample .
The complete absence of beer and tobacco from the budget ,
characteristic of S eventh Day Adventist hou seholds but rarely found in
other s , i s a l so beneficial to heal th and nutrition , whatever its other
merits or drawback s .
Hous ehold 7 :
Thi s hous ehold occupied a hou s e next door to Household 5 , on the
same plot of l and in the Boundary Road settlement ( see Plate 6 . 1 , right
hand hou se ) .
It c onsi sted of W . , from Awande , and his Keiagana wife ;
I . , a 2 0-year-old mal e wantok from Awande who had been with them for
several months , and W ' s 7 -year-old brother , also a long term res ident in
the household .
163
w . worked i n the same biscuit factory a s E . A . ,
basic gros s wage of K56/fortnight ;
for the same
hi s net pay for the survey period ,
a fter KS . 74 tax , was K71 . 30 , which included overtime .
I . was unemployed
but spent much l e s s time going around town than did his wantok s . in
in stead , I . was more l ikely to ' stap nating '
Househo ld 5 ;
around , doing nothing ) or to s leep during the day .
( sitting
O . gave him KS during
the fortnight , which he spent mostly on soft drinks , c igarette s and a
shirt .
The househo ld cul tivated a small plot near their house , and
during the survey harve sted sweet potato , sugarcane , aibika and bean
leave s .
The hous ehold ' s overall expenditure of nearly K58 included K2 3 . 58
spent on food and drink .
Of the l atter , fresh and freezer meat was the
biggest item , at K6 . 0S , and tinned f is h next at K4 . 1 7 .
The low figure
of K2 . 16 for r ic e is misleading , bec ause the household had 15 kg .
K7 ' s worth)
in stock at the start of the survey .
( about
Aerated dr inks and
milk shakes together accounted for K4 . 64 , and hot takeaway foods for
another Kl . 41 .
Only Kl . 4 0 was spent on vegetables , fruits and nuts ,
Kl . 3 0 on tinned meat , and the remaining K2 . 3 3 on margarine , dripping ,
white sugar and a packet of plain biscuits .
Mos t of the non-food expenditure of K34 , 2 6 went on a radio ,
costing K2 0 . 00 .
transport
Clothes accounted for K7 90 , c ig arette s for K2 . 4 0 , and
keros ene , c leaning material s , a mosquito coil , one metal
hinge , and a ball of wool for the remainder .
W ' s food budget was a modest one , with a fairly even apportionment
between snack food s , animal protein and c arbohydrates
W . was a more
retic ent per sonal ity than most of the Fore I had c ontact with in Lae .
He had been there for only a year and , despite h i s s ix year s ' primary
school ing , did not feel himsel f to be a ' town man ' .
He was apparently
much l e s s involved with the vi sitors from Awande , although a few week s
earlier he had himse lf been providing hospitality to several men from
the vil l ag e .
Household 8 :
.
The last ' household ' in the sample in fact refers to T . , a single
young man , l iving with a married couple and their child in a self-help
area in Taraka .
It had been the intention to include the s e wantok in
the survey , but the head of the household departed for h i s villag e on
164
two week s ' l eave soon a fter the start of the survey .
usually eating with some wantok l iving next door .
T.
stayed on ,
I t was impo s s ible
to a s s e s s from his expend iture sheets whether he provided all his own
food on the s e occasions , or whether he was given food by his wantok ;
probably the sharing of food was mutual .
T . had a j ob as a motor mechanic , for a basic gros s wage of
K5 6/fortnight , added to by overtime to give a net income after K3 . 99
tax of K6 1 . 3 3 over the survey fortnight .
His expenditure over the same
period was only K3 3 . 4 3 , near l y all of which went on food and drink .
He
spent K7 . 3 3 on r ic e , KS . 2 5 on frozen chicken , K4 4 0 on tinned f ish ,
K3 . 44 on tinned meat , and K2 . 4 5 on bread .
Another ' meat pie and coke '
man , he spent K2 . 96 and K2 . 3 6 on the s e two items r e spect ively .
The
balance was spent on white sugar , a small amount of vegetable s , fruit s
and nut s , margarine , t inned mi lk , m i l o and ice-cream .
Transport , soap ,
and one packet of tobacco were his only non-food expen s e s .
Becau s e of the abs ence of hi s commensal wantok , T ' s expenditure
pattern may have been atypical over the survey period .
It does pre sent
evidenc e , however , of the c ons iderable opportunity which employed single
men have for saving money , should they so wish .
The last two columns in Table 13 show the mean income and
expenditure per household , and the mean expenditure on different categories
as a percentage of the sample ' s total expenditure . 1
Figure 6 shows the
breakdown in percentage terms of the total food and dr ink expenditure
by the whole sample .
In the
of res ults for individual househo ld s ,
attention has been drawn to the great variation between them in their
income and expenditure patterns .
This should be borne in mind when
consi�ering the r e sult s in general terms .
For instanc e , cash g ifts were
a feature of expenditure in only three out of the e ight hou seholds ; thu s ,
although 1 6 % of total expenditure was spent as c ash gifts , this might
not be a typical f igure .
S imilar ly , only three hous eholds paid any rent ,
that this figure is dif ferent from that which would have been
obtained by calculating the mean of the percentage s for each household ;
in effect , it is weighted according to the total expenditure of each
household .
1 65
FI GURE 6
B REAKDOWN OF TOTAL FOOD AND DRINK E XPENDI TURE
OF E I GHT HOUSEHOLDS COMBINED
tinned
fish
0 . 6%
tinned
meat
9 . 0%
rice
13 . 2
other 0 . 3 %
mi lk , milo , coffee , tea
flour , bread
biscuits , 4 . 4
1. 9%
sugar , fats ,
spreads 2 . 9 %
vegetable s
7 . 5 !'�
hot
takeaway foods
9 . 9%
snack foods
aerated
3 . 6%
drinks
10 . 3 %
and in only three hou seho l ds was any beer reported to have been bought .
Overall
food and drink accounted for
shown in F igure
( 24 . 8%
6,
of total expenditure .
As
of total food and drink expenditur e ) , but snack foods and drinks
were c l o s e behind
Cereal products , mo stly r ic e , with sugar and
( 2 3 . 8% ) .
fats were next in importance
( 12 . 7% ) ,
( 20 . 5 % )
followed by t inned meat and f i sh
fresh vegetables , fru its and nuts
Other i terns ,
final
57%
fresh meat and eggs was the bigg e st maj or category
2 . 2%
(10. 4%) ,
and beer
(5. 7%) .
milk , coffee , milo etc . acc ounted for the
of food and drink expenditure .
Of the other expenditure , apart from c ash g ifts , c lothe s were the
maj or item
(8. 2%
of total expenditur e ) , followed by transport
(4 . 7%)
and
166
tobacc o ( 3 . 7% ) .
Rent , cleaning material s , and a variety of item s
including entertainment and miscel laneous goods and service s made up
the remainder . Kerosene accounted for only 0 . 5% of the total expenditure .
On average , the household budget s were in debit by K0 . 3 0 ( le s s
than 0 . 3 % of mean total income ) .
The f igure has l ittle s ignif i c ance in
absolute term s , but it doe s sugge st that there i s l ittle inclination
toward s substantial savings in thi s sample .
Di scus sion
Limitations of the survey
The households in the sample were probably s l ightly better off
financ ial l y , and their mal e member s sl ightly better educated ( though
none had been to secondary school ) than would be typical of Fore house
The two households occupying Hous ing Commis s ion hou s e s
holds in Lae .
represent t h e upper end of the range o f hou s ing c onditions experienced
by Fore migrants , while those occupying self-bui lt homes in the Boundary
Road settlement are more typical .
As was pointed out earlier , the re s ul t s from this survey refer
to income and expenditure over a s ingle fortnight , and not to budgets
averaged out over a longer period .
A survey of longer duration would
be particularly valuable in indicat ing the overa l l s igni f ic ance of visits
from wantok , both temporary v i s itors from the village who make heavy
short-term d emands on the budget , and long-term ' vi s itor s ' who constitute
a chronic drain on re source s , at least for a s long a s they remain
unemployed .
A longer survey would also reveal the inc id enc e of maj or
purchases ( radio s , bicyc l e s etc . ) , school f ee s , payments for ground rent
and housing r epair s and so on .
F inally , it would give more r e liable
data relating to the use of savings banks and the transfer of money back
to the village .
A more detailed analys i s of gift exchanges , in c ash and kind ,
between urban households would be another valuable exerc ise .
Other
potential topic s might inc lude the div i s ion of expend iture within
households , and e spec i ally between husband and wife ;
and the use made
of var ious retail outle t s where food may be on sale at varying pric e s
( i . e . supermarket s , intermediate store s , small trade store s , and markets ) .
Unfortunatel y , however , the more detailed a survey of thi s kind become s ,
167
and the longer i t lasts , the greater the burden i t plac e s upon the
sub j ects concerned , and the more difficult it become s to execute .
a.
S everal o f the budgets
de scribed above inc luded payments of cash gifts to v i siting vil lage
wantok , to wantok within Lae , and to dependants within the hou seho ld
but not of the immediate family .
In addition , there were frequent g ifts
of food between urban household s , sometimes in the form of spe c ific
contributions to help out when v illage v i s itors had to be entertained ,
sometim e s s imply in the form of meal- sharing in each other ' s home s .
F inally , c a sual consumption of snack food s and dr inks , and beer , would
often have been in c ompany with fr iend s , at home
town .
or met by c hanc e in
Probably a more extensive survey would a l so have identif ied long
term loans between migrants , and contr ibutions to j o int enterpri s e s such
as the purc hase of a vehic l e , as described for the Hagener s in Port
Moresby by Strathern ( op . c it . , pp . 3 28
Only two men in my sample
involved in mekim sande
soc ia l r elationship s .
e t seq . } .
both belonging to Hou s ehold 1 , were
which Strathern r egards as
expend iture on
Conversat ion with other Fore in Lae suggests
that many people r egard the practice as inconvenient when a man has a
family to support , because he may well f ind himself short of money , and
therefore food , towards the end of the per iod when he has contr ibuted
to but not r e c e iv ed from the pool .
Although d if f icult to quant ify prec isely , it is c lear that gift
g iving within the urban migrant community , and between it and the rural
community , i s an important feature in urban expenditure patterns .
As
Oeser ( op . c it . , p . 7 7 ) puts it :
" The European class ification made in budgeting l iterature
of e s s ential and non-es s ential needs cannot be appl ied
without c on s iderable modifications in Papua New Guinea .
For example , gifts need to be r egarded as e s sential and
perhaps head this c ategory , rather than be c l a s s if ied as
non-es sent ia l extras , a s in European budget systems . "
b.
Consumer durable s ,
whose acqu i sition i s such a maj or preoccupat ion in mo st Austral ian
households , do not seem to r ec e ive high pr ior ity among the urban Fore ,
with the exception of c lothe s .
A rad io was the only maj or item
purchased during the survey , but doubt l e s s over a longer per iod more
1 68
items would have featured in the budgets .
Tobacco was r egularly purchased by most of the hou s eholds ;
its
complete absenc e from two o f the budgets was a consequenc e o f S eventh
Day Adventi st influence in the rural areas from which these hous eholds
originated .
Expenditure
main c 2 r egor i es :
by urban migrants on transport fal l s into three
travel to and from work ( which for many employe e s i s
free , on company-owned truck s ) ;
travel around the urban area , mainly at
weekend s , which can be regarded as r ecreational ;
and travel to and from
the home v i llage , which can o ften be regarded a s e s s en t ial expenditure
on maintaining social relat ionship s .
In monetary t erm s , the last
category i s most important , but in terms of frequency , the f irst two
are far more so .
Cleaning mater ial s (most ly soap) and kerosene , for l ighting a s
wel l as cooking, a r e r egular i t em s of urban expenditure , but neither takes
up a significant proportion o f the total .
The amounts sp ent on miscell
aneous items , including entertainments such a s the c inema , or snooker
s e ssion s , are a l s o r elatively small in most hou s ehold s .
A s far a s I
could ascertain , c ard-playing was not a regular pastime in any of the
households in the sample , despite its popu larity in rural ar ea s , and in
many urban migrant groups ( see Strather n , op . c it . , pp . 21 6 -2 2 5 ;
Oeser , op . cit . , p . 7 2 ) ;
and
I occasionally observed games in progre s s in
other Fore households in Lae .
c . Food and dr ink .
Food and drink expenditure comprised 5 7 % of total
expenditure in the s amp l e , and if the problematic al item of expenditure
on g ifts were exc luded , this f igure would be about 6 8 % .
The most str iking
feature of the food and dr ink expend iture in thi s sample is the high
proportion which was spent on items whic h , from a nutritional point of
view , are at wo r st u sele s s or even harmful ( e . g . sweet aerated dr ink s )
and at bes t very uneconomical { e . g . cooked chicken and chips ) .
The
expenditure on beer , however , wa s lower at 3 . 2 % of total expenditure
than that reported in other surveys .
For instanc e , the Lae Household
Expenditure survey by the Bureau o f Statistic s ( op . c it . ) g iv e s f igur e s
for expenditure on beer and spir its of 7 . 3 % of total hous ehold purchases
in sel f-help hous ing , and 9 . 5 % in low covenant housing ;
and Christi e ,
in a prel iminary analys i s of r e sults from a household expenditure survey
in twelve low-income Chimbu househo ld s in Lae , g ives a comparable f igure
169
of 1 6 . 3%
(personal c ommunication ) . 1
Expenditure on relatively expensive forms o f animal protein
suc h as fro z en c hicken was a l so hig h , and in one household in the sample
expenditure on fre sh and frozen meat reache d the extraordinari ly h igh figure
of K56 . 39 in a fortnight .
In c ontrast to thes e ' luxuries ' , the bas ic
urban staple s of r ic e , tinned f ish and tinned meat , and starchy
vegetable s together accounted for only about one -third o f food and drink
expenditure .
Strathern reports that Hagen migrants ' expend i ture on subs ist ence
foods is kept to a minimum so that they will have money left over for
spending on soc ial relat ionship s , whic h includes c ommunal beer-dr inking
as well as c ash gifts , loan s , etc .
( op . c it . , pp . 3 2 0- 6 , f f . ) .
The Fore
migrants seem to dif fer in that a large proportion of non- subsistence
food expenditure is spent on food s and dr inks enj oyed for the ir own sake ,
albeit sometimes in a social c ontext .
There are no maj or discr epanc ies between the results of the urban
d ietary reca ll survey reported in Chapter 11 , and tho s e of the household
expenditure survey reported in this chapter .
Comparison suggests that
there may indeed have been some under-reporting of c on sump t io n of certain
snack food s and drinks in the r ec a l l survey , but this is impos s ible to
determine .
It is worth noting , too , that the high c onsumption rates
reported in Chapter 11 for hot swe etened beverages , green and yell ow
vegetable s , and t inned meat and f i sh are c on s i stent with r e l at ively low
expendi ture on thes e items , serving s o f which are all relat ively cheap .
Conver sely , the high expenditure on fresh and fro z en meat is c on s istent
with its reported c onsumption r ate s , g iven the expens e of the s e i tem s .
On the basi s of the data presented in thi s chapter , it is not
pos s ible to des crib e the quantitative c ompos ition of the typic al urban
Fore diet , as was done for the rura l diet in the previous chapter ;
still
l es s is it pos s ible to assess accurately the adequacy of thi s diet .
It
i s however , pos s ible to confirm the f indings o f the dietary recall survey ,
in stating that the urban diet is more r e f ined , sweeter , l e s s bulky , and
l Resul t s to be r eported in the Consumer Behaviour Pro j ec t of the Papua
New Guinea Human Ecology Programme ( Chr i st i e , in preparati on ) .
1 70
richer i n protein than the rural one .
This is evident from the nature
of the food s purchased in the town , as compared to those produced in
the village .
This c onclusion agrees with that o f Malcolm ( op . ci t . ) ,
whose quantitative finding s were quoted in the introduction to this
chapter .
Malcoln1 c oncluded for his sample that :
" The f igure s are s ignific ant in that they indicat e a dietary
intake in what may be regarded as the average urban dwel ler ,
.ii.ich is substantially better , particular l y as regards protein ,
than that of the village . "
Although Malco lm ' s 1 9 7 0 sample con s isted o f lower paid publ ic s ervants ,
whom he supposed to have an income almost twice that of unskilled worker s ,
relative r i se s in incomes and pr ices in the intervening period in fact
make the average unskilled worker of 1 9 7 7 better off in real terms than
the lower paid public servant of 1 97 0 . l
The que st ion as to whe ther the high expenditure on r e l at ivel y
non-nutritiou s items , characteri stic of the urban migrants , actually
threatens the adequacy of the diet c annot be fully answered without doing
a detailed we ighed intake survey , but it is worth c on s idering .
are two dang er s :
There
one is that thos e who c ontrol food expenditure
( ultimatel y the wage -earner s , who are usual l y the men ) may d ivert money
from the r e st of the household 1 s need s to their own wants ;
the second
is that the whole household may consume so much of the l e s s nutritious
foods that the quality of their d iet is seriously reduced .
On the
evidence available from the survey data I suspec t that the l atter danger
is more real than the former , but that neither constitute s a serious
problem at pres ent .
In Appendix B (p 2 3 3 ) ,
the results of a food price
survey carried out in Lae soon aft er my expenditure survey are pre sented ,
and the c onclusion i s drawn that a marr ied man with four children could
provide a wel l balanced diet for his f amily for approximately K3 2 per
fortnight .
Thi s d i et would consi st of rice , margarine , t inned f i sh ,
green leave s and sweet banana , but obv iously many substitutions c ould be
made .
Regardl e s s of what they actually bought , and although the
numbers of consumers in e ach household could not be a cc urate l y a s cer
tained , i t seems c lear that none o f the households in the sample would
have been e conomic a l ly unable to provide a die t of this standard . What
is more , several of the households harvested s ignif icant amounts of f ood
! unpubli shed Dept . of Labour s tatis ti c s show that the minimum urban wage
rate for labourers rose by nearly 3 0 0 % between 1 9 7 1 and 1 9 7 7 , whi l e the
consumer pri ce index (Bureau of S tatistic s , 1 9 7 8 c ) rose by onl y 180% over
the same p eriod.
171
from thei r own garden s , thereby
an
amount of cash
which could have been use d in the purchase o f nutritious foods .
is an advantage generally denied to house ho ld s
This
in company
quarters , or in s ettlement areas where land is in particularly short
supply , s uch a s the Bumbu S ettlement .
I n c onc lusion , the n , the household expenditure data do not
unequivoc al as s ertions about the adequacy of the urban d ie t .
They do , howe ve r , indicate that mo s t households can
easily s atisfy
their nutritional needs without s eriousl y curtailing the satis faction
o f other needs .
1 72
CHAPTER 1 2
In this chapter I return t o the conceptual model summari s ed in
Figure 1 ( p . 8 ) ,
and discuss some of the interrelationship s between
food co�sumption and other components of the system outl ined in that
In particular , I r e fe r back to the main f indings in Part I I
model .
( on food resourc e s ) and i n Part I I I ( on food bel iefs and pref erenc e s )
and examine the c onsi stency between them and the f indings pre sented
in the la st three chapter s , on food c on sumption itsel f .
Some o f the
po ints made in this discussion have already been rais ed in Chapter s 4
and 7
on the bas i s of evidence relating to food re sourc e s , and to
stated food belie f s and preference s r e spectivel y ;
they are re-emphas i s ed
here with the added support o f the evidence from the surveys of actual
food consumption .
The implic ations of the observed patterns of food
consumption for health
wel l-being wil l be d i scussed in P art v .
Before discussing food c on sumption separately for the village
and the town
onc e again the close relationships
it is
which exi s t between them .
foodstuffs between the
their wantok
material terms , there i s a two-way flow of
and urban environments .
town usually
often r eturn
Vil l agers visiting
gifts o f g arden food with them , and
few c oa stal items , e specially coconuts and betel
to share with other
Urban dwellers on visits home take
coastal items with them , and return to Lae with village produce
which sugarcane i s e spec ially valued .
the form o f
rice
among
There i s a l so a trans f er of foods
consisting of cartons of tinned
sacks of sugar
and s imilar items , bought at whole sale price s in Lae for retail
sale in vil l age trade stores or
Sometimes villager s with
my return to Awande in October I shared a vehic le with four villagers
returning from a vis i t to Lae , and four live ducklings and
a l arge hen which they had bought in the town . At the head of the Markham
val ley we bought c oc onuts , bananas and bete l nuts ;
unfortunate ly we had
no room for a KlO sack of fresh peanuts , welcome though they would
certainly have been in Awand e .
2 see
A for a de scription of trade stores in Awand e .
173
suffic ient cash wil l go to the town ( not nece ssarily Lae , but also
nearer urban c entr e s such as Kainantu or Goroka) to f etch such goods ;
sometimes men l iving in town take the goods thems elves , or send them
with their wantok , for sale in trade stores which they own , or in which
they at least have a share .
As well a s the flow of food itsel f , there is a c on stant flow
o f ideas and habits between the town and the village .
In terms o f
actual food consumption , thi s might mean a young man on leave i n the
vil l ag e for a couple of weeks who f inds d i ff iculty in read j u st ing
quickly to the sweet potato diet , and who ther efore per s i sts in his
urban r i c e- and- f ish habit .
In the other direction , it might mean an
older vil l ager visiting the town and f inding his urban wantok ' s diet
unpalatable , and ins i sting that he should buy some sweet po tato from
the market .
Conversely , a vi siting urban wantok may well b e treated to
a l arge mumu feast r eplete with garden produc e , in the same way as he
himself will entertain his rural v i s itors in style , with frozen chicken ,
ice-cream and perhaps beer .
The food c onsumption of the rural Fore is largely d etermined by
the nature o f their subsistenc e activit i e s , with the availability o f
store items a secondary factor .
The food consumption data from Awande
( Chapters 9 and 1 0 ) c on firm the general description ( Chapter 2 ) of the
rural food r e sources , in showing the populat ion s high degree of
dependence on garden food s , e specially sweet potato ;
the seasonal
availabil ity of some of those food s , suc h as wing bean root ;
the
s ignificant but irregular c ontribution of the domestic pig to the diet ;
the sporadic con sumption of bush foods such as mushrooms and small gam e ;
and the use of store foods from time to time .
Although it was expected
that consumption of store foods would be higher during the coffee season
when more cash was in c irculat ion in the village economy , thi s was not
borne out by the dietary recall surveys .
This may have been because the
surveys were too small in scope and too short in duration to detect
s ignificant fluc tuations in what is , at most , a small component of the
diet .
There i s no evidence to suggest that ser ious food shortage s occur
regularly in the annual subsistence cyc l e , in Awande at least .
If
nutritional problems d o exi st i n the area , a s will b e argued l ater ,
174
they are l ikely to b e due to the nutritional quality o f the foods
ava i l able , c ombined with the selective use made of them , rather than
to any quantitative defic iency in food re sourc e s .
For the Fore in Lae , food consumption is inf luenc ed to some
extent by subsistence production in urban gardens , but it i s the nature
of the foods offered for sale in store s and markets which is more
importc �1t .
From the c onsumer ' s point of view the ava il abil ity of these
foods is a function o f their phy sical ava ilabil ity and their pr ice .
Physical ava i l abil ity is rarely a problem in Lae , with its wel l -developed
publi c transport and shopping fac ilities , and its steady supply o f
food s imported both from the local hinterland and from overseas .
Fre sh
food markets , however , are l e s s acc e s s ible , in terms of time and money ,
to some are a s than to o ther s .
Pri c e f luctuations have some effect in
the fresh food markets , and longer term effects in the c a s e of proce s sed
foods .
However , data from the household expenditure survey ( Chapter 1 1 )
sugge s t that most households with full -time employe e s , and without too
many unemployed dependents , are well able to pu rc ha s e amounts of food
adequate for their nutritional needs .
In practic e , many people seem to
spend large amounts of money on snack foods and dr inks whos e r eady
ava i l ability in numerous snack bars and store s throughout the town is a
con stant temptation .
I f more urban land were available for gardening , it seems l ikely
that the Fore , in common with other inhabitants of the low c ovenant and
s ettlement housing areas , would make u se of i t .
The consequence s in
terms of food consumption would probably be an increase in the quantity
and frequency in the diet of fresh green vegetables and fruit , and
perhaps of starchy vegetable s as wel l .
Urban gardening on a su stainable
basi s wil l require change s to pre s ent systems of land tenure and
cultivation , and wi ll need careful supervis ion and monitoring by extension
officers .
To influence food consumption habits by modifying the food
resource s available is a policy option with d i fferent impl ications in
rural and urban environments .
In the former , where the people are
responsible for producing most of thei r own food , it would mean trying
to persuade them to a l te r long-accustomed subsistence practic e s .
In the
urban environment , where most food is purchased , it might mean direct
intervention through pricing and marketing po l i c i e s .
The f ir st approach
175
could face maj or problems of cultural resi stance 1 , and the second might
meet with oppos ition both from vested f inanc ial interests , and from the
urban publi c at l arge .
The complementary po l icy of trying to influence
consumption through modifying people ' s bel ie f s and preference s , for
instance through nutrition education , will be d iscus s ed in the next
section .
Food c onsumption and food bel i e f s and preferenc e s
In Part I I I , the food be l ie f s and preferenc e s in Awande and i n
L a e were compared , and the conc lus ion drawn that in both plac e s there
was a growing awarene s s of the s igni f icance of food to health , and an
increase in the range and d iversity o f food tastes and pref erenc e s ;
both trends were more pronounc ed in the town .
The food c onsumption data
are congruent with these generali sat ion s , insofar a s the urban diet i s
r icher i n protein and c oncentrated energy sourc e s , and is more var iable ,
than the rural die t .
Also , the rural d iet of today appears to be more
varied than that of twenty year s ago ( see Chapter 1 0 ) .
However , it i s
d i f f icult to d istinguish the effec ts of growing nutr itional awarenes s ,
changing t aste s and preferenc e s , and the increas ing availabil ity of
di fferent food s .
Despite the apparently greater awarene s s among the urban mothers
of the needs of young children , thos e in Lae do not seem to be fed much
more often
in the middle of the day than tho s e in Awande .
I n both
plac e s , about one-quarter of those in the recall surveys had nothing to
eat or drink at midday .
On the other hand , the urban toddlers wer e given
a more varied diet an d more frequent serv ings of animal protein .
The
use of t inned baby foods by urban mother s , although not a practice
encouraged by the health authoritie s , suggests that these mothers do
indee d recogni s e that young children may have spec ial nutritional need s .
The avoidance o f bottle-feeding b y most o f the urban mother s is another
s ign of their acting in accordance with nutritional advic e . 2
The maj or d ifference s between vil l age and town in the diets of
older children and adults s eem to result less from differences in
nutrit ional bel ie f s , than from the greater range o f foods available to
1 Thi s does not apply so much to the introduction o f c ash-cropping
activitie s , where mater ial benef it s are immediately obviou s , in c ontrast
to the hypothetical long term nutr it ional benefits of mod i f ied sub s i st
ence activities .
2 The sale o f baby feeding bottles was actually made i l le ga l early in 1 9 78 .
1 76
S ome o f
people in the town , and their greater disposable c ash income .
the food bel i e f s prevalent among the urban Fore , suc h a s those a s soc i at
ing c ertain coastal foods with s ic kne s s , are in fact r estrict ive rather
than permiss ive .
The same can be said of the food taboos which are
more prevalent in the rural environment , such as those on the consumption
of tinned f i sh and tinned meat during a f ir st pregnancy .
Unfortunately
the fo�a c onsu.�ption data are too l imited to allow any j udgement of how
closely these beli e fs and taboos are followed .
Fore food bel iefs and preferences are changing , and will continue
to change , unde r the influence of many fac tors , as d iscus s ed in Chapter 7 .
The consumption data suggest that any del iberate attempts by the
authorities to modify the s e beliefs and preferences should , in the
rural environment , conc entrate on the needs of small children for a l e ss
bulky diet and more frequent feeding 1
in the urban environment they
should concentrate on the f requency of feeding and the dangers o f
consuming too many sweet snack foods and drink s .
two forms .
Such attempts c an take
The first is expli c it nutri tion education , and the s econd i s
the promotion , on o ther ground s s uc h a s taste , e a s e of cultivation o r
preparation and so on , o f foods which a r e al so nutritiou s .
B oth approache s
stand more c hance of suc c e s s i f they are aimed at gradual modi fications
to the current d ietary pattern , rather than at maj or changes .
In the
village , thi s might mean encouraging in creased c onsumption of the
nutritious foods which are already eaten in small quantit i e s ,
beans , peanuts and dripping ;
such as
in the town , it m ight mean trying to persuade
mother s to re stric t snack foods to a minimum, rather than to deny them
altogether to their children .
I f people do not always eat what they s ay they would l ike to be
e at ing , it may be because the preferred d ie t is simply not avai l able from
the l ocal food r esourc e s , or it may be becau s e of other needs �nd values
which compete with those relat ing to food c onsumption .
In the rural environment , the food resourc e s a lr e ady avai lable
c ould provide a l arger and more r egular supply of pork to the d ie t .
However , pigs a re valued not only for their dietary c ontribution , but
also as symbol s of wealth and prestige , and as a form of inv estment for
future sale , debt repayment or c eremonial presentat ion .
The u se made of
cash income i s another indicator of competing needs and valu e s :
many
177
families spend much o f their cash on clothe s , visits t o relatives in
town , and other good and service s , rather than on store foods , popular
though they are .
for
Of the money which is spent on foods , it is c ommon
to spend large amounts on a s ingle occasion of drinking ,
and c e lebrat ion ( such as a singsing , or an initiation c eremony)
rather than spending it on a s teady supply of purchased foods .
In Lae , hous ehold expenditure data provide similar evidence
relating to the scale o f needs and values in which food c onsumption is
but one i tem .
In practice , it appears to rank quite h igh in the scale ,
accounting for the greater part of c ash expenditure .
I n the short term ,
such as the sudden need to return to the village to t ake part in a soc ial
event , food may be relegated to a lower po s i t ion on the scal e , while
during a visit to the town by villag e r elativ e s , it may become still more
highly valued than usual .
In the sub s i s tence sec tor , many more Fore
would probably cultivate small gardens and hence eat more fresh
vegetab le s , i f l and were more readil y available , and cultivable on a
A s i t i s , they prefer t o spend thei r time and
sustainable b as i s .
energies in o ther ways .
The food consumption data alone cannot be used to draw firm
conclusions about the health and wel l -being of the rural and urban
populations stud ied .
The evidence suggests that the rural diet i s
exce s s ively bulky , and l o w in prote in , while the urban d i e t i s more
satisfac tory in these respects , but i s highly refined and c onta ins many
sweet i tems .
Thus the diets have di ffe rent nutrit ional imp l i c at ions in
the two environments , and the s e wil l be c onsi dered further in Part v .
I have a l so tried t o place food c onsumption i n the c ontext o f other
needs and value s ;
in Part V I shall emphasise that , j ust a s f ood
consumption is only one aspect of behaviour
c omponent o f total health and wel l -being
so nutrition is only one
1 78
PART V
HEAL'IH AND WELL-BEING
179
CHAP TE R 1 3
This chapte r des cr ibes s urveys o f wei gh ts o f unde r- five s in
Awande and Lae , which were c arried out in order to obtain a s imple
index of the nutri tional s ta tus o f what is probably the mo s t vulnerable
age group in thes e popula ti ons .
Be cause this index is no t an e asy one
to interpre t , the latter part of the chapter inc lude s some dis cus sion
of the inte rre l ationships be tween growth rate s , nutri tion , and
morbidity and mortali ty p attern s in young chi l dren .
The chap te r
c onc ludes with some � ugges tions for appropri ate pol i cy measures which
might be adopted in the rural and urban Fore popul ations
According to Je lli ffe ( 1966 , p 74 ) ,
" I n deve loping region s , the prevalence of protein- calorie
malnutri tion appears
be best indicate d by
de ficiency
age- group s and by growth fai lure in
i s the key anthropometric measurement .
childre n .
Monthly we i ghing o f infan ts ( under 1 y ea r) and toddlers (
years )
is the c orners tone o f the Papua New Guinea Health Departme nt ' s
nutri tion surve i llance policy .
I t is faci li tated by the p rovi sion of
free He lt Buk , or h ealth rec ord book
MCH
( se e P late 1 0 ) .
for e ach child attending an
This booklet is given to the mother and
brought to the c linic e ach month .
I t carries a record o f the child s
date of bi rth , c linic attendan c e s , de tail s o f any medical treatment
receive d , imm.unis ations , and wei gh t at each clinic attendance .
The
wei ght i s recorded on a char t in the middle of the booklet , on which
l ines for 1 00 %
8 0 % and 60% of the Harvard S tandard weigh ts for age
are di sp l ayed .
A child whose wei ght falls below the 80% l ine i s
de fine d , fo r s tati s tical reporting purpos e s , a s malnourished , and his
or her mother w il l be told that the child 1 s weight i s too low ;
i f the
wei gh t falls below 60% of the s tandard , the child w i l l usually be
admitted to hospital for treatment .
l
The booklets were first introduc e d in 1 9 7 5 , to replace the varie ty
of record cards or books previous ly in use , and should be available
throughout the country in the near future .
1 80
The use o f the H arvard S tandards ( Je l li f fe op . ci t . , p . 2 2 1)
may not be s trictly approp riate for popul ations in P apua New Guinea ,
but loca l l y derive d standards are no t ye t ava i l able
For purpose s o f
compari son , the use o f a uni fo rm s e t o f s tandards i s e s s enti a l , and
the Harvard S tandards are wide ly used throughout the wor l d .
to the Nutri tion S e ction of the Department of Health ,
Acc ording
" e vi dence from
we ll �ed population groups within the country indic ates that many
e thni c groups h ere h ave the potential to equal i f no t excee d these
s tandards . "
( Pe rsonal commun i cation , 12 th July , 1 9 7 7 ) .
Further
c on s i de ra tion w i l l be given to the use of the Harvard S tandards in
the discus s ion sec tion of this chapter .
I had original ly intended to make use o f the data contained
in the health bookle ts of Awande children to make some a s s e s sment of
nutri tiona l s tatus
I t soon be came apparent that an independent
weight� for-age survey would be more
toddlers
Firs t ,
c linic
for
main reasons
a ttended the
c li ni c ; s econd ,
children whose age s had been
the ac curacy
o f s uch e s timates co uld
charts had
be a s s e s s e d .
c l inics
an
my
In both
al so necess ary
places I colle cte d some supplementary data
breas t- feedin g , and
a ttendance and
a general impre ssion o f the main hea l th
problems
Only chil dren under five years old whose age s could be
re liab ly determined
i nc luded in the wei ght s urveys
In Awande
birthdate s we re accepte d from hea l th record booklets i f they were
recorded to the day , and no t j us t the mon th ;
o therwis e they were
taken from Baptism certi fic ate s i s s ued by the local Lutheran pas tor ,
or in a few c as e s ,
from s l ips o f paper kept by the child s p arents on
which the date of birth had been wri tten by a l i te ra te
1 vi ll age census patro l s are no longe r a regular fea ture o f adminis tra
I t i s also worth no ting that
tion activi ty in the Okapa Di s tri c t .
the Lutheran Church denies B apti sm to chi ldre n of polygamous marriages ,
thus inci dentally depriving them, and out s i de rs , o f a re l i able record
of the i r birthdate and parentage .
181
I n L ae , whe re the e du cationa l and literacy leve ls were h ighe r , nea r ly
.
all fathers knew thei r young chil dren ' s birth dates from memo ry ;
sometimes refere nc e was made to h eal th records , Baptism cer ti fi cate s ,
or p ersonally wzitten s l ips as in Awande .
By thes e methods ,
pre sumably accurate age s were obtained for 85 out o f roughly 1 0 5
unde r- five s in Awande , and for 6 5 out o f 6 7 under-fives in the Fore
population contacted in Lae .
In Awande , children were wei ghed on a s e t o f ba throom- type
platform spring scale s ;
the i r
lb . , and later converted to kg .
were re corded t o the nea re s t
In Lae , children unfortunately had
to be wei ghed on a di fferent set of me tri c bathroom s ca le s , whi ch were
c ros s-ca libra ted w ith those used in Awande and found to agree to
within 0 . 5 kg . ;
wei ghts were recorded to the neare s t 0 . 5 k g .
In
both p l ac e s , smaller infants and l e s s co-operative toddlers were
w ei ghed in the arms of an adu l t , usua lly thei r mother , whose wei ght
was subsequently subtrac ted ;
be fore wei ghing .
removed from the i r bi lum
babies
required to remove the i r c lo thing ,
Chi ldren
con s i s ted o f
both Awande and Lae this
loinclo th , a light skirt o r
In Awande
p a i r o f shorts
all parents
health record booklets ,
a
a sked to show thei r children s
ch ildren were rec orded as regula r a ttenders
if they had a ttended the Awande clin i c at l e a s t twi ce w ithin the
previous six months .
In Lae
where h ealth record book l e ts had not
yet been provide d , pare nts were s imply asked if they took their
children to th e c l ini c to be wei ghed
this p rocedure may have res ulted
in an ove re stimate o f regula r attende rs .
In both places parents were asked whether the c hi l d was s ti l l
breastfeeding ;
no di stinction was made be tween chil dren fee ding many
times a day , and those fee ding only once every day or two .
The wei ghts by age o f all the chi l dren included in the Awande
and Lae surveys are plotted on the upper and lower graphs
of Figure 7 , in relation to the curves repres enting 1 00 % ,
of the Harvard S tandards ( Je ll i ffe , op . c i t . , p . 2 2 1 } .
80% and 6 0 %
In T ab l e 14 ,
the absolute numbers and percentages o f e ach sample falling into four
182
F I G U R E 7 : WEIGHTS B Y A G E OF U NDER-FIVES I N AWANDE A N D
I N RELATION T O 1 00%, 80%, AND 60% O F
H ARVARD
STANDARD WEIGHTS FOR
•
=
o =
not
1 00%
5
2
3
Age (years)
4
5
TABLE 1 4
S TANDARD WEI GHT-FO R-AGE CATEGORIES , AWANDE AND
DIS TRIBUTION OF UNDER- FIVES
LAE
AWANDE
Weight in re lation to s tandard for age
in relation to s tandard for age
80-99%
6 0- 7 9 %
Under 6 0 %
100% +
8 0- 9 9 %
60-79%
Under 6 0 %
10 0 % +
--
Age group
Months
n
n
(%)
N
n
(%)
0 - 11
19
3
( 16 )
2
( 11 )
10
( 53)
12-23
18
0
( O)
11
( 61 )
7
( 39 )
24-35
19
(%)
n
0
N
n
( %)
n
( %)
( 2 1)
22
0
(0)
3
( 14 )
8
( 36 )
11
( 50)
( 0)
18
1
(6}
2
( 11 )
13
.( 72 )
2
( 11 )
( 10)
( %)
n
(%)
n
(%)
1
( 5)
10
( 53)
7
( 37)
1
10
0
( 0)
2
( 20)
7
( 70 )
1
6
( 46 )
7
( 54)
0
(0)
8
0
( 0)
2
(25)
5
(63)
1
( 12)
7
(44)
9
( 56 )
0
( O)
7
0
( O)
4
( 57)
3
( 43 )
0
{O)
5 (5 9)
65
36-47
13
0
( O)
48-59
16
0
( O)
TOTAL
85
4 ( 4 7)
36 ( 42 . 4 )
40(47.
1 (1 . 5)
13 (20. 0)
3 6 ( 55 . 4 )
15 ( 2 3 . 1 )
based on Harvard S tandards ( see Jel li f fe 1 96 6 , p . 2 2 1 ) as used by Dept . o f Health , PNG .
I-'
00
w
184
weight- for-age cate go ries are tabulated by one-year a ge group s .
Using the DPH criterion for malnutri tion , that is the percentage
of children fal ling below 8 0 % of the s tandard weight- for-age , the
malnutri tion rate was 4 7 % in Awande , and 2 1 . 5 % in Lae .
I n Awande ,
three infan ts ( the younges t o f whom die d at the age of 3 months )
and
one toddl e r w ere be low 6 0 % of the s tandard weigh� for age , and five
infants and one toddle r were above 1 0 0 % ;
in Lae the corre sponding
figure s were one toddler be low 60% , and e leven infants and four
toddlers above 1 0 0 % .
These figure s are too small to e s tablish
di fference s , but are sugge s tive o f b etter growth rates in Lae .
The mean wei gh ts in the two s ample s by one-year age groups
are c ompared , and the s i gni ficance of the di f fe re nce s tes te d , in
Table 1 5 .
In a l l five age groups the mean weight was higher in Lae
than in Awande , but only in the s ec ond and fourth year was the
difference s i gn i f i cant , at the 5 % probabi l i ty leve l on a two- tailed
t - te s t .
Numbe rs were sma l l , and there i s a pos s ibility that di f fer
entially skewed age di s tributions within the age groups might have
however , they too are at l e a s t
affected the s tati s tical results ;
sugge s tive o f improved wei ghts for a g e i n the urban children .
There
were no con s i s tent or s i gni ficant di fferences between the wei gh ts o f
the sexes in e i ther s ample .
COMPARISON OF MEAN WEI GHTS OF UNDE R- FI VES BY ONE YEAR AGE GROUPS ,
AwANDE AND LAE
LAE
AWANDE
Mean
Age grOUJ?
0-11
1 2- 2 3
2 4- 3 5
36-4 7
48- 5 9
19
18
19
13
16
6 05
8 . 71
1 0 . 73
1 1 . 63
1 3 85
Di f f . o f
Mean
0 . 369
0 . 281
0 . 3 38
0 . 524
0 . 418
22
18
10
8
7
7 . 02
9. 75
11 75
1 3 . 75
14 . 07
0 . 485
0 . 3 51
0 . 554
0 . 443
0 . 79 8
0 . 97
1 . 04
1 . 02
2 . 12
0 . 22
1 . 55 n . s .
2 . 3 3p<0 . 05
1 .67 n.s.
2 . 80p< 0 . 05
0 .27 n.s.
Data on c lini c attendance include , in addi tion to the children
whos e exa c t age s were known , nine teen children in Awande and two in Lae
whose age s coul d on ly be e stimated .
In Awande , fi fteen of these
chi l dren were aged 3 or 4 , and on ly three of the nine teen were c li ni c
185
In L ae , the two children were 2 and 4 years o l d , and
attende rs .
neithe r a ttended the c l inic .
Attendance in the two samples i s
compared i n Table 16 .
TABLE 16
MCH CLINIC ATTENDANCE OF UNDER-FIVES BY ONE YEAR AGE GROUPS ,
AWANDE AND LAE 1
LAE 3
AWANDE 2
attender s
n
( %)
Age group
(months )
N
0-11
12-23
24-35
3 6-47
48-59
20
19
21
20
24
13
13
12
5
9
( 65 )
( 68 )
( 57 )
(25)
(37 )
TOTAL
104
52
( 5 0 . 0)
non-attenders
n
(%)
7
6
9
15
15
(35)
{32)
(43 )
(75)
( 63 )
5 2 ( SO . 0 )
N
attender s
n
(%)
22
18
11
8
8
20
11
8
3
2
67
4 4 ( 65 . 7 )
non-attender s
n
(%)
2
7
3
5
6
( 91 )
( 61 )
(73)
(3 7 )
(25)
23
( 9)
( 3 9)
(27)
( 63 )
(75)
(34 . 3 )
1 Attender s at Awande defined a s t ho s e with regular attendance
recorded in their Health Books ;
at Lae , def ined as those whos e
parents claim t o take them regu lar ly to c l inic . F igur e s for the
two groups are there fore not strictly comparable .
2 Includ e s 1 9 children whose ages were estimated ( c f . Table s 1 4 and 1 5 )
3 Inc ludes 2 c hildren whose age s were e st imated .
In both group s , there was a marked reversal after the third
year in the proport ions attending and not attending .
In the f ir st
three year s , wel l over hal f of the c hildren were attender s , while in
the third and fourth year s attendance rates f ell to below 4 0% . overall
the attendance rat e s were 50% in Awande and 66% in Lae ;
however , a s
mentioned earl ier , the data from Awande are more r eliable than tho s e
from Lae , be ing based on inspection of health books rather than on
verbal repor t s .
For Awande , c l inic attendance data were a l so analysed in
relation to the d istance that mother s and children had to travel from
their hamlets to the c linic s it e .
The attendance rates for hamlets at
varying d i stance s from the road s ide c l in ic s ite were a s fol lows : -
1 86
Approx . walking t ime from hamlet
to c linic
Cl inic attendance rate
of under- f ives
10 mins . or l e s s ( 6 hamlets)
1 1 - 2 0 m ins . ( 5 hamlets )
2 1 - 3 0 m ins . ( 5 hamle t s )
more than 3 0 minutes ( 4 hamlets )
34
9
6
3
TOTAL
out
out
out
out
of
of
of
of
38
28
19
19
( 89 % )
( 3 2% )
(32%)
(16%)
5 2 out o f 1 04 ( 5 0 % }
Thes e f igure s show a strong negative a s sociation between
c l inic attendance and d i stance from the c linic s it e .
The nineteen
children whose ages could not be accurately d etermined wer e mo stly
in the older age group s ;
their inclu sion in the sample lowers the
overall c l inic attendance f igure for Awande from 5 8 % to 5 0 %
In Lae , including the two c hi ldren whos e age s were not
accurately known , the attendance f igure s for d iffer ent hous ing areas
were as fol lows :
Area of r e sidence
Cl inic attendance rate
of under-f iv e s
and Pa lis Baret
Two-mile
Bumbu/Balob
Boundary Road
Taraka
8
9
6
15
TOTAL
and Bumbu/Balob are close to
Road
of
of
of
of
of
9
11
27
27
12
(89%)
( 82 % )
( 56 % )
( 56%)
( 50 % )
4 4 out of 67
( 66 % )
c l inic a t the Three-mile Community Centre ,
Two -mile has its
Taraka
out
out
out
out
out
Butibam Clinic
c linic
served by
also permanent .
P eopl e from Boundary
Pa lis Baret and within the town u s e the c linic at the Angau
Memor ial Hospital .
The acc e ssibil ity of c linic s i s a function of
d i stance , travel c o st s and frequ ently of c l inic s e s s ions ;
combined
with the low numbers and the po s s ibility of over-reporting of
attendance in the Lae sample , these factor s make interpretation
of the above f igure s uncertain .
In the graph in F igur e 7 breast-feeding children are
distingui shed from those no longer breast-feed ing .
I n Table 1 7 , the
numbers and proportions breast-feeding in each sample are shown , by
18.7
age group .
TABLE 1 7
BREAST-FEEDING OF UNDER-FIVES BY ONE YEAR AGE GROUPS ,
AWANDE AND LAE
LAE
AWANDE
Breastfeeding
Age group
N
Months
Brea stfeed ing
Non-breastfeed ing
N
n
{ %)
n
(%)
( 95 )
( 83 )
( 40)
(25)
(0)
1
3
6
6
7
( 5)
( 17 )
( 60 )
(75)
( 100}
Non-breastfeed ing
n
(%}
( 100)
0
0
( 10 0 )
( 74 )
5
(15) 11
( 19 ) 13
( 0)
( O)
(26)
(85)
( 81 )
22
18
10
8
7
21
15
4
(34 1)
65
4 2 ( 64 . 6 ) 2 3 ( 3 5 . 4 )
(%)
n
0-11
12-23
2 4 -3 5
3 6 -4 7
48-59
19
18
19
13
16
19
18
14
2
3
TOTAL
85
5 6 { 65 . 9 ) 2 9
2
0
There appear s to be some tendency towards ear l i er weaning in the urban
group , but even in the l atter only one c hild under e ight een months was
not breast -feeding ;
the milk supply of this child ' s mother had dried
up when she underwent a splenectomy in the child ' s f ifth month , after
which she began bottle-feeding it under nur s e s
In both
Awande and Lae , the maj or ity of c hi ldren are apparently weaned sometime
during the third year
The sample s are too small to c ompare the weights
of breast-feeding and non-breast-feed ing c hildren at the same age , but
the
smal l contr ibut ion of breastmilk to the total d i et after
the second year would make the detect ion of a s igni f ic ant differenc e
unlikely even in a larger samp l e .
Inspect ion o f the health record booklets showed that scabies
and o ther skin infections , r espiratory tract infect i ons ( generally
referred to a s k u s in P idg in , and an almost univer sal condition in
young c hi ldren ) and diarrhoeal di s ease were c ommon c au s e s of morbid ity .
When incidents of d iarrhoea were r ecorded in the health booklets by
the c l inic staff , the note was u sually added , " advi sed to give sugar
water " ;
when weight l os s e s were recorded the note was u sually added ,
" nutr itional adv i c e g iv en " .
I nspection of the booklets a l so revealed
188
that three children had been admitted to the Okapa hospital within
the previou s year for treatment of gastro-intes tinal infections or
malnutr ition .
In each case their weight was below 6 0 % of the
standard at the time of admission :
Case 1 . A girl was admitted with s evere gastro-ente ritis
at 9 months ;
four months later she wa s back to 8 0 % of the
standard weight for her age .
Case 2 . A girl was admitted at 7 months , but four months
later was still below 6 0 % of standard . Her mother had never
attended the mobile MCH c l inic ( she took the child d irect
to the hosp ital when it was i l l ) , claiming that she never
knew when it was held and that anyway it was too far to go
( almost l hour ' s walking uphill and in the oppos ite
d irection to the woman ' s gardens ) .
Case 3 . This child , another g irl , spent several weeks in
admitted with
ho spital at about 3 years old , after
marasmu s , with a weight apparently only 5 0 % of st andard
( her exact age , however , was not known ) .
A year l ater she
was around the 6 0 % level .
Thi s child was the seventh in a
family with e ight l iving c hildren .
The c linic nur s e s
severely c r it i c i s ed the mother both for fail ing to take her
child ' s low weight s eriou sl y , and for having too many
children .
Two c hi ldren d ied in the v illag e between Apr il and S eptember
1977 .
One was 4 months o ld ;
he had been under 6 0 % of the standard
weight for his age at 3 weeks { al though he may ha.ve been born
prematurely) , and had failed to thrive thereafter .
The other was
about 4 years o ld at the time of his d eath , which was attributed to
pekpek b Zud (literall y , bloody stoo l s ;
Some supplementary data
u sual ly translated as dysentery ) .
to the age inc idenc e of d eath
_ amQ�g infants and toddl er s in Awande wer e obtained in a survey carried
out in early
1
they had had
in which all mother s were asked how many children
and how many had died and at what age .
method i s c learly subj ect to errors
mortal ity pattern .
( inc luding 4 twins)
Thi s recall
but g ives some ind ic at ion of the
8 2 mother s reported a total of 3 64 l iv e births
5 sti l l births
and 71 subsequent deaths .
Of
the se death s , 15 ( 21 % ) had occurred in the ZikZik haus , i . e . within a
week of the birth ;
2 5 ( 3 5 % ) before the child c ould walk ;
18
( 25%)
when the child was walking but still breast-feeding , i . e . under 4 or
5 year s ;
3
( 4 % ) in l.ater childhood ;
4 ( 3 % ) in adulthood ;
the
1 By Steve M il l ar and Bev Hewitt , attached to the PNG I nstitute of
Medical Resear c h , Goroka .
18 9
rema ining 6 d eaths ( 8 % ) occurred at unspecified age s .
Bec au se these
are retro spective data relating to a series of bir th cohorts , they
cannot be u s ed to calcu late conventional v ital statist ic s .
b.
I di d no t obtain any detai led data o n morbidi ty and mortality
among Fore c hi ldren in Lae .
Malari a is endemic in the town , but I
di d not reco gnis e any cases of i t .
On the whole , the children in
town s eeme d to be c leane r , and hence less s ub j ec t to s ore s , than
thei r vi l lage coun terparts .
One severely underwei ght child of 1 8
months (below 5 5 % o f the s tandard wei ght f o r h e r age ) repor te dly
s uf fered from a congeni tal hear t de fec t and was under regular hospital
observation .
Her i l lnes s was s ai d by her father and hi s kinsmen to
be c ause d by p oisin worked on her by her mother ' s Zain , a Morobe group
who dis approved o f the mother ' s marriage to a Fore man .
o f 2 3 months
Another child ,
s uf fered from tuberculosi s , but was j us t o ver 80 % of the
s tandard wei ght for his age ;
he was breastfeeding , on ho sp i tal advice
once a day , while his i nfant brother breastfed continually .
The
10-month-old chi ld who had been bottle- fed from 5 months was 7 0 % o f
the s tandard wei ght f o r his age
The results of the wei ght for age surveys of under-fives in
Awande and Lae , though b ased on small number s and on weighing technique s
which were not i deal , are sugges tive of a signi ficantly higher growth
rate in the urban as c ompared to the rural popul ation .
Thi s finding i s
cons istent with comparable data from othe r group s , and with the dietary
data presented e arlier in this report ( Part IV) l .
, de fined as the percentage o f
unde r- five s whose wei ghts fall below 8 0 % o f the Harvard s tandard , i s
of limited value in comparing populations .
S ince many group s o f Papua
New Guinean children follow growth curves which are quite close to the
1 1 3 o f the 6 5 Lae children had coastal mo thers , and all had Fore fathers .
Thus , the e ffec ts on growth o f genetic di fferenc e s between the rural
and urban s amples are unlike ly to have been s igni ficant , and the
genetic fac to r i s not c onsi dered further .
1 90
8 0 % s tandard curve , small di fference s between populations can l ead to
l arge di f ferences in the reported malnutri tion rate s ;
the s i gni fic ance
of the di f fe rences in growth patterns can only be a s s e s se d by using
s ome measure of d ispersion about the mean , in narrow age group s . Where
such data are available , the ' malnutrition rate ' is superfluous as an
indic ator of nutritional s tatus .
Furthermore , the malnutri tion rates
repo�ted by the Department of Public Health ( e . g . NPO , 1 9 78b) rel ate
only to MCH c linic attenders .
The rate which I obs erved in Awande
included some non- c li ni c attenders , and , at 4 8 % , compare s with a l9 7 7 rate
among c l inic attenders in the Okapa Dis trict as a whole
of 3 1 %
( unpubli s he d records ) , and wi th a 1 9 7 8 rate for the Eas tern H i ghlands
Province of 3 2 % .
Non-attenders tend to be in o lder age groups , to
live in mo re remote areas , and to receive l e s s medi cal treatment than
attende rs ;
on al l three counts they are mo re likely to be underwe i gh t .
Turning to mo re detailed , age-speci fic data on wei ght f o r age ,
higher wei ghts have been reported for children in Kundiawa as compared
to surrounding rural areas of Chimbu (Bailey , 1 96 3 , Figure l ;
Lambert,
l 9 7 5b , Table 7)
and for children
and
urban Lae as compared to
those of high l and populations in Bundi and in the Asai Valley
( Malcolm, 1 9 7 3 , 1 9 7 4 ) .
For the hi ghland c hildre n , Malc o lm conc l udes
that , " to tal food i ntake i s inadequate and is a maj or factor in
determining insufficient protein intake and consequently impaired
growth"
( Malcolm , 1 9 7 4 ) .
He mentions the bulky nature of the s taple
foods , and " the rel uc tance of mo thers to actively encourage the i r
chi ldren t o e a t food a t any age " , as two reasons f o r the inadequate
total food intake .
In a s imi lar vei n , Hipsley ( 19 6 4 ) c onsiders that
intake o f die tary fat , and frequency of feeding , are the two critical
factors influe nc ing i nfant and toddler nutrition i n P apua New Guine a ,
and he advocates greater us e in infant and toddler die ts o f locally
produced fat-rich foods , such as peanuts i n the highland s , and c oconut
cream in the lowlands .
The importance of bulk as a l imiting factor in
total food intake has been experimentally demons trated among Enga
children by B inns ( 1 9 76b) , who also achieved encouraging re sults in a
p ilot nutrition intervention programme us ing red palm o i l as a dietary
191
s upplement (Binns , 1 9 76 c ) 1 •
The Fore urban s taple of white rice is not , when cooke d , much
di ffe rent in energy content per uni t wei ght or volume from the rural
s tapl e of swe e t pota to though it is marginal ly higher in protein
c on tent .
It is probably o ther i tems in the urban and rural diets ,
and particularly those ri ch in fats , which are cri tical in causing
the apparent di fference s i n growth rate s .
In the Awande recall surveys,
the main s ources of fat were pig , tinned fish and tinned dripping , al l
c onsume d infrequentl y ;
pandanus nuts a n d red pandanus o i l were
season ally available in small quanti tie s , and a few families grew
peanuts , which they mo stly sold at the local marke t .
In Lae , the
recall survey revealed frequent consumption o f tinned fis h , tinned ,
fresh , and frozen mea t , and fatty spreads ( butte r , margarine and peanut
butter ) ;
dripping and coconut cream were quite o ften use d in cooking ;
and children were sometimes given i ce- creams and o ther swee ts or fatty
snack food s .
I t s eems like l y , the n , that ove ra l l the Lae diet is more
concentrated in terms of energy and pro tein , and that this would
largely accoun t for the obse rved di f fe renc e s i n weights for age 2 .
Rei d and Gad j us ek ( 196 9 ) and Hornabrook ( 19 76b ) both report a
3
very low occurrence of ove rt malnutrition among the rural Fore during
the 1 96 0 ' s , when exte nsive medic al and biologi cal re search was being
conduc ted i n the area in re lation to kurru .
During the fir s t seven
1 A palm oil trial on a much larger s cale during 1 9 7 7 inc l uded sale o f
the oi l i n local trade s tores , combined with publicity emphasi s ing i ts
use as a children 1 s food . The palm o i l was w idely accepted , but pre
liminary analy s i s of the data sugge s ts that the l arge r trial had l e s s
impres sive re sults in terms o f child growth than the pi lo t tri al ;
a
pos s ible re ason for this might be dive rsion o f the palm o i l away from
inf:ants and young c hildren , towards general househo l d cons umption
( Binn s , p ersonal communication , 1 9 7 8 ) .
2 The s ame conc l us ion was reached by Mal c olm ( 1 9 7 3 ) :
" . . . . the Papua
New Guinean chi ld has a po tential for growth whi ch is being realised
in the town but not in the vi l l age .
This di f ference may be l arge ly
attributed to the gene ra l ly higher pro tein intake a chieved in the
urban die t . . . as wel l as a probably lower rate o f morbidity " .
3 This applied both to children and to adults .
192
months o f 1 9 7 7 , only one case o f frank malnutrition was admi tted to
Okapa Hospi ta l ;
according to hospi tal s taff , such cases are rarely
seen, and are u sual ly the re sult of the death o f the mother a t chi ld
bi rth , leading to inadequate feeding and care of the newborn i n fan t .
The Fore may suffe r l e s s overt malnutrition than s ome o ther highland
groups such as the Chimbu , but the general pattern of infant and chi ld
mo rbidi ty and mortali ty is probably simi lar to that obs erved throughout
the highlands .
In the highlands as a whole , respiratory and gas tro
inte stinal infe c tions are the l eading c auses of death , infant mor tal i ty
rates range from 5 0 to 1 5 0 per 1 0 0 0 births , and toddle r ( 1- 4 years )
mortali ty ra te s average about 14 per 1 0 0 0 per year (Bel l , 1 9 7 3 ) .
Data on mortal i ty and morbidi ty in Lae a re given by Malcolm
19 7 3 )
who calculated
mortal i ty rate of 36 per 1 00 0 ( 2 2 per
third
1000 of
them attributed to
neces s ari ly
i tsel f ,
The
Guzman
196 8 ) and in the Pun j ab ( Waterlow
/
The relative c ontributions made to reducing infection by medical and
( 19 7 0 a and b , 1 9 74 ) and Hipsley ( 19 76 ) have argued that
to a low-protein die t ,
sub-maximal growth may be a use ful
and that i t may b e partly genetically determined .
The dis tin c tion
be tween 1 re spons e 1 and ' adaptation ' i s not a c lear one , but there is
certainly no reason to believe that the maximal growth rate , any more
than the maximum adu l t body s i ze , is the optimal one .
193
nutritional p rogramme s respec tive ly are di fficult to disentangle ,
but where infec tious dis ease s are highly p revalent both can be
expec te d to achieve pos i tive re sul ts .
In P apua New Guinea the inte rac tion o f nutrition and di arrhoeal
infection has b ee n discussed by B iddulph ( 19 7 3 ) ;
' weanling diarrhoea • is o ften
he emphasi se s that
by a combination of two
factor s , the contamination o f foo d by infe ctious pathogens , and the
introduc tion o f the c hild to a high- bulk , low-pro tein die t .
The
ini tial inc i dence of disease can precipi tate a vi cious cycle o f
infe c tion-malnutri tion-reduced res i s tance-more s evere infe ction ,
often ending in death .
Whi le there is wide spread
of the
interactive nature o f nutri tion and infec tion , there i s les s agreement
on how be s t to tackle the h igh mo rbidity and mortal i ty rates which
Oppos ing poi n ts o f view are
preva i l in much of Papua New Guine a .
nic e ly repre s e nted by two autho ri ties who have both made intensive
s tudi e s o f the problems
Malco lm ( 19 7 4 )
toddler mortality rate ,
di ffe rent parts o f
the
on a dramatic
1 96 0
50 to 1 0 per 1 0 0 0
conc lude s tha t :
11De spi te the se dramatic changes child heal th rec or ds o f
wei gh ts showed no s i gni ficant increase
there was
no economic development to p ermi t change s
tradi tional food consump tion
the changing prevalence
disease
could be l argely attributable to the
provi sion
a s impl e preventive and trea tment s ervice .
.
•
In c on tra s t , Binns ( 19 76 a)
•
.
•
stre s se s the rol e o f nutri tion
the h ea lth s tatus o f Enga children at Wapenamanda
improving
He found
s ta ti s ti cally s igni fican t re lationships between wei ght- for -age s tatus
and subsequent in cidence of pneumoni a and diarrhoeal disea s e , and
c onc ludes as fo l lows
"Al though MCH Clinics have proven thei r worth , there is a
need for inve s tiga tion o f further nutri tion intervention
in order to overcome the limi tations imposed by the
sweet po tato die t . There seems li ttle doubt that improving
the nutrition of the Enga children would substanti al ly reduce
rates . "
their mortali ty and
The palm oil supplementation programme de s cribed earlier in thi s
discus s ion w a s o f c o urse a n outcome o f thes e observation s , b u t i ts
1 94
e ffec ts on mortal i ty and mo rbidi ty have yet to be e va luated 1 •
The
dif fering emphas e s o f Mal colm and Binns may be due to real dif ference s
in the needs of the particular groups in que s ti on , who o ccupy di f ferent
environments and are gene tically di stinct .
I t may als o be relevant
that the toddler mo rtali ty rate among the Bundi was 50 per 1 00 0 at
the s tart o f the heal th care prograrrune , compared to a rate o f 12 per
1 00 0 �t Wapenamanda during B inns ' s tudy .
Thus , while the hea l th
servi c e s were clearly e ffe ctive in reducing the Bundi rate from i ts
ini tial high leve l , a further reduction might have been a chieved by
adding a nutri tional component to the programme ;
1 0 per 1 0 0 0 is s ti l l
a n unacceptably h igh mortality leve l .
Fina l l y , it s houl d be pointed out that the Department o f
Pub l ic Health e s timates that :
"Although only 7% o f hospital deaths 2 o f c hildren under 5
are dire ctly caused by malnutri tion , a further 7 2 % o f chi l d
hospital deaths may have malnutrition o f the chi ld or mother
as a re lated cause . 11 (NPO , 1 9 7 8 c) .
Preve ntive and c urative medi cine , nutrition and health
education , and nutrition inte rvention prograrrune s are all nec e s s ary
and complementary approaches to the go al o f reducing infant and child
mortal i ty .
The emphas i s given to each s hould vary ac cording to the
spec i fi c needs o f a p articular population ;
it wil l al s o depend upon
economic and organisational cons traints .
I n fants and small children in the Fore region
l Another s tudy , of les s di re c t re levance in that i t concentrates on
nutrient intakes and re fe rs only indirec tly to indicators o f
They
nutritional s tatus , i s that by Ferro-Luzzi et al . ( 1 9 75 ) .
s tudied ch ildre n on Kar Kar I sland and at Lufa in the Eas tern
Highland s , and found that energy and protein intakes were generally
Re -evaluating the res ul ts on an age
satis fac to ry on a wei ght basi s .
b as i s , they conc lude that , " • • . the high proportion o f nutri tionally
inadequate die ts , a s s e s s e d on an age bas i s using materi ally favoured
Caucasian populations as s tandards , do not match with phy s iologi cal
or c linic al s igns and symptoms of malnutrition in these New Guinea
chi ldren . " They do not comment on mortali ty and morbidi ty rate s .
2 s tati s ti c s for death s outs ide hospi ta l s do no t exi s t .
These figures
p re sumably give a rough indica tion at lea s t of the general s ituation
throughout the country .
195
experi ence growth and morbidi ty and mortal i ty patterns which are
s imil ar to thos e in most parts o f the h ighlands o f New Guinea . These
patterns are in fluenced partly by a total food intake which is
re s tri cted both by the bulky nature o f the di e t , and by the cultural
convention s of in fant and ch il d feeding ;
the patterns are al so
influe nced by the l eve l o f preventive and curative medical s e rvices
available in the region .
In order to improve infant and chi l d heal th ,
the e ffo rts o f the authorities might mo st use fully be channe lled in two
dire c tion s .
One aim should be to ensure that as many infants and
todd lers as pos sible are enrol led , and therea fter seen regula rly by
the MCH c l inic s taff .
In the long term, full rea l i s ation of this aim
wil l depend upon incre a s ing the level o f mo tivation among parents , but
in the short term some progres s might be made by giving more publicity
to the aims o f the c linic s , by developing better communica tions betwee n
clinic organisers and influenti al vil l agers , and by e ncouraging a more
sympathetic a tti tude among clini c s taff towards mothers o f underweight
childre n .
The second a im should be to spread the i de a that energy-ri ch
foods such as pandanus nuts and peanuts , red pandanus oil ,
tinned fish
and tinned dripping are e special ly good foods for sma l l chi ld:Pe n1 , and
s ho uld be given to them, with the i r normal die ts , in small quanti ties
but o ften ;
this me s s age could be publi ci s e d through clini c s , Aid Pos ts ,
lo cal counci l lors , s choo ls and trade s tores .
b . The urban Fore .
The di e t o f the urban Fore is app arently ri cher i n
energy and pro tein than i s the rural die t , a n d suppor ts a fas te r growth
rate ;
it i s highly probable that chil d morbidity and morta l i ty rate s
a r e lower than i n the rural are a .
As in the latter , the a ims should be
pursued of maximi s ing clinic attendan ce , and further encouraging the
the consumption by small children o f ene rgy- and protein-rich foods ;
coconut o i l in parti cular should be
s tressed as a goo d supplement to children ' s diets .
Additional
nutritional mes sage s emphasising the importance o f fresh vege tables
and frui t , and the dangers o f exce s sively re fined and swe e t foods , might
al so be given a tten tion .
With regard to infe c tious di seas e , the
importance of using clean wate r ( which in the settlements o ften means
boiled water ) , and o f preventive measures agains t malaria should be
1 The availability of increasing the consumption of animal f at by adults
is of c ourse much more dubious .
196
given pri ori ty .
The risk that the ri cher urban die t might lead to new
heal th problems , s uc h as obe s i ty and dental cari e s , wil l be consi dered
i n the next chapte r , in which the disc us sion wi l l be expanded to incl ude
o lder age gro up s , and wider aspec ts of health and we l l-be ing .
1 9 .7
CHAP TE R 1 4
In the preceding chapte r , the rel ationships be tween nutri tion ,
growth , and morb i di ty and mo rtali ty in young childre n were di s cussed
in s ome deta i l , in the context of the observed weight- for-age
dis tributions in the Awande and Lae s amples .
For adults , no data
were co lle c ted on nutri tional s tatus or morbidi ty and mortal i ty , and
this c hapter wil l
nece ssari ly be of a somewhat more general and
Once again , extensive reference will be made to
speculative nature .
relate d s tudies in Papua New Guinea .
After c on s i de ring nutri tional
s ta tus and general phys ical heal th in a du l ts in the rural and urban
environments , I s hall discuss the concept of ove rall health and well
being in i ts social contex t , and the pl ace w ithin it of foo d and
nutri tion .
Final ly , I shall re turn to the conceptual mo de l outlin�d
at the beginning o f this repor t , and comment on some o f i ts s treng ths
and weaknes s e s in the l i ght o f the use made of i t in the res t o f the
report .
Casua l observation o f people in Awande s ugges te d that
a
weights , heights and subcutaneous fat leve l s tended to be lower than
current Aus tralian s tandards , at all age s and for both sexes . Weight
and fat leve ls appeared to dec rease with age a fter the third o r fourth
decade,
particularly in women .
Maximum leve l s were probably reached
be tween the age s of fi fteen and twenty- fi ve y ears .
These observations
are con s i s tent with accurate measurements made in o ther areas of the
highlands ( e g . Bailey , 1 96 3 ; Vines , 1 9 7 0 ; S innett , 1 9 7 3 and 1 9 7 7 ;
Norgan e t al
1974)
.
Th ese generally reveal a gradual dec line in
weights , hei ghts , wei gh t : hei ght ratios and skinfo ld thicknes s e s through
late r adulthood , beginning at an earlier age in women than in men . The
sex di f fe rence was attribute d by B ailey ( op . ci t . )
to the chronic s tres s
198
imposed o n women by their s trenuous physi cal exerti on i n garden work ,
rather than to the e ffec ts o f repeated cycles o f p regn anc y , chil dbirth
and lac tation .
Bailey, and S innett ( op . ci t . ) both conclude that the
anthropometric c hange s are i ndicati ve o f s ub-optimal nutri tional s tatus ,
but S inne tt emphasi s e s that such a conclusion can be reache d .
" •. • only i n the ligh t o f o ur knowledge o f the morbidi ty
and mortality patterns o f the community and our e val uation
o f their accep tabi l i ty . " ( Sinne t t , 1 9 7 7 , pp . 84 - 5 ) .
Norgan et a l .
( 19 74 ) be lieve that the progre s s i ve reduction in hei ghts
and mas se s in o lder a ge groups may represent the "proper " physiological
proc e s se s , as opposed to the European norm of a s teady i nc reas e in body
fat with ageing .
b.
The Fore adu l t population con tac te d i n Lae included very few
men over about thirty- five years , and few women o ve r thirty ;
e lderly Fore in Lae were vis i tors from the vil lage .
could be made about changes with age .
the only
Thus no observations
The s tature and body bui l d o f
the adults i n town did not appear to di ffer markedly from thos e o f
the i r vi llage contemporarie s .
No one was obviously obes e by
Australian s tandard s , but skin fo l d measurements might well have revealed
s i gni ficant dif fe rence s b etween town and vi llage , give n the nature o f
the urban die t .
Vine s (Op .ci t. ) s tudied inhabitants o f s everal "highly
urbanised village s " in the course of his 1 96 4 - 6 6 baseline epidemiologi cal
surve y , and c omments :
"A very s igni fi c an t con s i s tent observation was the a s s o ciation
of urbanis ation . . with greate r skinfo l d thi ckne s s , h i gher
s erum cho le s te ro l levels , highe r s erum albumin leve l s , lower
s e rum globulin leve ls , and lower height-weight ratios than
the vil lager s or overal l s ample . The explanation o f this
phenomenon mus t l i e partly in the bread , rice , tinned fish
and tinned meat which cons ti tute a large proportion of the
diet o f urbanised people . " ( ibid, p . 2 72 ) .
I t mus t be remembe red that very few o f the Fore in Lae had
been there , o r in any urban centre , for as long as a decade .
It
would b e in te re sting to observe the future phy s i ca l development o f long
term urban res i dents , e specially thos e born in town 1 •
1 Mo s t o f the a dult Fore now living in town expec t to return to their
vi l l ages e ve n tua l ly , but it is no t clear what will happen to the i r
children : many ado le scen ts would probably find the pro spect o f moving
to the vil la ge l e s s attractive than that o f s taying on in the town ,
the envi ronment in which they were brought up .
1 99
Phys i ca l fitne s s
a . Awande .
Adult me n and women i n Awande appea re d to be physic ally
much mo re fi t , a s j udged by their abili ty to p er form arduous and
energetic physical work , than would be expe c te d for a typical urban
Aus tral i an population .
Women walked to thei r gardens almo s t daily ,
o ften ove r distance s o f up to 4 or 5 km . from their h amle ts , spending
the day in garden tasks and re turning home wi th loads of up to 20 o r
3 0 kg . of food on their backs .
Men ' s daily physi cal activi ty was
more variable , but qui te often included s uch e nerge tic tasks as tree
fe lling , cons truction a n d erec tion o f fence po s ts , c learing o f
sec ondary bush , a n d carrying timber .
Both sexes were able to walk up
and down very s teep and o ften slippery paths wi th apparent eas e , e ven
while carrying heavy loads .
Agai n , these casua l observations are supported by measurements
o f physical fitnes s in o ther highland groups { Hipsley and Kirk , 1 96 5 ;
S inne tt and Solomon , 1 9 6 8 ) , which have shown level s as goo d as or
better than thos e of Australian serviceme n .
Norgan e t al .
{ op . c i t . ) ,
in the mos t de tai l e d s tudy yet made o f e ne rgy expendi ture by P apua New
Guineans , s howed that, both at Lufa and on Kar Kar I s l and, mos t daily
ac tiviti e s invo lved only ' light ' o r 1 modera te 1 e nergy expenditure s ;
thi s appl i ed eve n to gardening tasks .
The ir e vi de nc e s uppo r ts Hipsley
and Kirk ' s asse rtion that the h igh leve l s o f physical fi tnes s which they
observed were due not to a high total energy expendi tu re , but to
frequent burst s o f highly energetic activi ty ( such as carrying a heavy
load uphil l) i nterspersed with longer p eriods o f lower a c tivi ty ;
this
pattern increas e s muscular and cardiovascula r e fficiency .
b . Lae .
I n Lae , the l evel of e nergy expenditure by bo th s exes i s
almo s t certainly lower than in the rural environment .
S ome women and
a few men cultiva te re latively smal l garden s , and a few men have
e ne rge tic j ob s s uc h as road-mending or wharf-labouring .
On the who l e,
though , s ub s i s tence and work activities use less energy than in the
vi l lage , few people take part in active physical recreation , and there
is rather l e s s walking from place to plac e , because of bo th the
oppr e s s ive climate , and the availabil i ty o f public transpor t .
Finall y ,
the h igher ambient temperatures in Lae may result in a lower bas al
metabo lic rate , a lthough the FAD/WHO committee on energy and protein
200
requirements was unwil ling to quanti fy this rel ationship (WHO , 1 9 7 3 ) .
a . The rural Fore .
General information on di sease o cc urrence among
the rural Fore in the 1 96 0 ' s was collec ted in connec ti on with
investigations into kuru , and i s s ummarised by Hornabrook ( 19 76b), as
follows :
" The people are cha racterised by a freedom from the
degenerative a rterios cl e rotic diseases o f diabe te s and
o f gout . Apart from kuru ( now almo s t dis appe ared) there
is a high inc idence of chronic re spiratory di sease which
is a s e rious problem in the middle- aged .
In contra s t to
the p i c ture in a wes te rn s ociety more people suffer from
anaemia , but this doe s not s eem to be incommo din g .
Alimentary par as i te s , whi l s t ubiquitous , do no t apparently
cause any physiologica l emb arra ssment to the hos t . Leprosy
is uncommon and malari a i s only o f lo cal and occasional
impor tan ce . 11 ( ibid . p . 65 , my parentheses ) .
Although chroni c under- or mal -nutri tion have some e f fe c t in reducing
res i stance to mos t i n fec tions ( S crimshaw, Taylor and Gordon , 1 9 6 8 ) , c hronic
resp i ra tory disease is probably no t greatly influenced by poor
nutrition ;
environmen ta l facto rs , s uc h as the smoke- filled house s
with poor ventilation , a n d the
use o f both home-grown and
c ommercial ly prepared tobacco , are probably more importan t .
Helminthi c
and p ro to zo al parasi ti sm , and associa te d anaemia , tend to be exacerb ated
by a die t low in protein ( ibid) , s o that the high prevalence o f the se
di seases may be par tl y due to the nature of the ru ral Fore di e t .
Hornabrook { op . c i t . , p . 6 1 ) s tates that , "An unexpec ted
observation in thes e vil l ages was the exis tence of a high prevalence
of dental carie s " , but he give s no de tails .
Venkatachalam ( 1 9 62 ) ,
Hip s le y and Kirk ( op . ci t . ) , and Vines (op . cit) all note the relatively
in P apua New
high pre valenc e o f dental carie s in highland
Guinea , as compared to co as tal populations
but no satis fac tory
explanation has been give n for this di f fere nce
Minera l , and in
f luorine intake s may be of s ome s i gni ficance .
The observed
rate s were lower than those prevalent in Australia and New Zealand .
b.
There are no publi shed data on morb i di ty rates among highland
migrants in Lae , but i t is po ss ible to infe r , from environmental and
dietary fac to rs , what the main di f fe re nces from the rural s i tuation
might be .
The mo s t important di f fe rence is almo s t certainly the high
201
incidence of ma l aria i n the coastal regi on , i t being a disease to
which few adult h ighl anders have acquired any immuni ty be fo re coming
to the town ;
seve ral Fore men in Lae tol d me they had had treatment
fo r sik ma laria , but none took prophyl ac tics .
Sani tation and water
s upp l i es in the s ettlements in Lae are far from sati s fac tory , so
tha t gas tro- inte s tinal di sease may be quite c ommon .
On the other
hand , the absenc e of pigs and the l ow numbers of other domes ti c
animals may reduce the inci dence o f para s i tic infe c ti ons , and the
practice o f c ooking out o f doors or on kerosene s tove s , combined with
the lack of any need fo r heating at night , may have some bene fic ial
e ffec t on respiratory ailments
The die tary data s trongly sugges t
that dental carie s sho uld be more preva lent i n Lae than i n the rura l
area s , because of the
high consumption o f re fined cereals ,
and re fine d s ugar in drinks and snac k foods .
Turning now to the degenerative di sease s , the finding by Vines
( op . cit ) o f h igher choles terol leve l s among urbanised villagers has
already been mentioned ;
the Fore die t in Lae i s l ikely to l ead to
this res u l t , among o thers .
higher age groups
Degenerative diseases tend to a f fe c t the
so that much dire c t evide nce of the i r o ccurrence
among urbanis e d Fore would not yet be expe c ted .
Sinnett and Buck
( 19 7 4 ) , in an artic le focussing on the probable future incidence o f
coronary h eart disease i n P apua New Guinea conclude , for the coun try
as a whole , that :
" . . social and economic development is l ikely to re sult
not simp ly in a replacement of infe c tious di sease by chronic
degenerative diseas e , but rather in an increas e in the total
spectrum o f disease in which vas cular disease , di abe te s ,
hypertens ion , and cance r wil l be added to the
problems of in fe c tious disease . "
I n a ffluent countri e s , where the c hronic de generative di seases
mentioned are highly prevalent , over-re fine d , swe e t and fat-rich diets
have been implicate d in the ir aetiology
Such die ts are becoming the
norm in urban a reas in P apua New Guinea .
Furthermore , i nc reased cash
income in the towns i s o ften a s sociate d with i ncreas e d use of tobacco
thus l eading to a h igher r i sk o f chronic bronchi tis , lung cancer , and
coronary heart disease .
The re lations h ip s between die t o n the one hand , and parameters
of physical h ealth such as growth rate s , anthropometri c s tatus , a nd
2 02
infec tious and non-infec tious di seas e s tatus on the other , have been
summarised in re lation to children in the previous chapter , and in
rel a tion to adults in the foregoing sec tions of this chapter .
The
various parameter s o f physi c al hea l th have b ee n shown to be
inextric ably linked with each o ther and with nutri tion in a number
of ways , and the main features o f the rural and urban s ituation s can
be summar i s e d as fol lows :
a . 'Ihe rural s ituation .
Among the rural Fore , the mo s t signi fi cant
consequences for h ealth of the high-bulk , low-protein , low- fat di et
are a s low growth rate , smal l adult body s i ze , and a dec line in body
fa t and wei gh t : hei ght ra tio s in late r adulthood.
The low energy and
low pro tein c ontents of the diet are probably ind i rectly respon s ible
for a large part o f the high in fant and toddler morb i di ty and
mortality from infectious gastro -inte s tinal and resp i ra tory disease s .
The di et, howeve r , s uppor ts h i gh leve l s o f phy s ical fi tnes s in adul ts ,
and i s not conducive to the development o f die t- related degenera tive
diseases such as diabete s , hypertension , or coronary h eart di sease .
b . Ti1e urban s ituation .
Among the urban Fore , the die t is re lative ly
richer in e nergy , total p ro tein and animal pro tein , fats , and s ugar .
On th e one hand , thes e fac tors probably res ul t in increased growth
rates in chi l dren , a s sociated with incre ased res i s tance to i n fe c tious
diseases and hence lowered morb i di ty and mortali ty ;
on the othe r , they
are l ikely to l ead eventually to incre asing incidence o f dental carie s
and obesity a t a ll age s , and c hronic degenerative diseases i n l a ter
l i fe .
3e cause the population i s s ti l l young and only rec ently urbanised ,
the latter conditions are not ye t h ighly prevalent .
The po s s ibil i ty
o f speci fic nutritional de fic iencies , s uch as hypovi tamino ses ,
res ulting from the
not be
overconsumption o f highly re fined foods , should
overl ooked , but s eems unl ikely on the present di e t .
Overall , then , i t i s a somewhat s ub j e c tive j udgement a s to
whe ther the rural o r the urban diet i s the ' h eal thie r ' .
On the rural
diet , fewer children wil l survive the vulnerable early years to reach
adulthood , but those that do survive will be fi tter , and le s s prone to
degenerative disea s e s in later l ife , than their urban wanto k .
If a
slow rate o f growth l eading to small adult s ize is indee d a valuable
2 03
adaptation to a low-protein diet , as Malcolm ( 19 7 0 a and b , 1 9 7 4 ) and
H ip s ley ( 1 9 76 ) argue , then the faster growing and l arger children
brought up on the urban diet might find it di fficult to adapt later to
the rural die t , if and when they move to the vil l age l .
Other aspects of h ealth and well-being
Food and nutrition in relation to other needs
S o far I have considered nutrition as i t affects certain aspects
o f physical health .
However , an ecological view o f health and well-being,
even at the individual leve l , must adopt a wider perspective .
( ibid) quo te s a def in ition o f health given b y Dubos ( 19 5 9 ) :
H ip s le y
health i s
" the c ondi tion bes t s uited t o reach goals that e ach individual formulates
for himse l f " .
These goals may include a sense o f phy s ical wel l- be ing
and vigour , but some people would place higher values on alternative
goal s , be they mate rial , sensual , intel lectual or spiritual .
two points to be made here .
There are
The first is that some of thes e alternative
goals may be real i s ed through food consumption , regardle s s of i t s
nutritional imp l ication s ;
the s econd and related point i s that other
go al s , unrelated to foo d consumption , may be emphasised by s ome
individual s to the detriment of thei r nutritional s tatus , but to the
benefit o f thei r total s ense of well-be ing .
With regard to the first poin t , the many functions of food have
been discussed by Lee ( 19 5 7 ) , and a l so by Whiteman ( 1 96 6 ) ;
they both
use i llustrations from western societies and from s everal areas of Papua
New Guinea .
Among the functions Whiteman lists are the role of food
in conferring s ta tus , food as currency , food as an exchange medium in
cementing social relation s , aes thetic and creative s ati s faction in food
production and preparation , food as a s ource of religious satisfaction
or symbol i c sig�i ficance , food as medic ine , food consumption as
recre ation , and l egal functions o f food.
Examp l e s o f mos t o f these
can be found in Fore soc ie ty , and some have been mentioned in
l A s imi l ar argument would apply to pos s ible metabol i c adap tations to low
protein intakes , i f they were partly or wholly determined by early
devel opment.
Two s uch adaptations whi ch have been pos tulate d , but not
yet proven , to exi s t in sweet potato eaters in PNG are nitrogen f ixation
by intes tinal flora ( Oomen and Corden , 1 9 7 0 ) , and recycling of urea
ni trogen ( Hips ley , 1 9 7 6 ) .
Norgan et al , ( 19 7 4 ) seem to doubt the
exi s tence of such adaptations .
2 04
earlier chapte rs .
confers s tatus ;
For example : ownership and s laughter o f a l arge pig
garden and s tore foods are used on c eremonia l
occasions s uch a s the payment o f b ri de pri ce and funerary se ttlements ;
the mwnu combines elements o f aes the ti c and creative s atis fac tion ,
rec reatio n , and expre s s ion of s oc i al re lationships ;
some food
taboos
are based on the tradi tional beli e f in sympa the ti c magi c , and others
on the tea ching of a newly-introduced rel i gious s ec t ( Se venth Day
Adventism ) , bo th of which use foods as symbol s of other forc e s ;
and
certain foods , inc luding pig mea t and w il d he rb s , are used in the
treatment o f s ickne s s of var ious kinds .
In urban Fore s oc i e ty , some
o f the s e functions of food have been c ur tailed, or the i r fonn o f
expre s sion modi fied .
The recrea tional aspe c t o f food consump tion ,
for insta nce , i s exempli fied by the high expenditure on snack foods
and drink s , and on beer .
Turning t o the s econd point , the p lace o f food and nutri tion
in rel ation to o ther needs ha s als o been dis cussed ear li e r ,
under th e h eadi ng ' c ompe ting needs a n d val ue s '
{ 19 6 4b) devo ted
a paper to this top ic , using :New Guinea as his example
Beyond the
individual s obvious needs for inge stion , exc re tion and avoidance o f
harmful s timuli he l i s ted the need to belong , to love and b e love d ,
the need t o understand , and the need t o expre s s sel f through action ,
de s cribed as " se lf-ac tuali zation - the need to pursue rewarding goals "
Afte r discus s ing the contras ting ways i n whi ch , and the degree s to
which thes e nee ds a re satis fied in rural Papua New Guinean s oc i e ties
as compared to we s te rn societie s , he conclude s
there may be a tendency today to p lace too much
emphas i s on the need for food at the expense o f other
basic needs . I t i s of c ourse desi rable to provide the
best p o s s ible die t , but this die t i s to be cons idered
as no more important than any other bas i c need . "
The source o f H ipsley 1 s conce rn appears to be that emphasi s on the
provi sion of more , and special foods , particular ly for infan ts , may
lead to incre a s ing dependenc e on outside s ources and on cash income ,
a s socia ted with a de creasing interes t in s ub s i s tence p ro du ction and
self-re lianc e , which , he believe s , tradi tionally sati s fi e d all the
basic nee ds o f individua l s .
Thi s i s sue is discus sed bel ow under the
heading ' Food dependency ' .
The individual, then, uses food for purpo s e s other than the satis faction
of appeti te and of nutritional requirements ; indeed these may not be
among hi s or her p rimary values in l i fe .
The role o f the authoriti e s
2 05
concerned with food and nutrition i s twofold :
f ir st , to ensure a s
far as pos s ible that a n adequate and nutritious food supply i s readily
avai labl e to every individual , and .second , to ensure that every
individual has the nece ssary knowledge to make an informed choice
from the range of foods available .
One can be reasonably hopeful
that wel l -informed parents will make a nutritionally sound choice o f
food f o r their smal l children ;
but experience i n affluent countries
suggests that even wel l -informed adults will not nece s sari ly do so for
themselve s .
Whi l e it is true that an individual ' s hea lth c an only be j udged
in relat ion to h i s or her own goal s , the se goals are more or l e s s
dependent on the prevail ing cultural norms , expec tations and values .
As the s e change
of their own health change .
so will people ' s
In the case of growth rate s
f o r example
a whol e generation of Papua
New Guineans is now being taught , through the use of standardised
weight charts
parents
to r egard as
generat ion
r at e s
retarded , the
as normal .
S im ilarly , high
among infants and toddlers
been acc epted
the
though not of
the e ffect of medical treat.�ent and
these
rates
hence to rais e people s
improved
the connec tions between better
rates
and
decreased morbidity and mortality are firmly e stabli shed , and
into the c onsciousnes s of parents
the prospects for rais ing overall
nutrition and heal th standards wi l l be greatly improved .
The nec e s s ary changes in perception can be expected to o ccur
not only through the o f fi c ial channels of hea lth education
c lini c s and the media but al so
schoo l s
and as importantly , through the v i s ible
example o f chi ldren in better- fed famil i e s
In Awande , f o r instance
the family of the carpenter , who earned a ful l-time wage and had had
s ix year s ' primary education , regularly added rice and tinned meat and
f ish to their diet ;
the three young c hi ldren and their mother were
s tr ikingly sturdier in appearance than average .
The c on s tant f low of
people to and from the towns also provides the opportunity for
v illagers to observe the growth of children fed on the richer urban
diet , and for urban migrants to reflect on the better growth of their
2 06
own children .
If perceptions do in fact continue to change in this direction ,
the l ong term consequence s are debatabl e .
There i s l ittle doubt
that regularly supplementing the rural diet with energy rich food s ,
e spec ially tinned f i sh with its high oil and protein content , will
improve toddlers ' growth and increase their resi stance to infection .
Ho�ever , there are two obvious danger s associated with increased use
o f store foods .
The f irst i s that people will not l earn to di scrimin
ate between the good and the bad store foods , or between moderate and
exces sive u s e of them : the result might be inc reasing incidenc e , in
the vil lage as well a s the town , of the chronic degenerative diseases
di scussed earlier .
The s econd danger is that of increasing dependence
on outs ide s ys tems of food production and supply , and on cash income
to purchase the s e foods .
Dependency and self-reliance
The i ss ue o f food dependency has been d iscus sed in the Pacific
context by McGee ( 19 7 5 ) , who uses the term ' dietary c oloni alism '
to
denote " the subj ect of d ietary changes initiated by colonial c ontact
and control " .
He shows that among the Pac ific I s land s , food imports
as a percentage o f total imports in 1 9 7 0 - 7 3 varied from 1 5 . 7 % ( Guarn
and Norfolk I sland) to 3 8 . 5 % { Niue I s land ) ;
Papua New Guinea in 1 9 7 1 - 7 2 was 2 0 . 1 % .
the f igure quoted for
By 1 9 7 3 - 7 4 , food and beverage
imports to Papua New Guinea had risen to K 5 9 . 5 mil lion , or 2 6 . 0% of
the total import bill of K2 2 8 . 9 mil lion ( Bureau of S tatisti c s , 1 9 7 6 ) 1 .
They were made up as follows :
K million
Cereal grains and preparations
Meat and meat preparations
Fi sh and f is h preparat ions
Sugar , honey etc .
Fru it and vegetables
Dairy products and eggs
B everages
Co ffee , tea , c ocoa , spice s etc .
Animal feedstu f f s
Mi scellaneous
14 . 7
14 . 5
10. l
5.7
3.8
3.4
2.1
1.3
1.3
2.6
TOTAL
59. 5
l pigures are ' free on board ' value s o f goods, i. e. they exclude freight and
handl ing c o st s , hence underestimating the total cost of the imports .
In 1 9 7 5/6 food imports made up only 2 1 % o f total imports by value , but
the general pattern o f imports was s imilar to that described here (NPO ,
1 978a) . ·
207
Al though much o f the importe d food i s des tined for urban consump tion ,
not only by P apua New Guineans but also by the very a ffluent and
nutr itionally c onservative expatriate c ommuni ty , tra de s tores through
out the rural areas of the country also s e l l s i gnificant quantities .
Food dependency carrie s a number of dangers , among which are
the fo l lowing ( adapted from McGee , op . ci t . ) :
a c hronic drain on
forei gn c urrency res e rve s , and/or dependence on fore i gn aid ;
pos s ible
nutr itional problems c aused by the nature of the i mporte d foods ;
of traditional ski lls used in food produc tion ;
traditional foods ;
los s
dec lining tas te for
and a general , uncr i tical de s ire for imported goods ,
fashions and technique s , which may be as harmful to the c ul ture as the
cos t o f food i mports i s to the e conomy , and the quali ty o f some o f them
is to nutrition .
These dangers are wel l recognised by the national
p l anning author i tie s , and are taken into account in the new National
Food and Nutrition Po licy ( NPO , 1 9 7 3 a) .
One of the l atter ' s main
targets is to e ncourage dome s ti c production to reach a leve l which wil l
a t l ea s t avo i d th e nece s s i ty for any i ncrease i n the tota l volume o f
food imports over the next ten year s .
Dangers whic h apply at the national leve l can also be i denti fied
a t the l o ca l leve l .
The mixed sub s i s tence/cash�cropping e conomy of the
rural Fore , for example , shows parallels to the national economy in
that , at p re s e n t , mos t food i s home-produc e d , but cash from the s ale
o f cof fee i s use d l argely for imported foods .
I f dependence on
im�orte d foods were to increas e beyond a certain leve l , a s lump in the
international coffee market , or a l ocal epidemic o f c o f fe e dis ease ,
coul d have disas trous
nutritional and social e ffec ts .
The departure
of many young men for the town , at the age when they would o therwise
be s tarting to practise s ubs i s tence skills learnt from the i r fathers '
generation , poses another threat to the long term re silie nce of the
subsi s tence mode of production .
In ecological terms , the Fore have
a lready departed markedly from the s tate which Clarke ( 19 7 7 ) has
call e d ' paleotechnic permanenc e ' , in whi ch shi f ti ng c ul tivation was
c arri e d out i n a s e l f- s us taining ecosys tem , and was dependent only upon
local and renewable energy and material resourc e s .
B ut they are s ti l l
far from the s ta te o f ' neotechnic impermanence ' repres en te d b y fully
208
mechanised agricul tural systems , dependent upon c omplex techno logy
and c ontinuous inputs of fos s i l fue l s and inorganic ferti l i s e rs .
Urban migrants in P apua New Guinea , s uch as the Fore l iving
in Lae , are lar gely dependent on impor ted foods purchased w ith cash
earned in the urban economy , but there is s ti l l s ome flexibi l i ty in
thei r pos i ti on .
Mo s t of them s ti l l have rights of use on vi llage land
ar .i. could, if the urban economy were severely di srupted , return to
.
take up thei r tradi ti onal role s in vi llage society .
Even within the
urban environment, there may s ti ll be some potential for increasing
s ubsi s tence gardening on a sus tainable b as i s , which could pro te c t
permanent urban dwellers from the wor s t e f fects o f a n inte rruvtion o r
reduction in i mported food s upplie s , however caus e d .
The l on g term dangers of food dependency are l e s s eas i ly
percei ve d
than a re the immediate material bene fi ts o f economic growth .
In a paper en titled 1 The Di lemma o f Development ' , C l arke ( 19 7 3 ) i s
conce rned with the long term ecologic al implications o f economic
developmen t :
" �vhen a rgued now , the case for deve lopment - ' but that s
what the people want ' - is unethical , for it i s certainly
no t the obligation of a government to acknowledge and
encourage the de s i re for deve l opment while no t informing
o f the c onsequence s of that development .
Of course people
want things , but they should know what they will have to
then the choice they make c an be f ree .
pay for them;
( ib i d . p . 28 9 )
The importation o f foods from o verseas i s one aspect o f
development '
a s i t has gene ral ly bee n interprete d , and Clarke s argument app l i es
as forc ib ly to the spe cific as to the general cas e .
Like drug
addi ction , food dependency can no t only cause heal th problems while i t
pe rsi s ts , but i t can als o cause wi thdrawal symptoms when i t i s broken ;
but to extend the analogy , j us t as w ith drugs , the selective and
moderate use of nutr i tious imported foods may o f fer real benef i ts
as
in the use of tinned fi sh as a die tary s upplement for highland chil dren .
The government may be forced to limi t s upplies o f s ome imported foods
for economic reason s ;
it mus t also try to influence demand for these
foods in dire c t i�ns which are both economically and nutr i tionally
acceptable .
2 09
Thi s chapter h as b ee n conce rned mainly with the s e t o f
variables shown i n the ' To tal Health and Nel l -being ' c ompartment o f
the conceptual mode l ( Fi gure 1 , p . 8 ) and w ith their re lationship to
' other a spects o f e nvironment and l i fe s tyle ' and to foo d consumption
i tse l f .
I have re ferre d as we ll to the food resources and food beliefs
and pre ferences of the populations unde r discuss ion , and to environ
mental i nfluences on the s e .
In the course of discuss ing total health
and well-be ing , the n , i t has b een e s sential to recogn i s e the inter
active nature of a wide range of variables , thus emphasis ing the need
for a multi - di s c iplinary approach to the study o f nutr i tion .
S uch an
approach i s made more e as i ly and more logi c ally through the use of a
conceptual mode l sui te d to the purpos e .
In my own mode l , all the caus al l inks ( except that be tween food
resourc e s and foo d be lie fs and pre feren ce s ) are shown as one-way
re lationships .
This simpli fication was convenient for relating the
findings o f particular loca l surveys to outs i de influence s
but there
are of c ourse causal influences in the other di rec tion , s ome o f which
have b een i denti fie d in the cours e of di s cus s ion .
nutrition and disease s t.atus
For example ,
no t only influe nced by
but themse lves
influence the quantity and qual i ty o f food con s ump ti on . S imi larly ,
belie fs and pre ference s regarding parti c ul ar foods are o f ten formed
only after their con s umption , again a revers al o f the main caus al
relationship shown in the diagram .
Finally , and mos t critical l y ,
government policies are , or at least should be not only re sponsible for ,
but also respon sive
foods
to people s ' needs for information , for nutri tious
and for heal th care .
In s tudying the way things are in a local
s i tuation , it i s mo s t use ful to focus on how national factors influence
l o cal fac to rs
in formulating alte rnatives for the future , one mus t
ask how local fac tor s can use fully influence national pol i c ie s in such a
way that thei r app l i c at ion becomes more
to local need s .
In c onclus ion , i t i s perhap s worth empha s i s in g that the conceptual
mo de l i s no more than i t claims to be :
a theoretical model for the
analysi s o f the e nvironmental influence s on , and the heal th implications
o f, the food habi ts of localised populations . It is not much help in
understanding the relationshi,ps between separate loc al i sed populations ,
210
and in partic ular , i t does not repre s ent the interactive relati onships
between rural and urban Fore populations , which have been s tre s sed
throughout this repo rt .
Perhaps i ts mos t important feature i s its
appli c ability to both o f these populations , and its potential
app li cability to the s tudy o f food habits in other populations in
Papua New Guinea and e l s ewhere .
2 11
CHAPTER 1 5
SUMMARY AND RE COMMENDATIONS
In this final c hap te r , I pre sen t a general summa r y of the main
findings de s cribed in earlier chapters of the report ;
the findings
are summa ri sed separately in re lation to the rural Fore population ,
the urban Fore population in Lae , and rural -urban relationship s .
Following the summary , I l i s t a number o f recommendations re l ating to
national and l ocal food and nutrition policie s , based on the evidence
presente d e arl i e r .
of)
Anyone turning to thi s chapter before ( or ins tead
reading the bulk of the report is urged to re fer to the relevant
chapters for detai l s of the sample populations and their environments ,
the re search aims and metho ds , and the substantive evidence on which
the summary and re commendations are base d .
a.
i ) S ubsis tence gardening i s by far the mo s t important source o f foo d ;
the dominant c rop i s sweet potato , but a wide variety of o ther starchy
s taples and green vegetables is cultivate d ;
some crops a re sea so na l ,
but there i s no annual period o f s carcity .
ii )
Animal husbandry , mainly o f pigs but including some poultry and
c attl e , provi de s an irregular supply o f animal protein , but meat
production is of secondary concern compared to the pursuit of wea l th
and s tatus .
iii) Hunting and gathering of small game , fungi , nuts , fruits and herbs
add variety to the die t , but the re creation al and ae s thetic associations
of thes e a c tivi tie s are of more s i gni ficance than their nutritional
implica tion s .
iv) Purchase of foods f mainly from lo cal trade s to re s but occasionally
from markets and from dis tant urban centre s , is made pos sible by cash
earnings from coffee sale s and , in some cases , from s ales of garden
produce , and from wage labour ;
but i t is not a maj or source o f food
except for those in full time paid employment .
212
v) Overal l , there i s no absolute shortage o f foo d , but the present
pattern of c rop production and animal husbandry doe s no t provide an
optimum balance o f nutrients ;
in particular , the emphasi s on sweet
potato in the gardens leads to a die t low in protein and high in bulk .
b.
i ) The mo s t importan t bel i e f i s that the body ' s needs are fully met by
swe e t �otato , de s c ribed as a ' s tron g • food ;
s tarchy garden crop s , and sugarcan e ;
o ther 1 stron g ' foo d s are
green vegetable s , meat and mos t
s to re foods are general ly regarded as good t o e a t for thei r taste , but
not as being ne ce s s ary or parti cularly bene ficial to heal th .
i i ) Small children are not thought to require any spe c i al foods ;
they
s tart eating s olids by about six months , and are expec ted to eat much
the s ame diet as adults by the age of two or three ;
they are bre astfed
for at lea s t two years and sometimes for four or five .
iii) Diarrhoea i s known to be related to the c onsumption o f certain
foods , such as an exce s s o f pork ;
emaciation in children is s aid to be
caused by mens trual po l lution or parental adul tery;
cure s for both
conditions are sought in a combination of c linic or hospital treatment ,
and admini s tration o f tradition al herbal and die tary remedi e s .
iv) Certain food taboo s based on ideas o f sympathetic magic are impos ed
on pregnant women and young male initiates , and pork , game and all
s timulants a re forbidden to Seventh Day Adventi s ts , o f whom there are
many in certain areas o f the region ;
only the S DA taboo on pork is o f
much nutri tional s i gni ficance
v) Food be lie f s and preference s are changing under the infl uence o f
s choo l s , c lini c s and hospi tal s , mi s s ions
new food resourc e s and ideas
brought back to the vil lage from the urban environment;
the o l de r and l e s s educated vil lagers tend to b e more
the beliefs o f
traditional ' than
those of the young and e duc ate d , who are als o more likely to have
c�.µ�: L J"ci1�•=u
urban l i fe .
c . Food consumption .
i } The die t o f adults and chi ldren is dominated by sweet potato , which
is eaten a t l e a s t twice a day ;
at breakfast it is usually eaten alone ,
213
and at the main e vening meal it i s usually accompanied by green leafy
vegetable s , pi tpi t or both , and some time s by green bean s , corn ,
mushrooms , meat and o ther i tems .
i i ) Pork i s consumed i rregularly , on average once or twice a month ,
usua l ly on importan t social or ceremonial o ccas ions ;
the consumption
of meat is inc rea se d by the purchase of frozen bee f , pork and mutton
from l arge s tore s in the region , and by hunting small game .
i i i ) The mos t common s to re foods are white rice and tinned fish , but
on average these would be consumed only about once every two or three
weeks ;
o ther s to re foods consumed occasionally include sal t , b i s cui ts ,
tinned meat , aerated soft drinks and cheesepops ;
beer i s drunk mainly
at singsing fe s ti vals hel d during the co ffee season .
iv) Overa l l , the dominance of sweet potato make s the diet high in un
refined carbohydrate , low in protein , low in fat and high in physic a l
bulk ;
such a diet i s poorly sui ted to the needs o f small children , who
find i t di fficult to e at sufficient quantities to sat i s fy e i ther the ir
energy or the i r protein requirements , e specia l ly s ince mos t of them eat
only two meals a day .
d.
i ) The average growth rate o f pre - s chool chi ldren i s wel l below the
Harvard S tandard , and approximately hal f thes e children are 1 malnourished1
j udged by the cri te rion used by the Papua New Guinea Department o f Health
( i . e . below 8 0 % of the Harvard S tandard
weight for age ) ; gastro- intestinal
and re spirato ry infection s are highly prevalent , and c hi ld morbidity
and mortal i ty rates a re probably above the national average .
ii ) Individual s surviving to adulthood achieve a smaller body s i ze , but
a much higher leve l o f physi c al fitnes s than would be typical o f the
Aus tralian population ;
respiratory d is ea s e i s the cm:imone s t cause o f
death , whi le degenerative diseases such a s coronary heart di s ea se ,
diabetes and cancer are virtually abs en t .
i i i } Bas i c survival needs , a n d higher leve l , culturally· der ived needs
are s ti ll s atis fied mainly through sub s i s tence activities which depend
2 14
on the use o f lo cally available , renewable re sourc e s ;
howeve r ,
population growth , and growing material aspirations encourage d b y cash
income from co ffee , a re tending to make compl ete sel f-re l iance l e s s
attractive , l e s s nece s sary and a t the same time l e s s fea s ible than
be fore .
The urban population
a . Food re source s .
i ) Subs i s tenc e gardening makes a minor but nutritionally s i gnificant
contribution to the food resource s of mos t Fore households in Lae ;
syitable gardening l and is in short s upply and a sus tainable system o f
garden management and tenure i s n o t y e t e s tabl ishe d ;
pig husbandry is
no t permitted in the town , but a few hou se ho l ds keep poultry .
i i ) S tores and shops , varying in s i ze from smal l trades to re s and snack
bars to large supermarke ts , cons ti tute the main source o f foo d ;
they
carry a wide range o f foo ds , mos t of them importe d , but some produce d
locally;
the i tems n aturally vary greatly i n their nutri tional value
and ret ai l p ri ce .
iii ) S everal fresh foo d markets in Lae provide a good source of fre sh
fruit , vege tab l e s and some animal products all the year roun d , but
s tarchy tuberous s tap l e s are more expensive per unit of food energy
provided than rice bought from s to re s .
iv) Overal l , th e food re sources available in Lae are capable o f providing
a wel l balan c e d diet made up of a combination of fre sh and p roce s se d
foods ;
mos t consumer s mus t purchase the greater part of their diet ,
and may the re fore need guidance in the s e lec tion o f suitable foods from
the great diver s i ty o ffered for sale .
b . Food belief s and p re fe renc e s .
i ) Awarene s s of nutritional n ee ds is s omewhat more deve loped in the town
than in the vil l age , p artly because the migrant popul ation i s younger
and b ette r e ducate d ;
the wider range of foods avail able has led to a
corre spon dingly greate r range and diversity in food prefe rence s .
2 15
i i ) As wel l as the ' s trong ' foods , which in town are s aid to include
rice as well as s tarchy root crop s , vegetables and mea t are generally
known to be good for the body .
i i i ) Smal l chi ldren are believed to require spe c i a l attention to their
die ts , in the form of the provis ion o f a mixed die t , e spec ially prepared
mashed foods , and , in some cases , tinned baby foods ;
wide ly known to b e a dangerous p rac t i ce ;
bottle - feeding i s
the poor nutritional quality
of swee t , s ticky foods and their rol e in causing dental decay are l e s s
w e l l known .
iv) C linics and the hospi tal are routinely used for treatment and advice ,
and the importance of c leanlines s in food preparation is generally
recognised;
emaciation of chi ldren is attributed to poor feeding
practic e s .
v)
Tradi tional food taboos are rare ly followed, but there i s a number
of Seventh Day Adve n ti s ts in the urban population who adhere more or
les s s trictly to their church ' s prohibi tions ;
there i s widespread fear
of certain coas tal foods , re lated to sorcery belie f s , and to a belief
that malaria can be caused by eating overripe fruit.
c.
i ) The main s taple in the town i s white ric e , but swee t potato and taro
are con s ume d only s l i gh tly l e s s frequently ;
thes e cooked s tarches are
usually eaten at the main evening mea l , accompanied by small amounts o f
green vegetable s , and meat o r fish .
i i ) Animal prote in is consumed almo s t every day , as tinned meat , tinned
fish , fre s h or frozen bee f or chicken , and occasional ly eggs ;
pork and
fresh fish a re rare ly e a ten .
i i i ) Break f as t mo s t o f ten c on s i s ts o f white bread or plain b i scui ts with
or without butter and other spreads , accompanie d by a hot sweetened
beverage , usually c o f fee or Milo , sometime s with mi lk ;
hot sweetened
beverages are a l so very popular with or after the evening meal .
iv) Working me n o ften consume meat p ie s and aerated soft drinks at
midday , and thes e items as well as i ce - c reams , bun s , ho t chicken and
2 16
chip s , and fried batte re d fish are popular with all a ge group s ,
e specially on weekend trips around town .
v)
I ncomes o f mo s t househo l ds are easi ly sufficient to s e c ure a we l l
balanced die t , but a disproportionate amoun t o f the
taken up b y snack foods ;
budget i s
beer i s not a maj or item o f expenditure i n
mo s t households .
vi )
Overall ,
the urban die t is much ri cher in protein , particularl y
animal prote in ,
than the rural die t;
and higher i n fat ,
i t i s also · more re fined ,
swee ter ,
and therefore les s bulky and probably lower i n some
vitamins and mine rals .
i)
P re - school chi ldren grow fas te r than thei r rural counterparts ,
proportion of
imately one - f i fth ,
to
1 malnouri she d 1
children
les s than hal f the
higher protein
energy
prevalence of mo s t pathogens
thi s
rate ;
and
group is approx
is attributable
in the town ,
and partly
( except for malarial agen ts )
and
service s .
ii)
sugge s t
heart di s e as e , diabetes and
dwe l le r s
c arie s , hype rtens ion ,
likely to develop i n
have live d i n the
urban environment for too short a time for such trends yet to be apparent .
iii)
The urban population i s l arge ly dependent for i ts food o n cash
income , and much of the food which i s purchased is imported from overseas ;
both facto r s render the
the n ational and i n tern ational e conomy ;
vulnerab l e to f luc tuations in
the lack o f opportunities for
se l f- re li an t , s ub s i s tence production may also have de l e te rious social
and cu l tural consequen ce s , e specially for women , but thi s top i c was no t
inve s tigated in any depth . l
i)
The continuous flow of people of a l l ages from vi l l a ge to town and
back te s tifies to ,
and en s ure s the continuance o f , the s trong
another component pro j e ct o f the P apua New Guinea Human E co logy
P rogramme # Dalton ( in preparation) found evidence of s uch consequen c e s
among Chimbu women
in Lae .
217
soc i ocu l tural and e conomic l inks between the rural and urban populations ;
these are relevant to i s sues o f food and
as follows .
i i ) Gi f ts o f food a re carried by vis i tors in both direction s :
vi l l age
produce to the town , and s to re and coastal items to the
some
food crops are a l so transplanted from one environment to the other .
i i i ) Food bel i e f s and preferenc e s are c arried in both dire ctions :
migrants initially arrive in town with thei r traditional beliefs and
preference s which were learnt in the vill age ;
they mo d i fy thes e in
the l ight of the i r urban experience , and on thei r return to the vi llage
exert a rec iprocal influence ;
in particu lar , it i s l ikely that
perceptions o f the l ink between diet and physical heal th w i l l be modified
through observation of improved growth in urban children .
iv) Actual f oo d consumption in village and town i s in f luence d dire ctly
by the behaviour of visitors from one to the other, and indirectly by
the tran s fe r o f b e li e fs and preferences j u s t re ferred to .
v) From the poin t o f view o f overall
the villagers tend to
benefit e conomically from the inflow o f cash and goods from urban migrants,
o f knowing that they can
while the l atter bene fit from the
return to village s oc i e ty to take up sub s i s tence gardening ( an d cash
c ropping)
if they want to , or are forced to by
c i rcumstances
in the town .
The general obj e c ti ve s of n ational and loc a l foo d and nutri tion
pol ic ie s should be thre e fo l d :
i)
to ensure that a n adequate a n d nutritious foo d supply i s
ava ilabl e t o al l , and that thi s food supply i s produced, s o far
a s is pos s ible f from local re sources ;
ii)
to ensure that people have the motivation and knowledge nece s s ary
to s e le c t from this food s upply a well balanced diet for them
se lves and thei r dependants ;
and
i i i ) to ensure that preventive and c urative medical s e rvic e s are
2 18
ava i l able to al l nutritionally vulnerable group s , e specially
young chil dren and pregnant and l ac tating wome n .
These obj ec ti ve s c an onl y b e real i sed through t h e development o f a
comprehens i ve food and nutri tion p ol i cy which encourage s in tegration
of the activi tie s of the various national and l o cal governme n t
agencies involved .
The recommendations li s te d below are derive d only
from c on s i de ration of the findings of the re search de s cribed in this
repor t , and are not i n tended to cover the en tire range of i s sue s
relating to food and nutrition in P apua New Guinea .
General and
spe c i fi c recomme ndat io n s wil l be l i s te d under four headin g s , rel a ting
respec tive l y to the n a ture of the food supply , the s e l e c tion of a
nutrit ious d i et , medical s e rvi c e s and rural-urban rel a tionships .
To promote the uni versal availab i l i ty o f a nutritious food
suppl y , i t i s gen e ra l ly recommended that :
- the Departmen t of Primary Indus try and o ther organisations
should pursue research into the nutri tional va Zue and
produc tivi ty of comnon indigenous crops,
especia Z Zy taro,
swee t po ta to and Zegumes
- the government sho uld consider the imposi tion of saZes
tazes and/or import duties on non-nutri tious items such
as aera ted soft d:einks, che esepops and sweet biscuits
- the government s ho uld encourage the Zoca Z production and
sa Ze of more nutri tious substitutes for popular items,
such
as frui t juices for aerated soft d:einks, packe te d peanuts for
cheesepops, re d paZm oi Z for dripping, and brown rice for
white rice .
In the rural Fore environmen t it i s speci fically recommended tha t :
D. P. I.
extension officers s hould acquaint themse lves with
the nutritiona l prob lems and the subsis tence techniques of
the Zoca Z popula tion, by undertaking 'patro ls ' through hamle ts
and vi Z Zages off the main roads _
- extension o fficers s hould encourage the cul tivation of new
varieti es of peanuts, beans,
corn and dark green vege tab les,
219
and e nsur-e that where less nutritious crops such a s corronon
cabbages are grown for cas h sale,
they
do no t disp lace
tradi tional greens from the househo l d di e t
- extension o fficers s ho uld de vote more time t o ass is ting
vi l lagers w i th productive pig and pou l try husbandry, and
le s s time
to ca ttle proje c ts .
In the urban environment o f Lae , i t i s speci fically re commended tha t :
- efforts now und.erway
s us tainabi li ty
to increase t h e sca le and ens ur-e the
of subsis tence and rrarke t gard.ening proje c ts
s ho u l d con tinue to receive assis tance from the lo ca l council
and government agencie s concerned, and tha t the performance
of the s e projec ts s hould be carefu U y monitored ove1• the
next few y ears
- loca l fresh food marke ts s hould be expand.ed and their number
a dd.e d to as s upp ly and demand for fre s h foo ds tuffs increases
se t tlemen t d»Je l l ers s hould be give n technica l ass i s tance with
smaU chicken projec ts , and the nutritional vaZ.ue of eggs
particularly to smal l chi ldren s hould be emphasised.
diet
Even where a nutri tious food supply i s readily available , the
se lection o f a we l l bal anced diet depends on two condi tions , namely
suf fici en t nutritional knowledge , and a sufficient degree o f motivation
to appl y thi s knowledge .
It i s there fore generally re commended that :
- nutrition education s hould no t only concentrate on teaching
the components of a we U b alanced die t,
but s ho u Z.d emphasise
the va l ue o f such a diet to the phy sica l and men ta l
capabi l i ti e s of t h e individua l
- a l l those dire c t ly invo lved in nutrition e duca tion s hould
a cquaint themse lves with the di e tary practices, foo d be l i efs
and prefe re nces and nutri tiona l s tatus o f the population among
whom they work
220
- advertising o f non-nutritious i tems o f foo d and drink should
be reduce d, and s imp le nutrition e ducation mes sages trans
mit ted to the p ub lic through
ava i lable channe ls; these
inolude schools, c linics, churches, marke ts, trades tores,
cinemas, radio, newspapers and foo d labe ls .
In the rural environment , in view o f the bulky nature and the low
piote in content o f the sweet potato s taple , i t is spe ci fically
recommended that :
- paren ts sho ul d be encouraged to feed their chi ldre n at l eas t
thre e times a day, and to mix high-energy foods such as red
pandanus oi l, dripping and tinned fis h oi l with their normal
die ts (re d palm oi l should be made avai lab le for this purpose
if it is e conomica l ly feasib le)
- paren ts should a lso be enco urage d to fee d their chi ldren
high-pro tein foo ds such as e ggs from wi ld and dome s tic
fowl, peanuts, b eans, J"resh mea t and tinned fish
a ttention
parents should be drawn, through c linic and
schoo l activi ties, to the associa tions between die t and
rates, and growth ra tes and hea l th s tatus, using the
better-nourished children in the corrmunity for i l lus tra tion .
In the urban environment , i t is spe cifically recommended that :
- newly arrived rura l migran ts, bo th chi l dren and a du l ts,
should be explici tly taught about any coas tal foods with
which they are unfami liar, such as coconuts, fres h fis h,
sago, pawpaw and o ther frui ts and vege tab les;
schoo ls,
c linics and women ' s groups could participate in this work
- parents shou l d (as in the rura l environment) be encouraged
to fee d their chi ldren a t leas t three times a day, and to
mix high-energy foods such as coconut cream, dripping,
butter, margarine and peanut but ter with their normal
die ts
- parents and schoo lchi ldren should be w arne d of the dangers
to their tee th from swee t and s ticky foods, and of the poor
nutritional va lue o f many snack foods and drinks;
fres h
221
and packe ted peanuts, boi led eggs and fresh frui ts s hou ld be
promo ted in p l ace of cheesepops, swee t bis cuits and ice-blocks .
S upe rvis ion and treatmen t o f pre - s chool children and pregnant
and lactating women is bes t achieved through the Maternal and Chi ld
Health Clini c sys tem;
it i s the re fore gene rally recommended that :
- every effort s hould be made to extend the geographica l coverage
of MCH c linics, and to increase enro lment and a ttendance where
c linics a lready operate;
an adequate s upp ly of hea l th record
boo k l e ts is an essentia l condi tion for succes s
- c linic s taff shou ld acquaint themse lves a s thoroughly as
possib le with the food resources, die tary pa tterns and food
be liefs and preferences of the loca l populations with w hom
they work, with particular reference to infant and chi l d
fee ding, and prac tice s re lating to fe eding in pregnancy and
lactation .
In the rural envirorur�nt it i s speci fical ly recommended that :
- the loca tion and date on which MCH clinics are he l d shou ld
be be t ter pub licised through the he lp
influentia l members
of the community such as teachers, commi t te e and counci l
memb ers, and church leaders
- an interpre ter from the vi l lage s hould be regularly avai lab le
at e very c linic
- where they do no t a lready exis t, covere d she l ters providing
adequate privacy should be ere c te d
antenatal examinations;
at e very c l inic site for
these s tructures s hould be bui l t
an d maintained by vi l lagers with assis tance from the loca l
council
- c linic s taff sho u ld adop t a more sympathetic approach to the
mothers of underweight children, offering he lp rri ther than
reprimands, and should avoid dis couraging attendance by
reprimanding mo thers who fai l to enro l their childre n as
soon as they are born
222
- c linic s taff shou ld s e t a goo d examp le in their own eating
hahi ts J by no t ea ting snacks of low nutri tiona l value in the
presence of clinic a ttenders
- mobi le nutrition education disp lays shou ld be carried with
the MCH c linic team_, for the intere s t of mothers awaiting
their turn_, and of fa thers and young chi ldren who may be
present.
In the urban environment , i t i s speci fically recommended that :
- the loca tion and times of a l l MCH clinics sho u ld be we l l
pub l icised through se ttlement commi t tees_, churches_, loca l
radio and pub lic no tices
- c linic s taff should take note of the area of origin of migrant
mothers_, and try to ada,pt their advice according ly .
- highland mothers s hould have the causes_, da,ngers and me thods
of prevention of malaria exp lained to them in s imple terms;
the irre levance of frui t consumption to the dis ease shou ld be
s tressed
- c linics shoul d be made as attractive as possib le to mo thers
a:nd chi ldren_, for instance through the provision of p lay
areas and fruit and vegetab le s ta lls .
Rural-urban relation ships
In view of the importance of rural-urban mobi l i ty in maintaining
so cial , cul tural and e conomic links between vil lage and town popul ati on s ,
and in enco uraging the spread of new food habi ts , beliefs and pre ference s ;
and in view o f the inequi tie s which would re sult from any further
segregation o f urban and rural population s , it i s generally recommended
that :
- no measures should be taken to reduce the opportuni tie s for
short- or long- term migration be tween vi l lages and towns .
General c ommen ts
The re commendations l i s te d above are expres sed in ideal terms ,
and because of e conomic c on s traints , cultural factors and l imited
223
manpower , some might b e more easily implemented than o the rs .
There are
many matters o f national policy , s uch as the s tructure and function o f
the e ducational system, import and export policie s , pric e s and income s
pol icie s , and the position of women , which have some bearing on food
and nutrition po l ic y f but which I have not mentioned .
Final l y , I
should point out that such matters , as we ll as mos t o f the recommenda
tions whi ch I have l i s ted , are explicitly or impli c i tly re ferred to in
the National Foo d and Nutrition Policy , drawn up recently by the
National P lanning o ffice ( NPO , 1 9 7 8a ) .
That documen t give s a much
more sub s tan ti al and comprehensive picture of the requirements and
problems than I have attempted to give , and should be consul ted for a
broader view of national policy .
224
GLOSSARY ,
APPENDICES
AND REFERENCES
225
ahus - animal food f meat , fish, e ggs .
aibika - Abe lmoschus man iho t .
Common cultiva te d shrub throughout P . N . G .;
many varie tie s d i ffering in leaf shape , colour e tc .
eaten boi led or fried ;
he lo - midday , n oon ;
Youn g leave s
high i n pro te in .
( from the be l l s i gnal l ing midday break at work ) .
bi l um - ne t bag used to carry babie s , food and o ther i tems .
Made of
l o ca l ly pro ce s sed fibre s , or wool bought from trade s to re s .
binatang - smal l creature , ins e c t .
bun ( o f food) - same connotations as s trong ( q . v . ) ;
e . g . f o r the
highlande rs , swe e t potato has bun .
bun nating - nothing but bone ;
emaciated ;
d:rai (kokonas) - mature coconut;
skin and bone s .
flesh is grated and sque e zed to produce
coconut c re am for oiling other foods ( see grisim ) .
g2-vis
-
grease , o i l , fat ;
also , fertility in soi l ;
' goodne s s ' in foo d .
grisim ( o f food) - t o add grease , o i l , fat t o o ther foods ;
dripping,
coconut cream and pandanus oil are example s o f fats used in thi s way .
kago - cargo , goods ;
e . g . case lo ts of manufactured foods bought for
retail sale in trades to re s .
ken tin - small village tradestore usually owned by one individual
kulau - young green coconut;
its milk is drunk to quench thir s t ;
its
sweet , soft flesh can be e aten.
kumu
-
leafy green vege tables of a l l kinds .
kunai kus - cough , cold, runny no se .
Zain - lineage , kinship group ;
o f varying inclus ivene s s depending on
c on te xt .
Z o li wara - s o ft drink , usually aerate d .
mumu - earth oven , i n which food i s s te ame d over hot s tones .
nambawan
- exce l lent , the best ;
general superl ative term.
pekpek wara - watery s too l s , diarrhoe a .
pi tpi t - a s wel l as e dible plan ts
( hi ghl and p i tpit)
( lowland p i tpit) , inc lude s wild gras ses whose
s tems are used in weaving wal l s , mats , small fences e tc .
1 For s ome terms , re ference has been made to F . Mihal i c ' s " Di c tionary and
Grammar o f Melanes ian P idgin" ( Jacaranda P re s s , 1 97 1 ) ;
o ther terms have
been tran s lated by me to give the spe c i fic sense in whi c h they are used
in this repo r t .
226
poisin - sorc e ry
raun - to roam aroun d , as in raun Zong taun at weekends .
sande , mekim sande - to poo l wages ;
each member o f the pool contributes
a part o f his wages eve ry payday , and e ach receive s the total poo l
i n turn .
singsing - dancing , s ingin g , any fes tival where these activitie s take
pl ace .
sispop - packeted snack products such as chee sepops , twi s tie s , chee seties
.etc .
skon - deep- fried batte re d scone , some time s containing meat , fis h , onions
e tc . , sold in food bars ;
also home-made scones o f plain white flour
mixed with water and frie d in drippin g .
s tesin - government or mi s s i on s tation , o f ten u s e d a s genera l term for
town or c i ty .
s trong , s trongpe la ( of food) - sustaining , powerful , energy-giving ; also
solid , firm , hard .
swit , swi tpe la - tas ty , de licious ;
sweet .
taun-meri - town women, but not Europeans .
ti - tea , c o f fee , mi lo etc .
toktok ( as part of cure for i l lne s s ) - magical rec itation .
tulip - l i t . ' two leave s ' :
leave s ;
a tree , Gne tum gnemon , with paired edible
grows wild in c oas ta l areas .
twrib una - ance s tors , grandparents , great- grandparents .
wan tok - s tric tly , pe rson from s ame l anguage group;
nei ghbour , al l y , compatrio t etc .
loos e l y , friend ,
227
APPENDIX A
TRADESTORES IN AWANDE
There were several kinds of trades tore in Awande in 1 9 7 7 , each
of whi ch wil l be de scribed brie f ly in order to give a general pic ture
of their p lace and function in the lo cal e conomy , and of s tore food
pre fe rence s in the are a .
a . The Namasu s to re { see Plate 3 .;4 ) . Namasu i s the bigge s t national ly
owned trading company in Papua New Guinea , and has branches throughout
the country ;
in Okapa Dis tric t there are bran che s at Okapa , Awande and
Tarabo , about 2 0 kms . from Awande .
The Awande s to re i s in the centre o f
the vi llage , o n the road which leads t o the Gimi a n d Ke i agana. regions
to the s o uth and we s t .
It i s re s to cked regularly from Okapa and Kainantu,
and con tains s everal thousand
kina t s worth o f goods at any one time .
The l evel o f s tocks varie s with as se s sment o f local demand through the
yea r , reaching a peak with the annual c o f fee flush from May to Augus t .
The majority o f s a le s are made t o drive r s and passenge r s o f PMVs and
coffee trucks pas s ing through Awande , but there is a s teady trickle o f
cus tomers arriving o n foo t from Awande and neighbouring area s , and
vil lagers o f ten s top to pas s the time of day within , or in the vi cinity
of , the s to re .
The re is some re sen tment o f its apparent succe s s among
men from the n earby hamlets , and they to ld me that they were intending
to make a submis s ion to the lo cal counci l to have the s to re turned ove r
to vi l l age ownership and management .
At pre s en t Narnasu employs s tore
keepe rs from outside the area ( there were three in succes s ion during
1 9 7 7 } , who are supe rvised by an itinerant expatriate reg ional manage r ;
the company itse l f i s owned and adminis tere d b y the national Lutheran
Church .
Apart from food s , the s tore sells clothe s , material , hardware ,
cleaning materi al s , tobacco and , sometimes , ke rosene ;
re frigerato r .
it has no
S ome food is sold in wholesale lots , s uch as 2 5 kg .
bags of rice , or 4 8- tin cartons o f fish , usual ly for re s al e by one
purchase r in his own smal l tradestore ( see under c . , below) .
P rice s
are higher than in the town s , usually by a facto r o f between 5 and 1 5 % ,
which i s governed
cos ts into acco un t .
by re tail price legislation which take s transport
Aerated s o ft drinks were so ld a t 2 7 toea a bottle ,
5 0 % above the Lae price .
228
Food and dri nk s al e s were recorded for four sample weeks o f the
yea r , through the e fficient and generous co-ope ration o f the various
s torekeepers .
The re sul ts are shown in Table 18 and Figure 8 .
As has
been mentioned , mo s t purchases were made by people from outsi de Awande ,
F if'.TJRE 8 .
RETAIL FOOD AND DRINK SALES AT MAIN AWANDE TRADESTORE
( Percentage of total retai l sales over four sample
weeks .
Data from Table l8 . )
tinned fish
32 . 3%
�=====::J salt
0 . 6%
mi lo , te a , coffee 1 . 6 %
milk 1 . 7 %
rice
20 5 %
cheesepops 2 8 %
3 . 3%
bi scuits
and cake
10 . 4 %
but the resul ts give a general indication o f the nature o f demand for
the various i tems by a wide market which include s Gimi , Ke i agana and Fore
peopl e .
A number o f items were bought as who l e s al e lo ts in the July and
October sample weeks , but none in the other two periods ;
reta i l s ales
were highe s t in the May sample period , when income from cof fee typically
TABLE 18
FOOD AND DRINK SALES AT MAIN AWANDE TRADES TORE :
May 16- 2 1 1 9 7 7
I tem
Retai l
K.
July 1 1- 1 6 1 9 7 7
Retai l Who les ale
K.
K.
SAMPLE WEEKS IN MAY , JULY , OCT , 19 7 7 , JAN/FEB , 1 9 7 8 1
Oc t . 3 - 8 1 9 7 7
Re tai l Who lesale
K.
K.
Jan 2 6 -Feb 1 1 9 7 8
Retai l only 2
K.
Ave rage weekly
Re tai l s ale s
K.
%
-
Tinned fish 3
8 2 . 47
Tinned
48 . 41
Ri ce
79 . 00
Bi s cui ts/cake 5
2 3 . 55
24 . 78
Aerated drinks
2 3 75
Whi te s ugar
Dripping
1 04 . 2 6
1 9 . 20
3 4 . 20
32 10
39 . 68
12 . 55
32 . 40
1 04 . 5 0
2 4 . 00
6 . 50
8 . 80
9 . 99
4 . 86
8 . 16
8 . 80
11 . 12
9 . 84
1 7 . 64
3 2 . 14
63. 27
32 . 3
9 . 59
10 . 26
25 . 83
13. 2
2 8 . 50
2 5 . 20
40 . 1 5
20. 5
6 . 05
2 3 . 89
20 . 25
10 . 4
5 . 30
1 1 . 18
12 . 45
6.4
3 . 06
5 . 61
6 . 41
3. 3
2 28
11 . 27
8. 63
4. 4
1. 80
2 . 04
5. 43
2.8
Chee s epops e tc .
17. 90
Chewing gum
11 . 6 0
6. 20
2 . 07
2 . 75
5 . 65
2.9
Mi lk , tinned/drie d
4 . 27
38
1 . 84
2 . 55
3 . 26
1. 7
Mi lo/tea/coffee
4. 57
10
3 . 59
3 . 07
1. 6
Salt
2 10
1 . 61
1 . 04
1 . 25
0. 6
F lour
*
316 . 90
0. 23
*
40
2 3 8 . 46
201 . 28
9 5 . 69
6 7 . 08
*
131. 52
Data for Jan/Feb 1 9 7 8 collected b y S teve Mi llar , Institute o f Medi cal Re search , Goroka .
2 N o wholes ale s ales in May 19 7 7 o r Jan/Feb 1 9 7 8 sample weeks .
3 Mostly mackere l , some s ardine s .
4 Mos tly corned meat loaf.
5 Mos tly packe ted bis cuits , some tinne d cake .
* Out of s tock .
195 . 6 5 1 00 . 1
N
N
\.0
230
c limbs sharply 1 , but the data are not continuous enough to reveal a
c lear trend
wi th the pas sage o f the c offee season .
Tinned fi s h ,
tinned meat and rice were the mos t popular items o f foo d and drin k ,
accounting f o r over 5 0 % o f re tail sal e s in e ach s ample period .
Interruptions in the supply o f c e rtain i tems , such as cheesepop s , led
to ma jo r variation s in their sales in di fferent periods .
b . The Voc ational S choo l s to re .
S ituated about 1 0 0 m. up the road from
the Namasu s to re i s a sma l l s to re owned and run by the Awande Boys
Vocational S ch oo l .
The s to re i s intended bo th a s a source o f income for
the s choo l , whi c h is supposed by government policy to be economic ally
sel f- sufficient 2 , and as a p ractic al means of ins truc ting pup i l s in the
me thods o f s to rekeeping .
S tocks are purchased from wholesale merchants
in Goroka and cover a much smal ler range of items than are carried in the
Namasu s to re .
Where the s ame items are c arried , pric e s are s imilar in
both s to re s , but the manager of the Vocational School tends to carry
sl ightly di fferent l ine s where pos s ibl e ;
thus , tinned orange j ui ce ,
packeted salte d peanuts , and tinned curried rabb i t were popular i tems ,
unobtainable from Namasu but usually available at the schoo l s tore in
1977 .
Mo s t s ales were to people from Awande , and the b e s t- se l l ing i tems
o f food and drink were the same as tho s e from Namas u , viz . tinned meat
and fish , ri ce and biscui ts
A rec ord of dai l y sal e s i s kept by the
school , but because the s tore ' s s tock was gradua l ly bui l t up through
the year , and the s to re was c lo se d during school hol i day s , seasonal
variation in s a le s did no t bear a close relationship to the co f fee s eason .
We.ekly s al e s from February to October 1 9 7 7 varied from K2 5 . 82 to K22 8 . 2 6 ,
wi th an average o f K 9 2 . 2 6 .
Mos t o f the K 3 3 00 spent at the s tore over
this period was spen t by villagers from Awande i ts el f .
c . Individua l ly owned trades to re s .
A s wel l a s the two permanent and
re lative ly well s to cked s to re s j us t des c ribed, there is in Awande a
number of small trade s tore s owned and run by individual villagers , or
l see Howle tt e t al . ( 1 9 7 6 , p . 2 31 ) for figure s on the
co ffee production in the Chimbu region .
2 Thi s directive has also led the school to engage in
s trawberry and cabbage cultivation , and the rearing
which are profi table but not particularly sui ted to
annual cyc l e of
a ctiviti e s such a s
o f day o l d cockere l s ,
local needs .
231
partnership s .
Such s tore s , or kentin as they are often c al led , are
bui l t o f bush material s , and are hence vulnerable to theft and pe sts .
They are s tocked when money is available ;
whether or not the s to ck i s
replen i s he d depends o n the succe s s o r o therwis e o f the venture , and
the subsequent aims of the owner .
Be fore a s tore can legal l y be ope rated ,
a " li cence to trade with nati ve s " { as the wording s till has it) mus t be
obtained from the local council for a fee o f K 6 . 00 , renewable annually.
Pri c e control s are generally i gnored , and high pro fi t margins are set .
In practic e , the u s e o f s tore goods for the owner s ' own famil ie s and
friends , together with lo s s through the ft and pe s ts markedly reduce the
actual prof i ts made .
In May 1 9 7 7 there were only two indiv idually owned trade s tore s
operating in Awande , both o f them on the main road wi thin a kilometre o f
the Namasu and Vocational S choo l s tore s .
By the end of July four more
had opene d , two o f them on the roadside , the other two in hamle ts away
from the road , and three more were under cons truction .
A brief survey
at that time provided the following information :
were operating earlier in the year were
self- financing , with extra capital provided by thei r owners '
co ffee sale s . Another s tore was s to cked with goods s en t from
Lae by a younger man employed there as a barman ;
the s tore
was run by hi s father and brothers . Another s tore was owned
by the lo cal ly employed c arpen ter , and hi s brother .
A fifth
s to re was opened by a young man re cently re turned from working
in Lae , and the sixth by a pupil at the Vocational S choo l . O f
the three s tores s ti l l under construction , two were being bui lt
by men with labouring j ob s in Awande ( as roadman and school
groundsman re spective ly) , and one by a man who had worked part
time on a l abouring j ob for some week s previousl y .
s tores contained a s imi lar range o f goods , some
purchased from the local Namasu s to re in wholesal e lots , o thers
from further afie l d .
'l'he mo s t common items were ric e , sugar ,
c igarette s ,
tinned fi s h , t inne d meat , biscu i ts ,
tobacco , ke ro sene and wool ( for making
Tota l reta i l
value o f the s to ck ranged from K 4 6 i n the schoolboy ' s s tore ,
to K2 3 0 in the bigge s t s to re , which had be.en running since
S eptember 1 9 7 6 . Prices varied from s to re to s to re , and from
time to time , with a mark-up on the usua l Namas u re tail price s
o f be tween 10 and 1 0 0 per cen t . For example , a t in of f i sh
cos ting 40 toea at Namasu and 4 5 t . at the Vocational S choo l
w a s p r i c e d at 5 0 t . i n five small trade s tore s , and 5 5 t . in the
o the r .
Chee sepops were s o ld for l O t . at the Vocational S chool ,
1 2 t . at Namasu, 1 5t . in three small s tore s , and 2 0t . in two
s to re s .
At the l atter price , chee s epops were retail ing for
three t imes the wholes a le pric e paid by the s to rekeeper .
232
From the point o f view o f their owners , the s e smal l trades tore s
provide a means by which income e arned in o ther ways can , they believe ,
be inve sted profitably .
H owever , the degree o f competition i s high ,
and the leve l o f en trepreneuria l skil l s is low , with the re sult that
few of the smal l s to re s can survive for long .
The fac t that o ther
vil lagers , with low cash incomes , are willing to buy i tems from the
s� ; ll trade s to re s at all , at prices whi ch they know are far higher than
those in the b igger s to re s , indicate s that economic rational i ty i s not
their prime concern and that o ther factors are operating .
advan tages in u s ing the smaller s tore s can be sugge s ted :
Three
they are
o ften more convenient in location and opening times ( us ually they wi ll
be opened on reques t) than the larger s to re s ;
it i s easier , e speciall y
for t he uneducated , t o buy items from a fe llow vill ager than from an
outsider { this advantage i s shared by the Vocational S c hool s tore ) ;
and it is reasonable to expect that the s tore s owner will sometimes
use his goods as gi fts within the lo cal community , and contribute s to re
foods to communal mea ls .
2 33
APPENDIX B
A survey o f food prices in Lae was carried out on 1 2 th October
1 9 7 7 by 4 th year chemica l technology s tudents from the Universi ty of
Technology at Lae , under the supervis ion of the Area Nutrition i s t ,
Marian cas t .
I a m grate ful t o them f o r supplying m e with a copy o f
the survey re s u l ts , which I analyse brie fly i n this appendix .
Thirty-four s tores in four areas o f town were visi te d , and the
pri ce s o f a varie ty o f items were re corded in every s to re where they
were availab le ;
in addition , sample s of fresh foods were weighed and
pri ced at the main Lae market .
In mos t cases , pri c e s were recorded for
the same size o f container , package , e tc . , so that it is not pos s ible
to c alculate whe ther money might be saved by buying in larger o r smaller
Ther e was considerable variation in the pric e s o f the s ame item
bought at di ffe rent s tore s , but l it tl e c ons i s tency in which s tore s
of fered the lowe s t pric e s for the same items .
As would be expected,
the smal l trade s tore s tended to sell at higher pric e s than the maj o r
supermarket s
In Table 1 9 , the re su l ts a re e xpre s s e d i n terms o f the
average cos t o f l OOg o f the food ;
food ;
the cos t per MJ o f energy from that
The re sults for the twenty
and the cos t per gram of protein .
cheape s t source s o f energy and prote in re spectively are shown in the
upper and lower bar charts in Figure 9 .
E nergy and pro te in costs were
c alculated using WHO W es tern Paci fic Food Compos it ion Table s (WHO , 1 9 7 2 ),
which a l so include f igure s for the e dible portion as a perc en tage o f
the portion a s purcha se d .
This correction for wastage is importan t in
the case of mos t fre sh vegetable s .
In interpreting the figures for the c o s ts of energy from
di f fe rent source s , it is e s sen tial to b ear in mind that some of the
c heapes t source s a re very low in pro tein , and some are very bulky;
both
qualitie s reduce their value as s taple foods ( see Chapter 1 3 ) .
For the se reason s , white rice , with 6 . 7 % of its energy derive d from
protein (WHO , 1 9 7 2 )
crop s .
is a more nutri tious s taple than the s tarchy root
Dripping and sugar a re cheap source s of energy but supply no
o ther nutrients in sign i fican t quantitie s .
2 34
TABLE 1 9
AVERAGE COSTS , AND RELATIVE COSTS OF ENE RGY AND P ROTEIN CONTENTS ,
OF MAJOR FOOD I TEMS IN LAE S TORES AND MARKETS
I tem
A . S tore i tems
White rice
White bre ad
White sugar
Full- fat milk powder
Evaporated mi lk
Dried pe as
Dried beans
Fre sh eggs
Boi led e ggs
Peanut
Margarine
Butter
Tinned corned bee f
Tinned mackerel
Peanuts (pkt ) 6
Cost per
lOOg . o f
food A . P.
( toea)
4. 2
s 3
4. 6
19 . 7
8 0
10 . 9
12 3
23.0
33 3
23. 2
16 . 2
16 . 0
16 . 8
15 . 8
23 8
8.9
16 9
E.P
as % o f
A.P .
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
89
89
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
B. Market items
82
82
Cas sava
Eng l i sh
banana
71
91
69
68
66
Energy
p e r l O O g.
E.P.
(MJ)
1. so
1 . 06
1 . 62
2 . 12
0.57
1 . 42
1 . 41
0 . 68
0 . 68
2 37
3 . 01
2 99
3 . 73
1 . 10
0 . 94
2 28
Cost per
M..T o f
energy
( toea )
2 . 80
5 . 00
2 . 84
9 29
14. 04
7 . 68
8 . 72
3 8 . 00
5 S . 02
9 . 79
5 . 38
S . 3S
4.SO
1 4 . 36
2 S 32
6 . 79
41
OCTOBER 1 9 7 7 . 1 , 2
P rotein
Cos t per
per lOOg. gram of
protein
E.P.
(g. )
( toea)
6. 7
6. 7
26. 0
7. 0
2 3. 8
23.1
12 . 4
12 . 4
26. 2
0. 6
o . 76
1 . 14
0 . 46
0 . 53
2 . 08
3 . 02
0 . 89
2 7 . 00
26. 67
16. 0
18. 6
22.
25.6
0 . 99
28
0 . 40
0 . 66
o.
3 . 05
lS
2 . 70
03
S4
66
51
97
99
10. 07
so
0 . 63
o . 79
2.4
2
1. 2
1 . 77
.o
25.6
s 0
2.4
6
1. 3
Pacif i c Regional O f f i c e Food
except where indicated . A . P . = As
portion .
Purchased .
o f Australian Foods ( Thomas & Corden , 1 9 7 0 )
3 . Tables o f
4 0 Tables o f Foods in Tropical Countries ( P l att , 1 9 62 ) .
5 . Taken as bee f , f re sh , from P latt , ( 1962 ) .
6 Thomas & Corden ( 19 70 ) .
7 . s eparate compos i ti on data for Xanthosoma not available ; taken as
-
Co loeas ia .
235
F IGURE 9 .
COMPARATIVE COSTS OF ENERGY AND P ROTEIN FROM VARIOUS
FOODS ,
A.
LAE , OCTOBER 1 9 7 7 .
( Data from Tab le
.)
ENERGY
rice
Cooking banana
(packet )
Dried peas
f!'.B��Bf8:8��0:::
·Dried beans
ull-fat mi lk powder
anut butter
Fresh peanuts
i;;.;:.;;:;.:;.:.;:;;;;.;;;:;.:;.:.;:;��.;;;�;;..;;;.;'*'�;.;.;..;.;.;;.;.;.;.;.��
5
10
Cost per MJ
B.
Pumpkin
( toe a )
PROTEIN
mackerel
White rice
S al t ed peanuts
(packet )
Full-fat milk powder
Peanut butter
Chine s e taro
Pumpk in
Evaporated milk
beef
banana
Fresh eggs
1.0
Co st per gram ( toea )
2.0
2 36
Fourteen o f the twenty cheapes t pro tein sourc e s are vegetable
However the protein quality has not been taken into ac count
products .
in the se c al cu lation s ;
dependence on a single plan t protein source i s
nutritional ly unwise , but a complementary combination o f plan t pro tein
sources c an be of equa l bio logical value to a s ingle animal prote in
source .
Dark green l eave s , although they may contain up to 5 % pro tein ,
dv no t provide much energy , and could the re fore not form a l arge
proportion of the die t .
Tinned fi s h , dried puls es , rice and bread ,
pe anuts and milk powder are al l goo d , re l ative ly cheap prote in sourc e s
( skim mi lk powder was not inc l uded i n th e surve y , but would be c heaper
than ful l - fat milk powder as well as being richer in protein ) .
Minc e d
bee f wa s the onl y fre sh meat included in the surve y , a n d provide s pro tein
at a co s t of 0 . 99 toea per gram;
data from the December 1 9 7 7 Con sumer
P rice Index ( Bureau of S tatisti c s , l 9 7 8 c }
gives the price of frozen
chicken in Lae as K 2 . 2 8/kg . , which works out at 1 8 5 toea per gram o f
prote in
Eggs are an expensive source of pro tein , but the l a tter is o f
very high quality .
A comparable food price survey wa s carried out in Port Moresby
in Oc tober 1 9 74 ( M . Lamber t , 1 9 74 )
the c o s t of
and the re sults used to c al culate
" the cheape s t balanced die t in Port Moresby ,
suff i c i ent
to sati s fy an adul t ' s dai l y requirements for energy , growth and
foods " .
This diet , i ts 1 9 74 cos t in Port More sby , and its
equivalent cos t in Lae in 1 9 77 were as follows ( no te that the n ew toea
was exactly equivalen t to the o l d cent at the changeover in currency
units) :
Moresby 1 974
Cas s ava
Dripping
Tinned fi sh
Pumpkin
Swee t banana
1400
50
110
150
300
g
g
g
g
g
1 4 . 89
6 . 09
8 . 79
2 . 69
4 . 99
12 . 6t
8 . 4t
9 . 8t
l . 5t
6 . 0t
3 7 . 09
38. 3t
An alternative diet would have cos t th e following :
Rice
Margarine
Tinned Fish
Green leave s
Swee t banana
450
50
1 10
120
300
g
g
g
g
g
1 7 . 49
7 . 29
8 . 79
3 . 29
4 . 99
18 . 9t
8 . lt
9 . 8t
2 . 0t
6 . 0t
4 1 . 49
44 . 8t
2 37
The report on the Port Moresby survey calculated the cost o f
feeding a family o f two adu l ts and four children at six time s the c o s t
o f fee ding a s ingle man , and thus arrived at the figure o f j us t over
$15 for the weekly co s t of providing a well-balanced diet for the whole
For Lae in 1 9 7 7 , the equivalent figure for the first diet
fami ly .
l i s te d above would have been K16 . 09 , and for the second Kl8 . 82
Many
sub s ti tutions could o f cour s e be made in the diets suggeste d , to provide
varie ty without sacrificing nutritional quality or inc rea s ing the cost
markedly .
At the time of the Port Moresby survey , the urban minimum
wage was $4 0 per fortnigh t .
At the time o f the Lae survey the urban
minimum wage was K5 8 . 12 , a rise of 4 7 % .
Over the same period, the
con sumer price index for food ros e 1 5 % in Lae
and 1 6% in Port Moresby ,
and the ove rall CPI ros e by 2 3% in Lae , and 2 5 % in Port More sby .
Thus ,
in 1 9 7 7 the urban wage - e arne r was cons iderably better off in real terms
1 9 74
than he was
The re sults p re sente d here re fer to one town
on a s in gle
application to other
be mis l eading ,
P apua New Guinea ,
a t other
as regards fre sh
the market a re
cheaper
in Port
f rom thi s
1 9 7 7 Consumer P r i ce Index ( Bureau o f S tatistic s
the
op . c i t . ) ) .
2 38
REFERENCES
Alpers , M . P . , Ga j dusek , D . C . and Ono , S . G . , 1 9 7 5 .
B ibliography of Kuru .
National I n s ti tutes o f Health , Be the sda .
Bailey , K . V . , 1 96 3 .
Nutrition in New Guinea .
Fd . Nutr . Notes Rev . ,
20 : 8 9 - 1 1 5 .
Bayli ss -Smi th , T . P . and Feachem , R . G .
(Editor s ) , 1 9 7 7 .
S urvival : Rural E cology in the Pac i fi c .
Becroft , T . C . , 1 96 7a .
S ubsi s tence and
Academic P re s s , London .
Child-rearing prac tic e s in the highlands o f New
Guinea : a longi tudinal s tudy of breas tfeeding.
Med . J . Aus tralia ,
2 : 5 98-6 0 1 .
Becroft , T . C . , 196 7b .
Chi l d- rearing practices in the highlands of New
Guinea : general feature s .
Bell , c . o . , 1 9 7 3 .
Med . J . Austral i a , 2 : 8 1 0- 8 1 3 .
The Diseases and Health S e rvic e s o f P apua New Guinea .
Department of Public Health , Port Moresby .
Belshaw , C . S . , 1 95 7 .
The Grea t Vil lage : the e c onomic and social we l fa re
o f Hanuabada , an urban c ommuni ty in Papua .
Routledge and Kegan Paul
London .
B erndt , R.
, 1 962 .
Exce s s and Re straint
Guinea mountain people .
Biddulph , J . , 1 97 3 .
Social control among a New
Uni v . of Chicago P re s s , Chic ago .
Diarrhoeal disease in young children .
In
C. O.
Bell ( Editor) , The Disease s and Heal th S e rvices o f Papua New Guinea .
Department of Pub lic Health , Port More sby , pp . 1 9 1 - 1 9 5 .
B inn s , C . W .
1 9 76a .
Foo d , s ickne ss and death in chi l dren of the high
lands of Papua New Guinea .
Binns
c.w. ,
1 9 76b .
Environmental Chi ld Heal th , 22
Food volume , a limiting fac tor in nutrient intake
in the Papua New Guinea highlands .
(Edi tors )
: 2-11 .
In : K . Wil son and R . M . B ourke
1 9 75 PNG Food Crops Con ference P roceedi ngs .
Department
o f Primary Indus try, P ort More sby , pp . 45 - 52 .
B inn s , c . w . , 1 9 76 c
Palm oil
intervention programme .
a pilo t study of i ts use in a nutrition
P roc . XI Vth Annual Sympos ium of the Papua
New Guinea Medical Society .
Bureau o f S ta ti s ti c s , 1 9 76 .
S tati s ti c s 1 9 7 3 / 74 .
P apua New Guinea I n te rnational Trade
Bureau of S ta ti s ti c s , Port Moresby .
B ureau of S tati s tic s , 1 97 7 .
Papua New Guinea Household Expenditure
S urvey 1 9 7 5/76 , Bulletin No . l : P re liminary Results for Port More sby .
Bureau o f S ta ti s ti c s , Port Moresby .
Bureau of S tatis tics , 1 97 8a .
Re cent urban population e s timate s , 1 9 76- 1 9 78 .
PNG S ta ti stical Bulletin , 2 8 th April 19 7 8 , Port More sby .
239
Bureau o f S tatisti cs , 1 9 7 8b .
Papua New Guinea Household Expenditure
S urvey 19 7 5 / 76 , Bulle tin No . 2 : P re l iminary Results for Lae .
Bureau of S tatis tic s , P ort Moresby .
Bure au of S ta ti s ti cs , 1 9 7 8c .
1977 .
Consumer price index , December quarter
P NG S tati s tical Bulletin , 1 7 th February 1 9 7 8 , Port More sby .
Clarke , W . C . , 1 9 7 3 .
The dilemma o f deve lopment .
( E di tor) , The Pacific in Transition .
In : H . Brookfield
Aus tralian National University
P re s s , Canberr a , pp . 2 75 - 2 98 .
C l arke , w . c . , 1 9 7 7 .
The s tructure of permanence : The re levance o f
s e l f- s ubsi s tence commun i ties f o r world e cosystem management .
In
T . P . Baylis s-Smith and R . G . Feachem (Edito rs ) , S ubsistence and Survival :
Rura l Ecology in the �acific . Academic Pre s s , London .
Corden , M. W . and Thomas , S . , 1 9 70 .
Aus tralian Foods .
pp . 3 63- 384 .
Table s of Composition o f
Australian Govt . Publishing S e rvic e s , Canberra .
Departmen t o f Public Heal th , 1 975 .
Nutrition for Papua New Guinea .
Nutrition S ection , Department o f Pub l i c Health , Port Moresby . 18 7pp .
Dubos , R . , 195 9 .
The Mirage o f Health .
Harper and B ro the r s , New York .
Ferro-Luzzi , A . , Norgan , N . G . and Durnin , J . V . G . A. , 1 9 7 5 .
Food intake ,
i ts re la tionship to body weight and age , and i ts apparent adequacy
in New Guinean chi ldren .
Garnaut , R . , 1 9 72 .
Am. J . Clin . Nutr . , 28 : 1 4 4 3 - 1 45 3 .
Problems o f ine quality .
Glas se , R . M . , 1 962 .
New Guine a ,
7 : 52-63 .
S outh Fore soc i e ty , a preliminary report .
Mime o ,
Department o f Public Health , Port More sby . 18pp .
Glass e , R . M . , 1 96 9 .
Marriage in S outh Fore .
In : R . M . Gla s s e and M . J .
Meggi tt (Editors ) , P igs , Pearlshe l l s and Women : Marriage in the
New Guinea Highlands .
Gl asse , s . , 1 9 6 2 .
P renti ce-Hal l , New Jersey , pp . 16- 3 7 .
The social e ffects o f kuru .
Publi c Heal th , Port Moresby .
Glasse , S . , 1 96 3 .
Mime o , Department o f
2 2pp .
The social l i fe of women in the S outh Fore .
Department o f Public Health , Port More sby .
Hami l ton , L . , 1 95 5 .
vil lage dietary .
Hepworth , H . , 1 9 7 6 .
Mimeo ,
1 3pp .
Indigenous versus introduced vege tab l e s in the
P apua New Guinea Agricultural Journal , 10 : 54- 5 7 .
The p re sent s tate o f the food proce s s ing industry
in Papua New Guinea .
In : 1 97 5 Papua New Guinea Food Crops Conference
P roceedings , Department of Primary Industry , Port More sby , pp . 33 3- 33 7 .
H ip s l e y , E . H . , 1 964 a .
Importance of die tary fat and frequency of fee ding
in the weaning period .
Fd . Nutr . Notes Rev . , 2 1 : 5 7- 68 .
240
Hips ley , E . H . , 1 964b .
Food i n re l ation t o o ther needs o f man - the
example of New Guinea .
Hips ley , E . H .
1 96 9 .
Fd . Nutr . Note s Re v . , 22 : 9 1 -1 0 1 .
Metabolic S tudie s in New Guineans
Oxygen uptake
and carbon dioxide excre tion during fas ting-re s ting and exercising
condition s .
S outh Pacific Commis s ion Tec h . P aper No . 162
H ip s le y , E . H , 197 3 .
Noume a .
The nutri tional s tate o f the population o f Papua
In : c . o . Bell (Edito r ) , The Diseases and Health
New Guinea - 1 .
S e rvi c e s of P apua New Guinea .
Department of Public Heal th , Port
More sby , pp . 8 7 - 9 5 .
Hips ley , E . H . , 1 9 76
Con ce rning the adaptation o f P apua New Guineans
to low protein die ts .
Fd
Nutr . Note s Rev . ,
H ipsley , E . H . and Clements , F . W . ,
(Edi to rs ) , 1 95 0 .
Guin e a Nutrition S urvey Expedi tion 194 7 .
Te rri to ri e s
33
3 7- 4 3 .
Report
the New
Dept . o f E xternal
Canb erra .
E
N.S
1 96 5 .
S tudies o f
Expenditure o f
Commi s sion
Canberra .
E
di sease .
( Edito r )
Howle tt , D .
1 9 76
E s s ay s on
H i de ,
Mon og . No . 4 .
Je l l i f fe
pp . 5 3- 82
H . and Kaman ,
Devel opment S tudies Centre
Australian National Unive rsi ty , Canberra .
THe Assessment o f th e Nutritional S tatus o f the
World Health Organ i s ation Monog . S e r . 5 3 , Geneva .
Lambert , J . , 1 9 75 a .
195 6 - 1 9 75 .
Arba ,
i s sues in deve lopment .
D . B . , 1 96 6
Commun i ty .
In
Clas se y Ltd .
and
Chimbu
Classey
Trends in foo d consumption patte rn s in Chimbu
Mimeo , Department of Public Hea l th , P ort Moresby .
Lamb e rt , J . 1 9 7 5b .
A Study o f Nutritional S tatus and E conomic De ve lop
ment in the Chimbu Dis trict , P apua New Guinea from 1 9 5 6 to 1 9 7 5 .
M . S c . The s i s , Univ. of London ( Unpublished) .
Lambert , M . , 1 9 74 .
Food Price s S urve y . Nutri tion S e ction , Department
of Pub l i c Heal th , P ort Moresby , 5pp .
Lee , D . , 1 95 7 .
5 : 1 6 6- 1 70 .
cultural factors in dietary cho ice .
Am.
J . Clin . Nutr . ,
241
Lindenbaum , S . 1 1 9 76 .
E s s ays o n Kuru .
Lucas , J .
Kuru sor ce ry .
E .W . Clas sey Ltd . , Faringdon , pp . 2 8- 3 7 .
Lae
1972
In : R . W . Hornabrook {Edi to r )
O ceania , 4 2
a town in tran s ition .
2 60- 2 75 .
Growth and development o f the Bundi child o f
Ma lcolm , L . A. , 1 9 7 0 a .
the New Guinea highlands .
Malco lm , L . A . , 1 9 70b .
Hum. Biol . , 4 2 : 2 9 3- 32 8 .
Growth , malnutrition , and mortality o f the infant
and toddle r in the Asai valley of the New Guinea highlands .
1 090-95 .
Clin . Nutr . , 2 8
Mal co lm , L . A . , 1 9 7 3 .
urban Lae .
Ma lcolm, L . A.
Nee d and demand for hea l th and medical care in
Papua New Guinea Medi cal Journal , 1 6
1974
1 5 7 - 16 7 .
E co logical factors influencing growth and
nutritional s tatus o f the pre-school child .
Medical Journal , 1 7
Melane sian Counci l
Am. J .
Papau New Guinea
1 9 1- 195 .
Liklik Buk :
Churches ,
A rural development
P re s s
Geographical
P ro ceedings o f
Geographical Society , P almerston
Conference
pp . 1 45 - 1 5 1 .
National P l anning O ffice
1 9 78 a .
P apua
A Food and Nutrition Policy
New Guinea ( Report and re commendation s of a working group ) .
P lanning Office , Port Moresby .
Nationa l P lanning O ffice , 1 9 78b .
National Nutrition S urve y .
National P l anning O f fi ce , Port More sby .
National P l anning O f fi c e , 1 9 78 c .
the current s i tuation .
Port Mo re sby .
Mimeo
8pp .
Nutrition policy in Papua New Guinea ,
National P lanning O ffice background paper ,
1 5pp .
Norgan , N . G . , Ferro-Luzzi , A . and Durnin , J . V . G . A . , 1 9 74 .
The energy
and nutrie n t intake and the energy expenditure o f 2 0 4 New Guinean
adults .
Phil . Tran s . R. S oc . Lond .
B , 2 68 :
3 0 9- 3 48 .
242
Oe ser , L . , 1 96 9 .
Hohola : the signi ficance o f socia l networks i n urban
New Guinea Re se arch Bull e tin No . 2 9 , P ort
adaptation of women .
Moresby and Canberra .
Oomen , H . A. P . C . , 1 9 71 .
E cology o f Human Nutrition in New Guinea .
E co l . Food Nutr . , 1 : 1 -1 6 .
Oomen , H . A . P . C . an d Corden , M . W . , 1 9 70 .
Metabo l i c S tudi e s i n New
Guinean s : Ni trogen metabolism in swe e t pota to e aters .
S ou th
Paci fic Commis s ion Tech . Pape r No . 1 6 3 , Noumea .
Oomen , H . A. P . C . and Malcolm, s . , 1 95 8 .
Nutrition and the Papuan Chil d .
S outh Paci fi c Commis s ion Tech . Paper No . 118 , Noume a .
P l att, B . S . , 1 96 2 .
Tables o f repre sentative values o f foods commonly
used in tropical countries .
S e rie s No . 2 5 3 .
Me d . Res . Coun c i l Special Report
HMSO , London .
Rappaport , R. W . , 1 96 8 .
P igs for the Anc e s tors .
Yale University Pre s s ,
New Haven .
Rawlinson , R.
19 7 7 .
Nutrition c oncepts amongst uneducated Highland
women and Papua New Guinean health workers .
P sy cho logical S e rvices
Report P ape rs No . 2 1 8 , Department o f Public S e rvi ce s Commis sion ,
Goroka .
Re i d , L . H . , 1 9 5 8 .
i n 1 9 5 7 - 1 95 8 .
Li s t o f Fore dietary i tems
coll e c te d and compile d
Mime o , Nationa l Ins titutes o f Health , B e the sda .
Reid , L . H . and Gaj dusek , D . C . , 196 9 .
Nutrition in the Kuru Re gion 2 .
A nutri tional evaluation o f traditional Fore die t in Moke vill age
in 195 7 .
Acta Trop i c a , 2 6
S alisbury , R . F . , 1 96 2 .
3 31 - 345 .
From S tone to S te e l
a technological change i n N e w Guine a .
economic consequence s o f
Me lbourne Univ . P re s s ,
Melbourne .
S cott, G . K . , 1 96 3 .
The dialec ts o f Fore .
Oceai.i ia , 3 3 : 2 8 0- 2 86 .
S c rimshaw , N . S . , Guzman , M . A . , Flore s , M. and Gordon , J . E . , 1 968 .
Nutrition and infe c tion fie ld s tudy in Guatemalan vil l age s , 1 9 5 91964 , v
Disease inc i dence among p re - s chool chil dren .
Arch . environ�
Heal th , 16 : 2 2 3- 2 3 4 .
S crimshaw , N . S . , Taylor , C . E . and Gordon , J . E . , 1 968 .
Interactions o f
Nutrition and I n fe c tion . World Health Organis ation Monog . S e r . 5 7 ,
Geneva .
S inne tt , P . F . , 1 97 3 .
Nutrition and age- re l ated changes in the body build
o f adults : S tudie s in a New Guinea highl and commun i ty .
O ce ani a , 2
: 5 0- 62 .
Hum. Biol .
243
S inne tt, P . F . r 19 7 7 .
Nutritional adaptation among the Enga .
In :
T . P . Bayl i s s-Smith and R . G . Feachem ( Editors ) , Subsi s tence and
S urvival : Rural E co logy in the Paci fi c .
Academic P re s s , London ,
pp . 63 -90 .
S inne t t , P . F . and Buck , L . , 1 9 7 4 0
Coronary heart disease in Papua New
Papua New Guinea Me di c al Journal ,
Guinea : pre sent and future .
17 : 242-47 .
S innet t , P . F . and S o lomon , A . , 1968 .
highland population .
S o rensen , E . R. , 1 9 76 .
Physical fitne s s in a New Guinea
Papua New Guinea Medical Journal , 11 : 56-60 .
The Edge of the Fore s t .
Land, Childhood and
change in a New Guinea protoagricu l tural society .
Smithsonian
I n s t i tute P re s s , Washington D . C .
Soren sen , E . R. and Gaj dusek , D . C . , 196 9 .
Nutrition in the Kuru Region l .
Gardenin g , food handling and die t o f the Fore peop le .
Acta Tropic a ,
2 6 : 2 8 1 - 32 9 .
Spink s , G . R. , 1 9 6 3 .
A pilot survey o f food consumption and expenditure
patte rn s - two settlements in Port More sby .
P apua New Guinea
Agricultural Journal , 16 : 2 1- 36 .
S trathe rn , M . , 1 9 75 .
Moresby .
No Money on Our Skins : Hagen migrants in Port
New Guinea Re search Bulle tin No . 6 1 , Port Moresby and
Canberra .
Venkatachalam , P . S . , 1962 .
A s tudy o f the diet , nutrition and health
o f the people o f the Chimbu are a .
Department o f Pub l i c Health ,
Monograph No . 4 , Port More sby .
Vine s , A . P . , 1 97 0 .
An epidemio logical sample survey o f the highlands ,
mainland and i s l ands region s o f the Territo ry o f P apua New Guinea .
Department o f Pub l i c Health , P ort More sby .
Wadde l l , E . , 1 9 72 .
The Mound Builders .
Univ . of Washington Pre ss ,
Seattle .
Wate r low , J . C . , 1 9 7 5 .
Nutrition and in fe ction .
B r i ti sh Nutr . Foundation
Bull . , 3 : 98-.
Whiteman , J . , 1965 .
Cus toms and belie fs re l ating to food , nutrition and
hea l th in the Chimbu area .
Whi teman , J . , 1 96 6 .
Trop . geogr . Med . , 1 7 : 3 0 1- 3 16 .
A s tudy of beliefs and atti tude s towards food in a
New Guinea low- co s t housing se ttlement .
Trop . geog r . Med . ,
18
1 5 7,,.,166 .
Wookey , S . J . , 1 9 7 3a .
New Guinea - 2 .
The nutritional s tate o f the population o f Papua
In : c . o . B e l l (Edito r ) , The Disea s e s and Health
S e rvi ce s o f P apua New Guinea .
Department o f Public Health , Port
244
Moresby , pp . 96 - 1 3 0 .
Wookey , S . J . 1 19 73b .
Urbanization
nutrition .
In :
C . O . Bell
The Diseases and Heal th S e rvices o f P apua New Guinea .
( Edi to r ) ,
Department
of Public Health , Port Moresby , pp . 4 10 - 4 1 5 .
World Health Organization , 196 5 .
Prote in requirements .
WHO Tec hnical
Report S erie s No . 301 , Geneva .
h orld Health Organ i s ation , 1 9 72 .
Nutri tion .
The H eal th Aspects o f Food and
WHO Wes tern Pacifi c Re gional O f fi ce , Man il a .
World Heal th O rgan i sation , 1 9 7 3 .
Energy and protein requirements .
Te chnic al Report S erie s No . 5 2 2 , Geneva .
WHO

A study of rural and urban food habits in Papua

Transcription

Similar documents

Sandwiches

Shopping Smart for Healthy Eating on a Budget

Nicole Moneer

Putting the Kibosh on the Infamous Tummy Bloat

Kretschmar Premium Boneless Bavarian Ham For

The ins and outs of selling to retail chains

The power of raw foods to heal

Functional Foods - Hammerstedt, Amy E.

Top 10 Tips: Improve everyday nutrition

Whole Foods Market FAQs for Suppliers and Service Providers