Indigenous Food Plants

In any location, there will be some indigenous food plants. These are edible plants native to and characteristic of a region or country. Closely related are traditional foods, defined in an article in Ground Up magazine as “plants that formed the pre-colonial diet.” In Africa, such plants include sorghum, millet and cowpea.

Indigenous food plants can be an extremely important part of the local diet, for a number of reasons:

• Indigenous food plants tend to be very nutritious, often more nutritious than some introduced (and perhaps more popular) plants.
• Indigenous crops are well-adapted to the regions where they originate. They often are free of pests and diseases, and are able to grow in extremely difficult conditions (in very dry areas or in very acidic or alkaline soil, for example). Sometimes they have even come to be considered weeds!
• The diversity provided by eating indigenous vegetables contributes to food security. Rather than relying on one food crop, a wide range of food plants are eaten and enjoyed. If one fails to grow and produce, others can be eaten instead.

People in a given area likely have some history of eating indigenous plants, though in many places such knowledge is rapidly being lost. One reason is a widespread impression, especially among younger people, that traditional varieties are ‘primitive’ or ‘old,’ and that farming is a disgraceful vocation.