South Sudanese traditional diets feature plenty of Vegetarian meal options
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Loading... - Christian Manu
- 28 Sep 2022
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What comes to mind when you hear the word vegetarian or vegan? Probably most may say vegetables and I agree with you because it’s not far from the answer. Vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian diets all involve eating more vegetables and less meat and poultry. Pescatarian diets include seafood, while vegan diets exclude all animal-derived products, including dairy and eggs. Vegetables are parts of plants consumed by human beings or other animals as food. These may include flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, roots, and seeds. In today’s world, vegetarianism has been a mainstay of many indigenous cultures around the world. The Western world has just started embracing vegetarianism due to health benefits and concern about the environment . In this article we will describe how the South Sudanese traditional diet features plenty of vegetarian meal options.
Religions that practice vegetarianism
The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism are vegetarian meaning they practice vegetarianism, this is in contrast to most religions in the world that do not require vegetarianism In Jainism, vegetarianism is mandatory for everyone; in Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, and certain Dharmic religions such as Sikhism, it is promoted by scriptures and religious authorities but not mandatory. Practicing a vegan lifestyle in the United States may be a bit costly, however, in Africa, vegan life is the most simple and cost effective diet to maintain.
Vegetarian practice in South Sudan
South Sudan is a country located in the East Africa. South Sudanese embrace a vegetarian diet in their every day meals. However, they also include meat, poultry and fish. South Sudanese would be considered flexitarians or semi-vegetarians according to the new way of classifying vegetarians who occasionally eat meat. South Sudanese families often have small gardens in the backyard of their homes where they grow vegetables such as spinach, okra, and sukuma wiki. This is the name of the meal (sukuma wiki = push the weak along) but the actual vegetable is kale greens or collard greens. And those are not native to South Sudan or Sudan, we adopted them from Kenya. Other vegetables consumed include cassava leaves, eggplants, and moringa among others. Many families rear poultry at home such as chicken in a free-range system feeding on organic food from the soil. South Sudanese also rear animals in their homes such as cows, goats, and sheep. These animals are fed on fresh organic grass that grows from the fertile grounds of South Sudan. In general, I would say, South Sudanese feed more on organic food starting from organic meat to organic fresh vegetables.
The South Sudanese vegan dishes
South Sudanese have a unique system of how they prepare their dishes. They make sure their meals have a well-balanced diet meal plan which includes all the food values. South Sudanese usually mix vegetables and meat to make one dish such as lamb/beef stew with okra, spinach with fish, nyete (black eyed peas leaves) with meat, and cassava leaves with beef/fish commonly known as pondu, eggplants with beef/fish, fish with okra among others. Read More...
