Food – Energy – Being:
Life is energy in physical form and thrives through food consumption as it provides energy for physical existence. Food is a medium through which energy is derived and also recharged in all physical living beings. Without this medium there is no life possible. In energy life cycle food plays vital role in maintaining the mechanism of life processes. Thus food is a biological substance, an energy derivative for physical existence and well-being of all life forms. But in man, food is not only a biological substance but a cultural substance too as it is strongly associated with cultural ways of life of Man and Society.
Food Getting Technologies:
Plants, being fixed in nature, by and large,derive their food through self mechanized processes like, deriving elements and nutrients from the soil through their roots and turning them into food through photosynthesis. While animals including Man, being moving balls of energy, derive their food through nature’s vegetation and non-vegetation and identified and stamped themselves as herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. Thus, the prey and predator relationship exists in food getting ways of life. Man being an omnivore is described as the ultimate predator of all other living beings as he has the ability, capability and technique of turning all others as his preys.
Food Technologies of Man:
The cultural ways of food getting of Man have started with ‘food gatherer’, ‘hunter’ and ‘fish catcher’ and further revolutionized his life with newer technologies, like, agriculture (Green Revolution) and milk production(White Revolution), there by achieving self sufficiency in food getting ways for his well-being and better survival.
Today, man’s food consumption ways are between traditional and modern. However, food distribution and sharing of food among them, ie., between nations, between human societies and between man to man are discriminatory, thereby are subjected to deprivation.
Food and Nutrition Versus Health and Disease:
The food contains nutrients which are ultimate sources of energy to the physical body. A balanced diet consists balanced nutrition that suits the physical body and its require energy in terms of calories. The intake of food is associated with energy release and its utilization with physical activity. More energy release through food and less physical activity leads to non-burning of energy and its conversion into fat resulting obesity of the body. The reverse is the situation where less energy release through food and more physical activity that leads to weakening of the body due to under nutrition. Thus, food is associated with under nutrition, over nutrition, malnutrition and balanced nutrition. Further, food supply to the body is related to the kind of energy, i.e., Protein Energy Malnutrition. Food and nutrition has direct bearing on health and disease and consequent survival fitness
Food Habits and Food Fads:
People in general all over the world see food through their cultural filters and source of energy. People don’t eat food with an eye on nutrition but for taste. Every human society has a concept of food in terms of hot and cold foods, prestigious foods and poverty associate foods, keeping aside the real nutritive value of foods. The food modernity has direct bearing on ‘obesity’. The food fads, such as polished rice,, salty and preserved foods such as pickles, aerated drinks and others are also linked to nutritional deficient disorders as they prefer to take only the choices food of their own thereby deprive specific and essential nutrients to their bodies for the proper maintenance of the physical body resulting into either emancipation or obese condition.
The anemic, the obese, the diabetic and other conditions of the body are all linked with food intake ways, food habits and food fads. The modernity of humanity has no time nor sense to attend on the value based food but are ultimately ready to put themselves to risk and there upon depend on modern medical technology to correct their form and structure. That is the trend of modern man towards the food, the main source of energy to his body.