Table 7 Food taboos due to different beliefs
Community | Food | Quotation of taboo or belief | Source of taboo/belief |
|---|---|---|---|
Behenjy | Offal | “I don’t have to give him […] it’s like a rumor and I don’t know really.” (BEH-PI-01) | Mother |
Eggs | “Before when she would say “Dad” we are forbidden to give her eggs.” (BEH-PI-13) | Mother-in-Law | |
Ibity | Eggs | “P: It is forbidden to give eggs to children who doesn’t speak yet. I: […] and as soon as they speak it is okay? P: Yes, as soon as they can say “Dad”. I: And why? P: For the fear that the child will be deaf.” (IBI-FG-01) “The fear that they wouldn’t speak if we give [them] an egg before they can speak.” (IBI-PI-05) | Forefathers |
Flesh of flying birds or hedgehogs | “[…] if the child eats it, he will become (get), have lèpre (leprosy)” (IBI-FG-01) “Yes, we have some taboos. We don’t have to give children the flying bird and the hedgehog.” (IBI-PI-07) | Forefathers > 100 years | |
Specific green leaves | “[…] there is a kind of green leaves we are forbidden to give that to our children.” (IBI-FG-02) | Unknown | |
Banana | “[…] we are forbidden to give banana to child when they don’t have teeth yet.” (IBI-PI-11) | Relatives | |
Liver | “We cannot give them until they have teeth.” (IBI-FG-02) | Unknown | |
Sweets (bonbon) | “We don’t give sweetie food to child. Like sweets like bonbon.” (IBI-PI-02) | Unknown | |
Ankazo-miriotra | Pasta | “Pasta is prohibited […] It is for all the kids and even adults do not eat it. […] The reason is because since this year there was kind of disease which threatens people, the case is that a newborn baby born with a divided brain. So, people said that the cause of that is the eating of pasta. You can really see that there is a clear line which divided the skull, that’s why we call the disease “broken skull disease”. That is now the main problem that mothers face. We do not really know the cause but most of the people said that it is because of the pasta and we do not know if it is true or not. […] all the people do not want to eat pasta anymore […] There was a very cheap pasta here in the market that everyone can afford and maybe it is bad quality that’s why it’s cheaper. So, we think that because it is bad quality as cheaper, so it caused disease. So, we do not know if it is just a lie and rumor or maybe it is possible also, but all the people believe now that the cause of this disease is the pasta “(ANK-PI-13) „It doesn’t give enough energy.” (ANK-PI-16) | Community members |
Dried cassava | “The dried cassava is only for fifteen years old. […] There is no vitamin […] and there is more alcohol.” ANK-PI-16 | Unknown |