4 - “Red Sauce”: How Urbanization Drives Meat Consumption and a Deepening Health Crisis in West Africa

Presentation Abstract
Meat-based rice dishes have become the standard menu across West Africa, where they are consumed at home, on the street food, and at the restaurant. They also constitute the regular offers in migrants' restaurants outside of the region. However, this seemingly uniform foodscape belies the historical diversity and disparity in precolonial culinary habits in the region. Back then, depending on the geography and season, near vegetarian and fish-based diets coexisted with non-meat sources of protein like insects and worms. Where red meat used to be consumed, it would be occasional, ceremonial and rather festive. The depletion of this dietary variety has gravely compromised the general health of a population more than ever sedentary and regularly fed with foods high in fat, salt and sugar. The proposed input gives an overview of the dietary evolution in urban settings, its detrimental influence on rural areas as well as on the eating tastes and habits of the younger generation. It also engages the challenge of averting a lifestyle and health crisis at a tipping point.