Spotlight on Nutrition Blog

Afghanistan Culture, Food, and Holidays

10/1/2021

Blog post written by Rania Abdullah, IUPUI Dietetic Intern

On September 3rd, 2021, Afghan refugees began arriving at Camp Atterbury, which is just south of Indianapolis. The evacuees are expected to arrive in waves, and Indiana has the potential to host 5,000 Afghans.

Gleaners Food Bank is seeking to understand the Afghan food and culture in order to welcome these new neighbors and better meet their needs. This blog post will take you on a tour of some of the customs, values, and foods that are important to the people of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan country outline and flag inlay. Image from commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_map_of_Afghanistan.svg

Language, Art, and Culture

There are more than 48 languages spoken in Afghanistan, but the most common are Dari (Farsi), and Pashto. Afghans live in tribes, divided into many subcultures, that share the same food, clothes, art, and lifestyle. Afghans are famous for handwoven rugs and ancient oil paintings found in caves. Musical instruments played in Afghanistan include harmonium, santur, tabla (small drums), sitar, and zurna. Afghanistan has many important architectural sites such as Herat, Mazar-l-Sharif, and Ghazni.

Great Mosque of Herat ("Friday Mosque").
Image from www.pinterest.com.

Musicians playing sitar. Image from foreignpolicy.com

Foods and Dietary Practices

Mutton (lamb) is the most popular meat eaten in Afghanistan. Chicken is also common, and it is usually served with long grain rice, and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Favorite produce items include eggplant, spinach, potato, carrot, peas, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, dates, and melons. Fresh mint and coriander are also very common.

Popular Afghan dishes include:

Mastawa - a traditional winter dish made with rice, chickpeas, and sun-dried salted mutton (called Lahndi), mixed with onions, garlic, turmeric, coriander, and mint.
Aushak - leek and scallion dumplings sometimes served with tomato sauce and dried mint.
Kabuli Palaw - a national dish made from meat and stock topped with fried raisins, pistachios, and slivered carrots
Afghan Kebab - made from lamb meat, served with naan instead of rice

Aushak. Image from pickuplimes.com.

Kabuli palaw. Image from igotitfrommymaman.com

Festivals and Holidays

Islam is the major religion in Afghanistan. Islamic holidays are celebrated according to the lunar calendar:

Ramadan - a holy fasting month for Muslims. Began on April 13th in 2021, expected start date for 2022 is April 2nd.
Eid al-Fitr – “breaking the fast” celebration after Ramadan. Afghans celebrate it by wearing new clothes, going to prayer, visiting family and friends, and giving gifts or money to kids (Eidi). Celebrated on May 13th in 2021. Every year the date moves back 11 days as it follows the lunar calendar - the date for 2022 will be May 2nd. Bolani is a dish served in Ramadan and eid al-Fitr. It is a thin crusted bread with a vegetable filling with foods like lentils, pumpkin, or potatoes. It can be served with yoghurt.

Ramadan is a very important month for Muslims. Image from ucf.edu.

Eid al-Adha - Festival of Sacrifice celebrated on the 10th day of the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. It was celebrated on July 18th in 2021 (expected to be July 7th for 2022). Afghans usually eat lamb or beef meat for this festival.
Nau-Roz (new year’s celebration following the Islamic calendar) - March 21st. Special dishes served on Nau-Roz eve include sabzi challow (a dish made from rice and spinach) and haft mewa (a sweet dish like fruit salad made from dried fruits with nuts).
Ashura Day - 14th of month Muharram in the Islamic calendar - August 8th, 2022. Special dishes served in Ashura include naleem (usually includes meat, wheat or barley, and sometimes lentils) and narenj palaw (a rice dish made with chicken, saffron, orange peel, pistachios, and almonds).

Haft mewa. Image from www.rhubarbarians.com.

Table set for Nau-Roz. Image from afghanistan-un.org

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Myanmar Holidays & Celebrations

5/1/2021

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Blog post content contributed by Joel Hollow, IUPUI Dietetic Intern

Approximately 24,000 individuals from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) live in Indianapolis. Many are refugees who have fled their home country to escape religious or ethnic persecutions. Others have immigrated here in search of a more promising and prosperous future for themselves or their families. A majority of local Burmese households has settled on the south side of the city (Perry Township, Southport, and Greenwood), making this area home one of the largest Burmese refugee populations in the United States.

The country of Myanmar (formerly Burma). Image from worldjusticenews.com

The people of Myanmar celebrate many different rich traditions and events throughout the year. These celebrations often involve special meals or dishes and time spent with loved ones. It is important that Gleaners is familiar with the cultural practices of the diverse community we serve so that we can better understand and meet the needs of our neighbors.

Some of the most popular Burmese holidays and celebrations include:

January 4th, Independence Day - marks the date Myanmar became an independent nation.
January 13th, Kayin New Year Day - celebrated by the Karen people of Myanmar. This holiday is more agricultural than religious. It serves as a celebration of the rice harvest and is the commencement of the new crop.

Chicken Potato Curry and Garlic Oil Noodles from The Rangoon Sisters Cookbook. Images from thehappyfoodie.co.uk/articles/10-burmese-dishes-to-discover-in-the-rangoon-sisters-cookbook

March 2nd, Peasant’s Day - holiday to honor the contribution and importance of agriculture and farming to Myanmar.
March 27th, Full Moon Day of Tabaung - Also known as Maka Bucha, Tabaung is the last month of the year in the Burmese calendar. A candle ceremony is performed where the people walk clockwise three times around the temple holding flowers, incense, and a lit candle. These represent Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and the ritual is a way of honoring them.
April 13th – April 16th, Thingyan - Thingyan is known as a water festival. During this time in Myanmar, people run around with buckets of water, hoses, or anything they can get their hands on to soak each other. The tradition originates from the belief that the water is washing away bad luck and misfortune from the previous year. This is generally a playful and fun time.

Thingyan water festival. Image from www.myanmartours.net/myanmar-thingyan-festival.html

April 17th, Burmese New Year - On Burmese New Year, parties and soaking each other comes to an end and more of the traditional customs take place. One tradition is the capturing of fish from lakes and ponds that are drying up. The fish are kept in large pots and then released into larger lakes along with prayers and a saying that means, “I release you once, you release me ten times”. Another tradition is giving away food called “Satuditha” to people passing by. Satuditha includes staple foods in the Burmese diet such as rice, curries, and pea soup.
July 21st, Eid ul-Adha Day - This is a Muslim holiday that means “Feast of Sacrifice”. It celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. If this story seems familiar, its because this same story occurs in the Bible (with a few variances). During this time, families will eat a third of their meal, give a third to family and friends, and the last third goes to the needy and homeless. This is a time of helping those who are less fortunate and appreciating your loved ones.
July 25th – October 21st, Vassa - Vassa, which means “rains”, is an annual retreat during the monsoon season practiced by Buddhists. This is a time of reflection, meditation, and reading of religious texts. During this time, vegetarianism or fasting is often practiced.
October 20th – October 21st, Full Moon of Thadingyut Holiday - This is also known as the Festival of Lights. It marks the end of Buddhists’ fasting, as well as the end of monsoon season. To celebrate, a large, candle-lit hot air balloon is launched in the air and spectators hold lit candles.

Festival of Lights celebration. Photo from www.aljazeera.com

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Addressing Food Insecurity Among Immigrants

10/1/2020

Guest Post by Allison, Dietetic Intern

My name is Allison Drook and I am a dietetic intern at Purdue University. I had the pleasure of being placed at Gleaners Food Bank for my 3-week community nutrition rotation. My main project during this time was to explore how Gleaners can better serve the growing immigrant population, especially to address an increase in food insecurity due to COVID-19. I am so excited to share with you all that Gleaners has been doing to better meet the health and nutrition needs of immigrant families and individuals in Marion County (and beyond)!

Project Overview:

I started by working with the Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) in order to get a better idea of how COVID-19 has been impacting the immigrant population and what Gleaners can do to help. The IWC reported that 38% of the immigrant population surveyed considered themselves to have less food security compared to before the pandemic. With more data from the IWC, I looked into Marion County zip codes with the highest numbers of immigrants reporting a need for food or rental assistance. This was an important step in my initial research that helped us better understand where immigrants are located and what resources are currently available to them. I continued by looking into how many American grocery stores, international grocery stores, convenience stores, food pantries, and food deserts are in these areas.

I also talked to IWC Natural Helpers (immigrants who volunteer to assist other immigrants), read research articles on food insecurity and food pantries pertaining to immigrant populations, and joined the IWC weekly partner calls. Through all of this information-gathering, I learned that there are several barriers that many immigrants face in consistently accessing nutritious foods. These include:

Language barriers
Cultural stigma of asking for assistance with food
High cost and low availability of nutritious foods
Lack of culturally and religiously appropriate foods in food pantries
Legal barriers that make some immigrants ineligible to receive federal food assistance
Lack of reliable transportation to access food resources
Limited income

Image from IWC

These barriers fall into three categories:

Accessibility includes the price of food, eligibility requirements to receive food assistance, transportation, and proximity of food resources
Availability includes the types of foods that are available at grocery stores and food pantries
Usability refers to a household's knowledge and skills to be able to cook the foods they can access, as well as the cooking equipment they have available at home

All three categories of barriers must be addressed in order to create stable and sustainable solutions to food insecurity among immigrants.

What I learned from this experience:

From my background research, I learned that increasing access to foods that are familiar to immigrant households is crucial for improving food security among this population. I explored some ways that Gleaners might be able to partner with international grocery stores to increase the availability of culturally and religiously appropriate foods at pantries. I decided to visit an international grocery store myself to see how the selection of foods might differ from what is typically available at a traditional "American" grocery store. Watch the video below for a 30-second tour of the Saraga International Food Market that I visited on the northwest side of Indianapolis.

There were two key differences that stood out to me from my visit:

Throughout the international grocery store, I found that spices were emphasized in every aisle based on different cuisines. Many spices were packaged in bulk in white Styrofoam containers covered with plastic, similar to how vegetables or meats are packaged at "American" grocery stores. Based on this observation, I suggested that Gleaners look into sourcing various spices that are important to different immigrant groups. This would allow immigrant families to cook meals that are familiar and comforting to them, even if some of the foods available at food pantries are unfamiliar.
The second big difference I noticed was the quantity of certain foods available at the international grocery store. The fresh produce section was expansive, and there were large containers of rice, dried beans, and cooking oils. These are not typical sights at most "American" grocery stores. I learned from the IWC Natural Helpers that these three foods (among others) are important staples across many different cultures. With this information, I created a list of the top 10 "immigrant friendly" foods that would be helpful for Gleaners to source and distribute.

Images from Allison Drook and saragaindy.com

Exploring New Foods:

Wanting to look into more about foods from other cultures, I ended up buying some Fufu flour from the international market. This food comes from Nigerian culture and contains some of their staple foods: mashed plantain, potato granules, cassava, saffron and turmeric. I chose to focus on this culture because Nigeria is listed as one of the top countries of origin for immigrants served by the IWC, and I was not familiar with many of the common foods in this cuisine. Watch the video below to see how easy Fu Fu dough is to make!

Click the links below to view the other recipes and handouts that I made during this rotation. These were all designed to help immigrants utilize the foods they might receive from food pantries, as well as to introduce some new cultural dishes to anyone who likes to explore different cuisines!

Moving Forward:

I am excited to see how Gleaners continues this collaborative and important work! Some next steps for Gleaners and IWC include exploring ways to source more culturally appropriate foods and spices, helping agency pantries be more welcoming and inclusive of immigrant clients, and translating recipes and educational resources in different languages. Stay up-to-date on the progress of this project and other nutrition outreach programs by visiting the NutritionHub website, Facebook page, and Instagram account regularly!