Nutrition: The few vegetables from my village’s weekly market are locally grown and pesticide-free, but the soil has been overworked for decades and lacks nutrients. Warming temperatures and declining rainfall add to the challenge for farmers.
Inequity: Around the communal bowl, children usually get only rice unless an adult offers them a piece of meat or vegetable. They’re used to this and often prefer the greasy rice anyway. School food programs are sometimes their only source of non-rice nutrition, like peas or fortified millet. In this patriarchal society, women also receive less food than men, while guests of honor and male family members eat first and best.
With the women being the ones to prepare all of the food, I've had my fair share of days spent in the kitchen, chopping, peeling and mashing vegetables, and skinning fish. All in all, it feels a bit more dangerous than cooking in my American kitchen back home. Chopping boards are not a thing here, so all foods are cut directly into one's own hand. Knives are not sharpened often or meticulously. Even the most skilled women cut their hands often and badly. The fires over which the pots are placed are created by abbutting three logs and creating a smoky, low fire. These are often done inside of the kitchen instead of the outdoors, which aggravates asthma and breathing problems in the female population.
