Document Type : Article extracted from plan or project (by ordering the organization or department, etc.)
Authors
1
Faculty Member, Department of Anthropology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2
MA in Anthropology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3
Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
4
Faculty Member, School of Nutrition and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Food and nutrition system of each ethnic group includes important cultural component and their ways
of interaction with environment. Food is not merely a biological and metabolistic entity, but it relates
to various aspects of human life including the culture. Color, taste, preparation methods, consumption
and utilization tools, distribution way of food at different levels and aspects including social, customs,
rituals of birthday, preparation, distribution, and gendered considerations in relation to food
consumption and nutrition all show complexity of food systems in human societies and how food is
by nature contextualized in the culture. In this view, the main objective of this study was to examine
indigenous food and nutrition of Lak ethnic group living in rural and nomadic districts of Lorestan
province. In particular, this study seeks to describe richly the socio-cultural aspects of indigenous
food and nutrition system of Lak ethnic group with a focus on their social relationships in the
community, gender-based division of labor in food system or foodways, food habits and cultural
symbolism of food in the local culture of the community and how the environmental factors influence
the food system and foodways of this ethnic group. To obtain the objective of the research,
quantitative research methods including ethnographic methods (such as the ethnographic interviews,
participant observation, and documentary studies) were used in this study. Throughout ethnographic
research, the scholars took an open and amenable approach to emerging new questions to develop a
deeper understanding and thick description of the subject through taking a iterative procedures in
collecting or making and analyzing the data and field-notes. The results of this study indicate that
there is a considerable diversity in producing, disseminating and consuming and intaking foods
among Lak people living in rural and nomadic districts of Lorestan including in nutritional sources,
nutritional rituals and mores, method of hunting and food gathering, food choices, way of purchasing
food from the market and food intake. Foodways and food system of Lak people are intensely
configured in their socio-cultural and environmental context, interlocking to their identity image,
social relationships, kinship and family roots, gender relations, and their environmental lifestyles in
the community and ecological characteristics of Lorestan.
Keywords
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