Dietary Patterns and Food Consumption in the Federated States of Micronesia: A Case Study Conducted on Piis-Paneu Island, Chuuk Atoll, Chuuk State

摘要

It is considered that a "traditional" diet based on staple starchy crops and marine resources has been replaced by a "modern" diet in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). However, research on FSM dietary patterns has previously been short-term innature; diet has not been surveyed over a full year. Therefore, a detailed study of household food consumption at every meal for 12 months was conducted to discover present dietary patterns on Piis-Paneu Island, Chuuk Atoll, in the FSM. We compared ourdata to those of previous studies in an effort to understand real food behavior in the FSM. People on Piis-Paneu Island often consumed imported food, especially rice, canned fish, and instant noodles. However, they also often consumed local resources, including breadfruit, banana, Cyrtosperma merkusii, fish, and other marine resources. Moreover, they still cooked Alocasia macrorrhizos in a traditional manner, to remove calcium oxalate. A. macrorrhizos is a form of famine food that is plentiful on the island. Dietary patterns on Piis-Paneu Island seem to be basically "traditional", but incorporate "modern" food, rather than being intermediate between "traditional" and "modern". Breadfruit is often emphasized as a very important crop in Chuuk State or Micronesia in general, but it is noteworthy that the fast growth and stable production of banana throughout the entire year supports subsistence on small islands of the FSM.