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Forests for food
Women feed their families with food from the forest. In the wooded areas of Thailand, for example, 60 percent of all food comes directly from the forests. Food from trees is sometimes a staple: more frequently, however, it is needed as a supplement for dietary diversity and nutrition. Leaves are one of the most widely consumed forest foods. Women use them in soups, stews and relishes that add flavour to staples. Some leaves are high in fats, others are high in protein. Most are good sources of vitamins and minerals. Seeds and nuts are high in calories, edible oils (fats) and protein. Palm nuts - coconut, oil palm and babassu palm - are examples. Thousands of millions of coconuts are gathered every year; coconut oil accounts for 7 percent of the world's fat ration. The sago palm is a useful source of starch for the peoples of the southeast Asian archipeligo. If eaten with fish or meat and some vegetables it provides a nourishing meal. Mushrooms are a high-protein food and a good source of minerals, particularly calcium and iron. Saps and gums are energy foods. They are cooked for sweets and fermented for wines. Gum is used as a staple by tappers working in the field. Women help men hunt and trap forest animals for meat. In the Peruvian Amazon, more than 80 percent of animal protein comes from bushmeat. Insect species are high in vitamins and minerals. Caterpillars have been described as "nature's vitamin pills". Bee larvae contain ten times as much vitamin D as fish liver and twice as much vitamin A as egg yolk. Bee honey, collected from wild hives in forests, is high in calories.
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