Culinary and Nutrition Transitions in a Lebanese Bedouin Tribe

Abstract

Despite the abundance of literature on food and nutrition security, there is still a lack of research addressing the importance of cooking skills, particularly how culinary heritages can affect food and nutrition security. The hypothesis of this research was to investigate the possibility of a nutrition or culinary transition and the interactions with food security—the target population of study in a Bedouin tribe located in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Through a quantitative and qualitative approach, two food security surveys and a three focus groups discussions were administered within the target population. The findings suggest that both nutrition and culinary transitions are present along with high levels of food insecurity.