Beyond Broilers and White Flour: The Need to Return to Culturally-Rooted Food Systems Africa

By Dr Mwenda Mbaka and Dr Katherine Baxter - July 2025

1. Introduction

This is a philosophical and practical inquiry toward humane and culturally relevant transitions for food systems in Africa.

Across much of rural Africa, food systems have traditionally revolved around ecologically balanced, low-meat consumption patterns shaped not only by environmental constraints but also by cultural values deeply embedded in philosophies such as Ubuntu (“I am because we are”) and Ukama (relationality between all beings). These value systems fostered harmonious relationships between humans, animals, and the land.

Yet today, malnutrition remains widespread, in part due to a worrying tendency to emulate food habits that are increasingly removed from these traditional systems. This is especially visible among a growing segment of youth who, keen to appear “modern” or “trendy,” reject indigenous foods. They often regard whiter, more refined flours as superior, while dismissing brownish flours from sorghum and millet as primitive and un-nutritious. Indigenous pulses are scorned in favor of exotic alternatives. They avoid wild, nutrient-rich vegetables—deemed too rustic—while embracing pesticide-laden cabbages and tomatoes. Even indigenous chicken, once revered, is considered fibrous and undesirable compared to the soft meat of broilers.

This isn’t just about food—it’s about mindset. Somewhere along the line, we started thinking that “modern” means better, even if it’s ultra-processed, nutrient-dead, and packed with pesticides. Meanwhile, indigenous foods that kept generations alive—millet, sorghum, wild greens, free-range chicken—are being treated like relics of poverty. But let’s be honest: this shame is learned. It’s a mental hijack. Colonization didn’t just take land; it altered how we see ourselves. Now, a lot of our people, especially youth, are chasing trends at the expense of health and heritage.

This attitude reflects not merely dietary preference, but a deeper crisis of identity. It is a manifestation of insecurity and fragile self-esteem—born out of either systematic ideological capture or the psychological burden of poverty from which many seek to escape, mentally if not physically. These youth are not to be blamed but understood. They deserve guidance, not neglect or tolerance. This paper, in many ways, is grounded in that concern: how to help Africa reclaim its food dignity while promoting animal welfare and ecological balance.

Against this backdrop, the emerging promotion of veganism—often framed as a moral imperative to end animal suffering and protect the planet—raises complex questions about its relevance, risks, and opportunities within African contexts.

This paper explores whether and how veganism should be introduced in Africa, particularly in light of the nutritional, ecological, and cultural realities of rural communities. It argues that, while the compassion underlying veganism resonates with African philosophies, a universalist promotion of veganism without contextual adaptation risks harming both people and animals. Instead, the ethical goals of veganism may be better served by redirecting resources toward combating imported systems of animal abuse and ecological degradation, and by supporting a reversion to indigenous, ecologically rooted food systems.

2. African Dietary Patterns and the Rural–Urban Divide

Approximately 57% of Africa's population resides in rural areas, according to World Bank estimates (2023). These communities often live in agro-pastoral systems where the primary diet is plant-based, with pulses, grains, and tubers forming the staples. Meat consumption is sporadic and seasonal, mainly during ceremonies or as a byproduct of animal mortality.

Per capita meat consumption in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at 14 kg per year, compared to 70–100 kg in the Global North (FAO, 2022). Within Africa, urban dwellers generally consume more meat than their rural counterparts due to income differences, market availability, and dietary acculturation. However, this trend is not uniform. A substantial proportion of the 43% of Africa’s population residing in urban areas lives below the poverty line. According to UN-Habitat and the World Bank (2022), approximately 60–70% of urban residents in sub-Saharan Africa live in informal settlements or slums. Within this demographic, dietary habits closely mirror those of rural populations—meat consumption is infrequent, modest, and determined more by economic constraint than by dietary choice.

These urban poor effectively belong to the same food access category as rural populations, surviving primarily on plant-based diets with limited access to animal-sourced foods. This implies that the proportion of Africans who consume sufficient meat to warrant a transition to veganism for ethical reasons is relatively small.

However, the influence of aspirational consumerism among youth is distorting dietary values across both rural and urban settings. Motivated by media and status anxiety, many young Africans are abandoning nutrient-dense indigenous foods in favor of industrially processed, visually appealing alternatives. This shift is not based on nutrition or tradition, but on a desire to symbolically “escape” poverty—even if just through food choices. The consequences are profound: rising malnutrition, erosion of indigenous knowledge, and a weakening of food sovereignty.

We don’t need more judgment. We need healing. Let’s bring pride back to our plates. Let’s make local the new luxury. Because our roots are powerful. And they can still feed us, if we choose to look back—and forward—with clear eyes.

In many rural areas, animal-sourced foods are scarce and typically derived from hardy indigenous breeds or from bushmeat in forested regions. Studies in Central Africa, for instance, show that bushmeat contributes up to 80% of the animal protein in some rural diets (Nasi et al., 2011), highlighting a reliance on opportunistic, non-intensive animal sources.

3. The Compromised Value of Food and Animal Welfare in Rural Africa

The introduction of exotic crop species requiring synthetic fertilizers and pesticides has led to soil depletion, declining nutrient density, and ecological fragility. Simultaneously, exotic animal breeds—marketed as more productive—are often ill-suited to local environments, requiring intensive care, expensive drugs, and housing systems. These animals frequently suffer under traditional low-input management systems, where the knowledge, infrastructure, and resources necessary for their care are lacking. This is the case for the majority of domestic animals across the continent.

In contrast, indigenous livestock breeds have adapted over generations to survive with minimal inputs, co-evolving alongside human communities and their socio-cultural dynamics. These animals play multifunctional roles: providing manure, draught power, cultural value, and limited food. Their welfare, while imperfect, is often maintained through close human-animal relationships and community norms grounded in respect rather than exploitation.

4. Veganism in Africa: A Culturally Sensitive Introduction

Veganism, at its moral core, is a compassionate response to the suffering of animals—an outlook that aligns with foundational African philosophies such as Ubuntu and Ukama. The problem does not stem from rural Africa's way of relating with animals, but rather from the industrial and extractive models of animal use being imported through globalization, industrial farming, and profit-driven food systems. It is within this imported paradigm that animal welfare collapses—and where veganism emerges as a necessary protest.

Promoting veganism in Africa, therefore, must not begin with prescriptive dietary mandates, but with a challenge to the very systems that compromise animals, people, and the planet. Urban African populations—though a minority—are highly influential and could serve as gateways for culturally adapted vegan thought, provided such movements do not deepen rural nutritional insecurity or delegitimize indigenous food cultures.

It is incumbent upon opinion leaders to remain mindful that imported ideologies have, in the past, caused immense suffering among a credulous rural populace that tends to trust their urban “enlightened” kindred. This dynamic has contributed to phenomena such as toxic religious fanaticism—the Shakahola case in Kenya being a recent example. Veganism should not follow the same path where it is unsuitable or contextually harmful.

5. Rethinking the Investment Logic of Vegan Advocacy in Africa

Rather than directing funds solely toward converting Africans to veganism, greater impact would arise from investing in:

• Restoration of indigenous crops that are resilient, nutritious, and require minimal or no synthetic inputs;

• Reintegration of indigenous animal breeds that thrive in local conditions with minimal intervention;

• Promotion of humane, low-input animal husbandry systems rooted in traditional knowledge;

• Research on the nutritional impact of shifting food systems in Africa, including the declining nutrient density of plants and emerging protein gaps;

• This may require a careful interrogation of land tenure systems inherited from colonial and Western models, which often transfer land ownership to a few, disenfranchising the majority who are left without the means to maintain even subsistence-level food production;

• Education on animal sentience and welfare, embedded in local value systems rather than imported doctrines;

• Strengthening of the human-animal-nature interface, ensuring coexistence rather than domination.

In this way, veganism’s ethical essence—compassion, justice, and sustainability—could flourish in Africa without exacerbating food insecurity or eroding cultural identity.

6. Conclusion

Veganism, when understood as a philosophical commitment to compassion for all sentient life, is not foreign to Africa. But its wholesale importation as a dietary doctrine risks overlooking the continent’s historical wisdom, present realities, and future needs. Africa’s rural populations already practice a near-vegan lifestyle—not out of ideology, but out of necessity and tradition. The real threat to animal welfare and sustainability in Africa lies in the introduction of exploitative systems that treat animals and nature as mere commodities.

A just and contextually appropriate vegan advocacy must therefore focus on dismantling these extractive systems and investing in indigenous resilience, human-animal coexistence, and evidence-based policy grounded in African values. This also requires rehabilitating the self-image of youth, nurturing pride in indigenous foods, and restoring cultural confidence as a basis for health, sustainability, and compassion. It is not about teaching Africa to care about animals. It is about protecting and empowering the African way of caring—for animals, for people, and for the Earth.

 References:

• FAO. 2022. "Meat Consumption by Region." FAO Statistical Yearbook.

• Nasi, R., Taber, A., & Van Vliet, N. (2011). "Empty forests, empty stomachs? Bushmeat and livelihoods in the Congo Basin." International Forestry Review, 13(3), 355–368.

• World Bank. 2023. "Rural population (% of total population) – Africa." https://data.worldbank.org

• UN-Habitat & World Bank. 2022. "Informal Settlements and Urban Poverty in Africa: Policy and Practice." Nairobi: UN-Habitat.