Difference between revisions of "Food"

Revision as of 06:21, 23 February 2013

This is a database of food, which includes all the necessary information to permit automated selection, based on defined criteria, of optimum foods based on locally available resources, such as land surface, soil fertility, availability of water, per person calorie target, etc.

Nutrients

There are several categories of food nutrients. The common ones are water, energy (measured in (kilo)calories or kilojules), carbohydrates, fats, protein, vitamins and minerals. The minerals are directly absorbed by the plant from the soil, therefore any minerals a plant has must be present in the soil for the plant to grow. Vitamins are organic compounds that an organism doesn't produce in sufficient quantities and must be ingested; although different organisms have a different set of compounds considered vitamins, any references to Vitamins in this database assume these are for Humans. All foods have some degree (or ratio, per energy output) of carbohydrates, fats and proteins; all fats and protein can be absorbed and digested, and used to produce energy or other metabolic functions; only simple carbohydrates can be absorbed and turned into energy, whilst some complex carbohydrates can be absorbed onced cooked; Humans cannot absorb or use complex carbohydrates like uncooked starches, soluble fibre or celulose for producing energy, however some of these may feed gut bacteria, some of which produces vitamins and other nutrients as by-products.

The nutrient database used by this wiki is sourced, at this time, solely from the USDA publicly available database.

Health

Reasons not to restrict intake of rich foods

Obesity is sometimes associated with taking in to much energy rich foods, such as fatty hamburgers or sweet drinks and candy. The other way of looking at it is to associate it with lack of exercise, physical as well as mental. It might be better to focus attention on increasing exercise instead of decreasing intake, because the community will be more productive. For example, heavy physical exercise (such as mountain biking for four hours straight) has great benefits for physical and mental health, but such activity might become impossible when restricting caloric intake. Children are well known for craving sweet foods. Depriving them of these energy rich substances might hinder their development, as their growing brains require large amounts of energy.

A second reason not to restrict rich foods is that there are no profit incentives to deal with.

Meals and foodstuff

Several meals and foodstuff are staple foods of many cultures, and desirable for maintaining familiarity with foods. This section describes all these types of food that are prepared by baking or other cooking methods using processed or fractioned foods such as flours, oils, essences, etc.

Plants

Tubers

Tubers are rich in starchy carbohydrates, and usually fast growing. Can be easily grown in greenhouses and vertical farming.

Roots

Roots are rich in sugars and other carbohydrates, and usually fast growing. Can be easily grown in greenhouses and vertical farming.

Squashes

Pulses

Fruit

Greens

Fungi

Animals

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles

Amphibians

Marine vertebrates

Marine invertebrates

Oysters

Oysters are tasty and healthy. They might improve quality of life and desirability for the project. They contain a lot of cholesterol so moderation and variation are important (as always). They can be grown by setting out seed and then harvesting. Oysters might require a lake.

Land invertebrates

Bread

There is widespread debate whether bread is healthy. Participants are free to choose whether to eat bread or not. Scientific studies can be searched on the internet and discussed here on the wiki.

Diary

Diary such as milk, butter and cream are important to make food tasty (for instance cream improves the taste of tomato soup). However they require a relatively high level of complexity so early settlers might have to do without them.

Vegetable oil

Important for cooking. Leftovers can be processed to make bio fuel relatively easily. Making vegetable oil might be relatively difficult.