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Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus origin, and contains essential , such as , , proteins, , or minerals. The substance is Ingestion by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. Different species of animals have different feeding behaviours that satisfy the needs of their unique , often evolved to fill a specific ecological niche within specific geographical contexts.
Omnivore humans are highly adaptable and have adapted to obtain food in many different ecosystems. The majority of the food energy required is supplied by the industrial food industry, which produces food with intensive agriculture and distributes it through complex food processing and food distribution systems. This system of conventional agriculture relies heavily on , which means that the food and agricultural system is one of the major contributors to climate change, accountable for as much as 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
The food system has significant impacts on a wide range of other social and political issues including: sustainability, biological diversity, economics, population growth, water supply, and Food security. Food safety and food security are monitored by international agencies like the International Association for Food Protection, World Resources Institute, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, and International Food Information Council.
Human food can be classified in various ways, either by related content or by how the food is processed. The number and composition of can vary. Most systems include four basic groups that describe their origin and relative nutritional function: Vegetables and Fruit, Cereals and Bread, Dairy, and Meat. Studies that look into diet quality often group food into whole grains/cereals, refined grains/cereals, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, eggs, dairy products, fish, red meat, processed meat, and sugar-sweetened beverages. The Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization use a system with nineteen food classifications: cereals, roots, pulses and nuts, milk, eggs, fish and shellfish, meat, insects, vegetables, fruits, fats and oils, sweets and sugars, spices and condiments, beverages, foods for nutritional uses, food additives, composite dishes and savoury snacks.
Humans are omnivores finding sustenance in vegetables, fruits, cooked meat, milk, eggs, mushrooms and seaweed. Cereal grain is a staple food that provides more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop. Maize, wheat, and rice account for 87% of all grain production worldwide.NIIR Board of Consultants & Engineers (2023). 9788178330389, Asia Pacific Business Press Inc.. . ISBN 9788178330389 Just over half of the worlds crops are used to feed humans (55 percent), with 36 percent grown as animal feed and 9 percent for biofuels. Fungi and bacteria are also used in the preparation of fermented foods like bread, wine, cheese and yogurt.
Plant nutrition and minerals from the air, water and soil. Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen are absorbed from the air or water and are the basic nutrients needed for plant survival. The three main nutrients absorbed from the soil for plant growth are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, with other important nutrients including calcium, sulfur, magnesium, iron boron, chlorine, manganese, zinc, copper molybdenum and nickle.
Fleshy fruits (distinguishable from dry fruits like grain, seeds and nuts) can be further classified as stone fruits (cherries and peaches), Pome (apples, pears), Berry (blackberry, strawberry), citrus (oranges, lemon), (watermelon, cantaloupe), Mediterranean fruits (grapes, fig), tropical fruits (banana, pineapple). Vegetables refer to any other part of the plant that can be eaten, including roots, stems, leaves, flowers, bark or the entire plant itself. These include ( and ), bulbs (onion family), flowers (cauliflower and broccoli), (spinach and lettuce) and stem vegetables (celery and asparagus).
Plants have high carbohydrate, protein and lipid content, with carbohydrates mainly in the form of starch, fructose, glucose and other sugars. Most vitamins are found from plant sources, with the notable exceptions of vitamin D and vitamin B12. Minerals are also plentiful, although the presence of phytates can prevent their release. Fruit can consist of up to 90% water, contain high levels of simple sugars that contribute to their sweet taste and have a high vitamin C content. Compared to fleshy fruit (excepting Bananas) vegetables are high in starch, potassium, dietary fiber, folate and vitamins and low in fat and calories. Grains are more starch based and nuts have a high protein, fibre, vitamin E and B content. Seeds are a good source of food for animals because they are abundant and contain fibre and healthful fats, such as omega-3 fats.
Animals that only eat plants are called , with those that mostly just eat fruits known as , leaves, while shoot eaters are (pandas) and wood eaters termed Xylophagy (termites). Frugivores include a diverse range of species from annelids to elephants, chimpanzees and many birds. About 182 fish consume seeds or fruit. There are many types of grasses, adapted to different locations, that animals (domesticated and wild) use as their main source of nutrients.
Humans only eat about 200 out of the worlds 400 000 plant species, despite at least half of them being edible. Most human plant-based food comes from maize, rice, and wheat. Plants can be processed into breads, pasta, cereals, juices and jams or raw ingredients such as sugar, herbs, spices and oils can be extracted. are often pressed to produce rich oils - Sunflower oil, flaxseed, rapeseed (including canola oil) and Sesame oil.McGee, Chapter 9.
Many plants and animals have coevolution in such a way that the fruit is good source of nutrition to the animal who then excretes the seeds some distance away allowing greater dispersal. Even seed predation can be mutually beneficial as some seeds can survive the digestion process. Insects are major eaters of seeds, with ants being the only real seed dispersers. Birds, although being major dispersers, only rarely eat seeds as a source of food and can be identified by their thick beak that is used to crack open the seed coat. Mammals eat a more diverse range of seeds as they are able to crush harder and larger seeds with their teeth.
Food products produced by animals include milk produced by mammary glands, which in many cultures is drunk or processed into (cheese, butter, etc.). In addition, birds and other animals lay eggs, which are often eaten, and produce honey, a reduced nectar from flowers, which is a popular sweetener in many cultures. Some cultures consume blood, sometimes in the form of blood sausage, as a thickener for sauces, or in a cured, salted form for times of food scarcity, and others use blood in stews such as jugging.Davidson, 81–82.
While most animals taste buds are located in their mouth, some insects taste receptors are located on their legs and some fish have taste buds along their entire body. Dogs, cats and birds have relatively few taste buds (chickens have about 30), adult humans have between 2000 to 4000, while catfish can have more than a million. Herbivores generally have more than carnivores as they need to tell which plants may be poisonous. Not all Mammal share the same tastes: some Rodent can taste starch, Cat cannot taste sweetness, and several carnivores (including Hyena, Dolphin, and Sea lion) have lost the ability to sense up to four of the five taste modalities found in humans.
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