This book clarifies how diverse and changing food intake influences health focusing on schoolchildren in East Africa. This is also the first book to capture children’s perspective toward food through pictures drawn by children in Africa. It builds on a JASID (The Japan Society for International Development) special award-winning book Changing Dietary Patterns, Indigenous Foods, and Wild Food: In Relation to Wealth, Mutual Relations, and Health in Tanzania by the same editors elaborating on the potential of wild foods and indigenous foods in a developing country with a triple burden of malnutrition and increased life-style diseases. While the previous book centered on adults’ perspectives, this book focuses on schoolchildren, an age group that lacks research but is extremely important to understand future generations and directions. Children’s food group intake frequency, wild food intake, and health problems are captured through original data collected from 2721 schoolchildren in 34 schools across 6 regions and analyzed how food intake influences health. The contributors come from different fields including development studies, food and nutrition, African studies, ethnobotany, economics, art, psychology, and literature to grasp the multi-faced phenomenon. The contributions in this book are written with both academic and practical audiences in mind, to enable academic contribution to be realized in the actual lives of people. The book provides evidence from in-depth academic research and also provides concrete recommendations to overcome the alarming changing dietary pattern through modernization by utilizing neglected local resources and knowledge with an understanding of children’s perspectives.

Kumiko Sakamoto works at the School of International Studies, Utsunomiya University, Japan. She holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from Waseda University and previously worked with UNICEF and UNDP in Tanzania. She has conducted research in Tanzania for more than 25 years and has experience as a visiting professor at the University of Dar es Salaam. Her research focuses on social development and culture, endogenous development, and ethnobotanical studies in Tanzania. She is the first author and editor of Changing Dietary Patterns, Indigenous Foods, and Wild Foods: In Relation to Wealth, Mutual Relations, and Health in Tanzania (Springer 2023, 2023 JASID special award winner), author of Factors Influencing Child Survival in Tanzania (Springer, 2020), Social Development, Culture, and Participation: Toward Theorizing Endogenous Development in Tanzania (Shumpusha, 2009, 2021), and first author of Field Guide to Edible Plants in Tanzania and their Nutrition: Focusing of Wild Plants in Dodoma and Lindi (CMPS, 2024). She is the Principal Investigator for the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) project “African Indigenous Knowledge for SDGs and Future Generations: Contribution of Wild Food on Nutrition and Health”.

Lilian Daniel Kaale works at the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. She currently serves as Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University. Kaale holds a Ph.D. degree in Food Science and Engineering. Her main research areas are food nutrition, food processing (food value addition), and antimicrobial substances for food preservation and safety. Kaale has published more than 50 articles for local and international journals on food processing, nutrition, and antimicrobial agents for food preservation and safety. Kaale also has a wealth of international experience, having been able to participate in numerous conferences and workshops on food and nutrition security. Kaale is a Member of the Agriculture and Food Division Committee (AFDC), which advises the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) top management on all final decisions pertaining to Agriculture and Food standards in Tanzania. She has been appointed by Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) to serve as a Board Member at the School of Engineering and Food Technology. She has recently been appointed chairperson of the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) for the EAC framework to facilitate cross-border trade of pre-packaged food and cosmetics products.

Reiko Ohmori works at the School of Regional Design, Utsunomiya University, Japan. She holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from Ochanomizu University. She previously worked at the National Defense Medical College and was affiliated with the National Institute of Health and Nutrition and Ochanomizu University as a visiting researcher. Her research focuses on the relationships among health, dietary, genetic, and social factors. Her recent research has expanded to include food education, health promotion, disaster preparedness and nutrition, and the relationships among food environments, dietary behavior, and health. She has published more than 80 reports in journals such as Atherosclerosis and Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. She also contributes extensively to school education in Japan. She was involved in the development and editing of Japan’s national course of study for senior high schools and has authored textbooks for junior and senior high school students. She continues to contribute to government-approved high school textbooks, including editions published in 2025.