Gender Norms, Food Choice and Household Food Consumption Pattern in Pastoral Community in Kambala Village at Mvomero District

This research has been done at Kambala Village in Mvomero District to examine the gender norms, food choice, and household food consumption patterns in pastoral communities. Specifically, the study determines the influences of gender norms on household food consumption patterns in pastoral communities, assessing household food consumption patterns associated with food choice in pastoral communities and identifying factors of food choice and gender norms in pastoral communities. A cross-section research design was adopted. Simple random sampling was used to acquire a total sample size of 96 pastoralist households, 57 households from the Maasai tribe,32 from Gogo,5 from Zigua, and 2 from Kamba. Data were collected through interviews administered questionnaires, and key informant interviews. Statistical Package for Social Science program (SPSS) was used for analyzing quantitative data, whereby descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and t-test analysis were carried out. The content analysis was used to analyze qualitative information. The findings show that the average household food consumption pattern, through 24-hour dietary recall results, showed that the average milk intake for every meal time was 36.5% and stiff porridge intake for dinner and lunch time was 76.0% in pastoral community members, both milk and stiff porridge intake have a high level of significant of 0.000 with compare mean with tribes and marital status of respondents. The Maasai tribe has some food taboos prohibiting the consumption of chicken and fish, limiting household food diversity. Man has higher priority in serving food first in high quantity and quality than women and children in the household of pastoral community. Food choice is based on the food availability factor and preferred cereal and meat for 100% and most foods eaten often by 100% are stiff porridge, beef, and fresh milk.