🎧 Underutilized foods of the South Pacific with Dr. Vincent Lal
This week, we explore the world of indigenous and underutilized foods of the South Pacific with Dr. Lal! 🌴🌺 Get ready for some incredible foods, cool chemistry, and inspiring stories!
Food has always been a means of nourishment and pleasure, but it is also deeply connected to culture and health. In the Pacific Islands, a region rich in unique biodiversity and vibrant food traditions, this connection between food, culture, and health is particularly evident. This week, Dr. Quave speaks with Dr. Vincent Lal, manager of analytical services at the University of the South Pacific Institute of Applied Sciences, about the diverse dietary consumption patterns and unique foods of the Pacific Islands. Vincent highlights the importance of access and benefit sharing as well as the values of underutilized indigenous foods like 'kava'. The conversation encapsulates efforts to boost food resilience in these island regions, their mission to build a younger generation of regional scientists and their collective hope under the FoodEdu initiative.
This podcast is sponsored by The Periodic Table of Food Initiative in association with the American Heart Association. The views and opinions in this podcast are those of the presenters and represent the synthesis of science. For more information on the Periodic Table of Food Initiative, please visit https://foodperiodictable.org/
Access a summary of this Foodie Pharmacology episode at the bottom of this post. This special feature is available to paid subscribers of the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter.
About Vincent
Dr Vincent Lal is a Manager of Analytical Services at the University of the South Pacific, Institute of Applied Sciences. He received his PhD from the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia). Vincent’s research focuses on human health risk assessment. Vincent is part of OCEANIAFOODS that is working on updating the Pacific Islands Foods Composition Tables.
Vincent’s research interests also include access and benefit sharing, contaminants and antimicrobial resistance. He works closely with governments in Pacific Island Countries as well as regional agencies like the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and Pacific Community, UN agencies like World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations Development Program) on the development of monitoring strategies for the protection of human and environmental health in Pacific Island Countries. Over the last 12 years, Dr. Lal has established local and regional networks in the Pacific Island Region for monitoring contaminants in the environment as well as investigating nutritional value of foods imported, grown and produced in the South West Pacific. He is also involved in capacity building and development related projects in the region. Dr Lal is a recipient of the CRC CARE, Endeavour and Greg Urwin Pacific Leadership Award by the Australian Government to further his research on human health issues relevant to Pacific Communities. Dr Lal is also a Project Leader for the inaugural "Food EDU" fellowships by the Period Table of the Food Initiative (PTFI).
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Yours in health, Dr. Quave
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