FOOD AND IT'S SOURCES

1. FOOD AND IT’S SOURCES
Points to be discussed:
Importance of food
What is nutrients?
What are ingredients?
Different sources of food
Food habits
Classification of animals on the basis of their food habit
Food is one of our basic needs. We cannot live without food. But the question is
why? Because it gives us energy. Let’s discuss the important functions of food.
Functions of food are as follows:
 Food gives us energy to work.
 Food keeps us healthy and active.
 Food helps us to fight against diseases.
 Food helps in growth and development of our body.
 Food helps to repair the damaged cells and form new cells.
From the above mentioned functions of food, one question arises here, that what
makes the food to do so many functions all together? Food has different types of
nutrients in it. Nutrients are the chemical substances present in food. So, because
of nutrients food is capable of performing so many functions in our body.

2. We use different types of materials to prepare a particular recipe or dish. The raw
materials to prepare a particular recipe or dish is called ingredients. As for
example – to make chapatti we need to take flour and water for the preparation of
dough. So, flour and water are the ingredients of chapatti. To make vegetable curry
we need vegetables, oil, spices and water. So, these are the ingredients of vegetable
curry.
In the above discussion we got an idea about the ingredients. Here the question
arises, how or from where we will collect all these raw materials? So, these raw
materials are obtained from different sources of food.
There are mainly two types of sources. They are Plant and Animals. That means
we collect all the ingredients for the preparation of dishes either from plants or
from animals or from both of these.
 The food items obtained from plants are called plant food.
 The food items obtained from animals are called animal food.
There are different categories of plant food. We eat different parts of plants as
food. We can categorize all the plant food items on the basis the part of the plant it
is obtained from. They are as follows – cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, oils and
spices.
 CEREALS:
Cereals are the seeds of plants we eat as food. Maximum portion of our meal
is made up of cereals. So, cereals make up our staple food. Example – Rice,
Wheat, Jowar, Bajra, Millet, Maize etc.

3.  PULSES:
Pulses are also seeds of plants we eat as food. These are very nutritious.
Example – Lentil, Pea, Bean etc.

4.  VEGETABLES:
The term vegetables refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers,
fruits, stems, leaves, roots, and seeds. On the basis of the plant parts these
can be classified under the following categories. They are as follows:
VEGETABLES
ROOT
VEGETABLES
STEM
VEGETABLES
LEAFY
VEGETABLES
FLOWER
VEGETABLES

5. From the above discussion the main point to be understood is that why do
we eat different parts of a plant as vegetable? Plants can prepare their own
food in presence of sunlight with the help of chlorophyll, carbon dioxide and
water. This process is known as photosynthesis. Plants produce Glucose as
their food and utilizes as a source of energy. After the usage of the food the
extra amount of glucose is stored into different parts of plants. So, we eat
the different parts of a plant as vegetable.
 FRUITS:
Fruits are produced from flowers. It contains seeds inside. Example – Apple,
Banana, Pineapple, Guava etc.
The interesting fact to be discussed here – are fruits and vegetables same or
they are different from each other? Fruits and vegetables are classified
depending on which part of the plant they come from. Fruits come from the
flowering part of a plant and contain seeds. In contrast, vegetables are the
edible parts of a plant, such as the leaves, stem, roots, flowers etc. Anything
that contains the seeds of the plant is a fruit, not a vegetable. But there are
exceptions – This category includes many items consider to be vegetables,
including squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant and avocados.
These are vegetables considered as fruits because these contain seeds inside.
The habit of an individual owing to which it takes a particular type of food
depending on its taste and availability is called food habit.
The animals are classified mainly into three groups on the basis of the kinds of
food they consume. They are as follows:

6.  HERBIVORE:
Plant eating animals are called Herbivores. Animals that eat only different
parts of plants are known as Herbivores. As they only depend on plants as
their food they have developed a special pattern of teeth. Their front teeth
(incisor) are very sharp and big that help them
to cut or tear the plant parts easily. They also
have flat back teeth that help them to grind and
chew the plant parts. Example – Cow, Goat,
Zebra, Giraffe etc.
 CARNIVORE:
Flesh eating animals are called Carnivores.
Animals that eat only flesh of other animals are
known as Carnivores. As they only fed upon the
flesh of other animals they have also developed
a special pattern of teeth. Their canine teeth are
very sharp and strong to tear the flesh and their
back teeth are flat that help them to chew and
grind the flesh and bones. Example – Lion, Tiger, Cheetah, Leopard etc.
 OMNIVORE:
Animals that eat both the plant parts and flesh of other animals are called
Omnivores. Omnivores, because they eat both meat and plants, have a
combination of sharp front teeth and molars for grinding. Example – Bear,
Crow, Human etc.
ANIMALS
HERBIVORE CARNIVORE OMNIVORE

7. Except the above discussed categories, there are some other categories. They
are as follows:
 SCAVENGERS:
Animals that eats the flesh of dead animals are known as scavengers.
Basically scavengers are also carnivorous but the main difference in their
food habit is – carnivores hunt or kill the animals then eat their flesh and
scavengers eat the flesh of the animals which are already dead. Example –
Vulture, Jackal, Hyena etc.
 PARASITES:
A parasite is an organism that lives on or in another living organism’s body
and gets its food from their bodies. This living organisms are called host
organism. Parasites absorbs the nutrients from host’s body. Example –
Fungi, Lice, Tapeworm etc.