Globalization of Food and Health on Guam
Ancient Chamorro Food
Native Foods
About 3,000- 5,000 years ago, the Chamorro diet consisted of a basis of growing thier own food, hunting in island's jungle and catching fish in the ocean that surrounds. In early accounts of Chamorro food, thier diet specifically entailed, coconuts, yams, wild yams, arrowroot and other roots; bananas, breadfruit, rice, taro, sugarcane, Federica nuts, ginger, and varieties of fish and other seafooods.
The most important protein of the ancient Chamorro Diet was seafood. The indigenous people of the island were expert fishermen who were most knowledgable about the variours fising methods. According the archeological findings, the fishermen used fishhooks and sinkers. Some varities of reef fish and inshore fish they consumed were flying fish, big-eye scad, parrot fish, clams, sea urhcins, and "hachuman". Other sources of food were jungle fowl in the Northern Marianas, freshwater eels, freshwater shrimps and coconut crabs.
Rice: A Cultivated Staple
Many people today are surpirsed to learn that rice was a cultivated staple during the ancient Chamorro times. Historical accounts explain that rice was produced in large quanities and was later used for trading between other islands. The ancient Chamorros were the only people of the Marianas who cultivated rice in the tropics. Rice crops were grown using a slash and burn agriculture method in which the vegetation was cut and burned or buried to clear areas for cultivation and enrich the soil.With the use of a hoe or wooden digging stick, rice was planted by hand in natural swamps.
Foods Introduced Through Globalization
According to studies, there were no indigenous, four-legged animals in the Mariana islands. During the Spanish era (1665-1898), animals such as pigs, cats, dogs, chickens, spotted deer, pygmy quails, painted quails, cattle, goats and carabao were introduced to Guam. The only native mammals of that time were bats- the fruit eating "Flying Fox" and the insect eating "Pajesjes."
