Food: Where Does It Come From: science class six

Food Variety

There are many types of food variety we eat. We eat rice, pulses, bread, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, milk, curd, sweets, butter, and other many food.

Question arises that what are these food items made of? And from where we get these food items.

Ingredients of Food

Raw materials used to make food are called Ingredients of Food.

There are many types of ingredients which are used to make food items. Boiled rice is made with most simple ingredients. Boiled rice is made of only two raw materials, these are rice and water. Rice is just boiled for specified time to cook rice.

Similarly, bread (roti) also is made of only two raw materials. These raw materials are flour and water. Flour is kneaded with water and cook on iron plate (tawa).

Common raw materials used to cook vegetables are raw vegetable, water, salt, turmeric, chilly, etc.

However there are many food items which we eat without cooking them.

Foods which we eat in the raw form are mainly fruits and salad. Apple, Guava, Papaya, Orange, Banana etc are fruits and we eat it in raw form. Some vegetables we eat in raw form as salad are tomato, radish, carrot, onion etc.

A raw food is mainly made of only one ingredient. But cooked food has more than one ingredient.

Food Materials and Sources

There are two sources of food materials.

(A) Plant

(B) Animal

A. Foods we get from Plant source

We get variety of food items from plant source.

We get wheat, rice, vegetables, fruits, etc. from plant.

We get wheat from wheat plant. Wheat is used in making bread. We get rice from rice plant. Rice is used to make boiled rice. However, rice flour is used to make bread and other many items also. We get pulses from pulse plant. We get maize from maize plant.

We get vegetables from vegetable plants. For example: bringle, lady finger, potato, cauliflower, pumpkin, etc.

Edible parts of plant

Many food items we get from plant, but we do not eat all parts of plant. We eat seeds of some plant, while we eat root of some plants.

Example:

We eat seeds of rice plant. Rice is the seeds of paddy plants. Rice is used to make boiled rice. However rice is used to make bread and other many delicious dishes.

We eat seeds of wheat plant. Wheat is used in making of bread.

We eat seeds of pulses plant. Pulses are used to make curry to get eaten with bread or rice.

We eat seeds of maize plant. Maize is used to make bread generally.

We eat stem of potato plants. Potato is used to make vegetables, chips, etc.

We eat root of carrot plant, radish plant, and sweet potato plants. Carrot, radish and sweet potato are used to make vegetables. Carrot and radish are eaten raw also.

We eat fruit of banana plant. Banana is a furit.

We eat fruit of mango plant. Mango is a fruit.

We eat fruit of guava plant. Guava is a furit.

We eat leaf of spinach plant. Spinach is a vegetable.

B. Foods we get from Animal source

A number of foods we get from animal sources. Animal are good source of our food. Like we get milk, fish, meat, egg from animals. Animals are domesticated to produce milk, meat and eggs as food products.

There is a branch of science which deals with the all about the management of animals called Animal Husbandry.

There are several types of animals which give us food.

Milk yielding Animal

Animals which give us milk are called milch animals. Example: cow, buffalo, Goat, camel etc gives us milk.

Milk is used to make butter, ghee, cheese, curd, sweets and other many milk products.

India is the highest milk producer in the world.

Meat yielding Animals

We get meat from animals. Some animals are domesticated for meat like goat, sheep, pigs, rabbit, hen, etc.

Meat is a very good source of proteins.

Some animals are domesticated to get meat as well as eggs. Like chicken, duck, turkey etc.

Animals which give us eggs and meat both are called poultry birds. The farming of these types of birds is called poultry farms.

Marine food products

We get meat of fish from the animals that live in water. A major human population earns their livelihood by catching and selling fish. Fish is also a very good source of proteins.

Culture of fish is called Pisciculture.

Insects which give food

We get honey from honey bees. Honey bees are a type of insects. In many countries ants, frogs, lizards are also used as food.

Types of Diet

On the basis of sources of food diet can be divided into two types, vegetarian diet and non-vegetarian diet.

Vegetarian Diet:

Food comes from plant source is called Vegetarian food. And diet made of food comes from plant source is called Vegetarian diet.

Example: Rice, wheat, vegetables, etc are vegetarian foods.

Some people eat only those foods which come from plant source. Such people are called VEGETARIAN.

Non-vegetarian Diet

Foods we get from animal source only are called non-vegetarian food. Food items comprise only foods come from animal source are called Non-Vegetarian diet.

There are many people who eat foods come from animal and plant sources both, are called Non-Vegetarian.

Food containing meat, fish, eggs, etc. is called non-vegetarian diet.

Animal?s Food

What do Animals Eat

Animals also need food to survive as us.

There are many animals and they eat different types of food. Some animals eat only grass, while some animals eat only flesh of other animals. However there are many animals, which eat both types of foods, come from plant and animal sources.

On the basis of food habit animal can be divided into three types.

(A) Herbivores

(B) Carnivores

(C) Omnivores

(A) Herbivores

Animals which feed on food comes from plant source only are called HERBIVORES.

Example:

Goat, cow, buffalo, deer, etc. These animals eat only foods come from plant sources. These animals are called GRASS EATING ANIMALS also.

Elephant and Giraffe are two biggest land animals, but both of these are HERBIVORES.

(B) Carnivores

Animals which eat only flesh of other animals are called CARNIVORES. Example:

Lion, Tiger, etc. These animals feed on flesh of other animals only.

Carnivores are known as flesh eating animals also.

(C) Omnivores

Animals which eat all types of food, that is foods come from animal and plant sources both, are called OMNIVORES.

Example:

Dog, cat, hen, rat, crow, etc.

Man is also an omnivores animal.

Scavengers

There are many animals which mainly feed on dead and decaying animals. Such animals are known as SCAVENGERS, as they clean environment by eating dead and decaying animals.

Example: Vulture, Eagle, etc.

Scavengers are Omnivores. These animals are very useful for us.

Parasites

There are many animals which feed on blood of other animals. Such animals are generally insects.

Animals which feed on blood of other animals are called PARASITES.

Example: leech, tapeworm, roundworm, mosquitoes, bugs, lice, etc.

Remember mosquito which live in your home. Have you ever pay attention that what it eats.

Since these animals depend on other animals for their food, and hence are called parasites.

SUMMARY

Plants and animals are sources of food.

We get vegetables, corns, pulses, fruit, etc. from plant source.

We get meat, fish, eggs, milk, etc. from animal source.

Raw materials which are used in making of food are called Ingredients of food.

We eat different part of different plants. For example we eat seeds of paddy plant, we eat seeds of wheat plant, maize plant, etc. We eat fruit of mango, guava, banana, plants. We eat stem of potato plants, we eat root of radish, carrot, etc.

Animals which eat those foods which come from plant source are called Herbivores. Herbivores means grass eating animals, for example: cow, buffalo, deer, rabbit, etc.

Animals which eat only meat of other animals are called Carnivores.

Animals which eat all types of food are called Omnivores.

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