A case of transdisciplinarity and collaborative decision making: the co-construction of Gendered Food Product Profiles.

Crop breeding in sub-Saharan Africa has made considerable gains; however, postharvest and food-related preferences have been overlooked, in addition to how these preferences vary by gender, social difference and context. This context is changing as participatory approaches using intersectional gender and place-based methods are beginning to inform how breeding programmes make decisions. This article presents an innovative methodology to inclusively and democratically prioritise food quality traits of root, tuber and banana crops based on engagement with food systems actors and transdisciplinary collaboration.

Review of instrumental texture measurements as phenotypic tool to assess textural diversity of root, tuber and banana food products.

Roots, tubers and bananas (RTBs) contribute immensely to food security and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America. The adoption of RTB genotypes in these regions relies on the interplay among agronomic traits, ease of processing and consumer preference. In breeding RTBs, until recently little attention was accorded key textural traits preferred by consumers.

Contrasting effects of polysaccharide components on the cooking properties of roots, tubers and bananas.

Background: Consumer preferences for boiled or fried pieces of roots, tubers and bananas (RTBs) are mainly related to their texture. Different raw and cooked RTBs were physiochemically characterized to determine the effect of biochemical components on their cooking properties.

Results: Firmness in boiled sweetpotato increases with sugar and amylose contents but no significant correlation was observed between other physicochemical characteristics and cooking behaviour.

Food quality profile of pounded yam and implications for yam breeding.

Background: Assessment of the key preferred quality traits in pounded yam, a popularly consumed yam food product in West Africa, is often done through sensory evaluation. Such assessment is time-consuming and results may be biased. Therefore, there is a need to develop objective, high-throughput methods to predict the quality of consumer-preferred traits in pounded yam.