Say what you will about colonial empires, but at least they generate reports. I recently came across a British report to Parliament in 1939 entitled “Summary of Information Regarding Nutrition in the Colonial Empire.” Four pages are devoted to Aden Colony, which is said to have an area of 75 square miles, a population in 1931 of 45,992, a birthrate in 1937 of 32.07 per 1,000, an infant mortality rate in 1937 of 196.61 per 1,000, and a death rate in 1937 of 31.72 per 1,000. I attach excerpts below:

“1. General. – …This survey deals primarily with the 75 square miles of volcanic rock and sand which constitute the Colony of Aden; a detailed review of the nutritional affairs of the Protectorate has been postponed until a later date. The Colony is almost entirely urban and so cosmopolitan in make-up as to complicate the task of reviewing the nutritional conditions as a whole. Arabs, Jews, Somalis and Indians of various races predominate, and a preponderance of males is occasioned by the fact that those who come to Aden for varying periods of time to seek livelihood as coolies or tradesmen leave their womenfolk behind in the interior or in India. The natural division is to classify Arabs, Jews and the poorer classes of Indian Mohammedans as the indigenous population and it is to these, particularly the middle and lower classes, that the present nutritional considerations apply.

2. Composition and Nutritive Value of Dietary. – All the chief articles of diet are, with the exception of fish, imported from overseas or from Arabia. They are: rice, flour, sugar,; fish, mutton, beef, goat’s milk, eggs, ghee; fruits, vegetables, dates, lentils, simsim oil, tea, coffee and spices. Continue reading Nutrition in Colonial Aden, #1 →