© Kamla-Raj 2019 Ethno Med, 13(2): 83-93 (2019) PRINT: ISSN 0973-5070 ONLINE: ISSN 2456-6772 DOI: 10.31901/24566772.2019/13.02.590 Food Taboos and Codes of Conduct for Pregnant Women at Mount Sindoro, Wonosobo District, Central Java, Indonesia Atik Triratnawati Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Jogjakarta, Indonesia E-mail: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> KEYWORDS Food Taboo. Prohibition. Culture. Pregnant Women. Maternal Nutrition ABSTRACT Undernourishment is a serious global health issue, threatening 165 million toddlers - ninety percent of them in Asia and Africa - with stunting. Indonesia has one of the highest levels of stunting prevalence, ranking fifth in the world. The people of Mount Sindoro, Central Java, have some of the highest stunting rates. This is caused by many factors, foremost of which is the undernourishment of pregnant women and toddlers. In that context, this paper discusses the food and conduct taboos for pregnant women in the area, as well as the beliefs in the Dieng region. The ethnographic study was conducted between July and October 2017. Data was collected through observation and interviews with 21 informants, including pregnant women, mothers of toddler, health providers, TBA’s, cadre and local leaders. Food and conduct taboos for pregnant women are passed from generation to generation. These taboos are linked to labor complications. Food taboos are linked to the consumption of fried rice, durians, jackfruits, pineapples, and sugarcane. Codes of conduct, meanwhile, include carrying dlingo bengle (Acorus calamus, Zingiber montanum) when going out, eating from big plates, and smearing the bedroom door with oil, as well as prohibitions against napping, working in the fields, eating spicy foods, grilling food, throwing away garbage, thinking about disabled people, killing animals, and taking newborns outside the house before they are 40 days old. Violation of such taboos and codes of conduct are believed to negatively affect the labor process. The well-established traditions and local culture, as well as the fear of labor complications, influences pregnant women to obey these taboos and codes of conduct. INTRODUCTION 2015). The factor of stunting among the school children in West Sumatra, Indonesia is correlat- Undernourishment is a serious global health ed with nutritional status. Meanwhile the moth- issue. There are 67 million children and 18 mil- er’s formal education and economic grade are lion babies experienced low birth weight, while influences of stunting also (Sulastri 2012). more than 200 million toddlers in developing It is ironic that Indonesia, with its rich natu- countries die or are dying from undernourish- ral resources, stability, and security, has a high ment (Kariuki et al. 2002). These numbers are prevalence of stunting. Despite the implementa- increasing daily. tion of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, Undernourishment threatens 165 million tod- Indonesia still faces problems of undernourish- dlers with stunting, ninety percent of them in ment, especially among children. As such, of Asia and Africa. The global target is to reduce the Sustainable Development Goals nutrition the prevalence of stunting to forty percent by remains apriority, particularly the two: no pover- 2025, a rate of 3.9 percent per year. Indonesia is ty and zero hunger, both of which can be factors one country with a high prevalence of stunting; in undernourishment. with a stunting prevalence of thirty to thirty- Undernourishment does not only affect ba- nine percent, it ranks fifth globally (Trihono et bies, toddlers, and children; pregnant women al. 2015). In 2014, Indonesia rank first in South- also face the same problem. The prevalence of east Asia in stunting prevalence (Solahuddin undernourishment (chronic energy deficiency) in pregnant women in Indonesia is 24.2 percent Address for correspondence: (Ministry of Health 2013). Stunting cases do not Atik Triratnawati occur suddenly; they involve a long process, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya, from the would-be mother’s adolescence until Universitas Gadjah Mada, Jalan Sosio Humaniora 1, pregnancy. According to WHO, there are about Sleman, Jogjakarta 55281, Indonesia 450 million women in developing countries, in- Telephone: +62-0274-550451 cluding Indonesia, who live with growth prob- 84 ATIK TRIRATNAWATI lems that are caused by childhood undernour- Wonosobo Regency, has seen cases of stunt- ishment as a result of poverty. Even in wealthier ing. The village is home to 22 stunted children. families, culture dictates that husbands and sons Sigedang Village, on the slopes of Mount Sin- receive bigger and better portions of food, while doro, near Dieng plateau is known to have high mothers only eat the remainder. This remains prevalence of stunting among the villagesof true even though women, who undergo men- Kejajar District. struation, actually need more nutrition - includ- Stunting is caused by many factors, includ- ing iron and iodine intake - than men (Devi 2010; ing maternal nutrition, anemia. During pregnan- Irianto 2015). cy, an unborn child receives its nutrition from its The majority of stunting cases occur in poor mother. Although pregnancy is the most crucial and food insecure societies, but it is a global period in the child’s brain growth, Javanese tra- problem. It is, simply, an impaired growth pro- ditional culture still dictates several food taboos cess in children. According to WHO, one is con- and sets certain codes of conduct for pregnant sidered stunted if one’s height is less than -2 women. Some fruits, fishes, meats or chicken standard deviation from WHO growth standard. eggs, palm sugar, ice cubes are avoided among The national prevalence of chronic undernour- Javanese pregnant women in the village (Hartini ishment (stunting) among children aged 6-12 et al. 2005). According to women, eating fruits, years in Indonesia, according to the Indonesia fishes, meat or chicken eggs will cause difficulty Basic Health Research 2010, is 35.6 percent (Min- during delivery because the foetus would be istry of Health Republic of Indonesia 2011). East upside down in the womb, while eating eggs will Nusa Tenggara province has the highest preva- make them behave like chicken during delivery lence of stunting in Indonesia, reaching 58.4 and would make delivery last longer (Oni and percent (Picauly and Toy 2013). Tukur 2012). Food taboos whether scientifically Other data, taken from Trihono et al. (2015), correct or not are often meant to protect the hu- shows Indonesia’s historical stunting prevalence man individual. The observation, for example, that in childrenas thirty-two percent (2001), thirty per- certain allergies and depression are associated cent (2004), 33.4 percent (2007) and 37.2 percent with each other could have led to declaring food (2013). Stunting is a strong indicator of human items taboo that were identified as causal agents resource quality, and marks a nation’s decreased for allergies such as egg (Meyer-Rochow 2009). productivity in the future. It signifies future pov- Cultural belief and food taboo for pregnant wom- erty, poor health, susceptibility to non-communi- en contributes to the incidence of anaemia in many cable diseases, and a lack of education. countries (Widyawati et al. 2015). The Indonesian government has made a According to Rahman, there are many food strong commitment to overcome the problem of taboos in Bangladesh also among pregnant wom- undernourishment by including it in the Long- en, related to pineapple and milk. He said:” Eval- term National Plan, 2005-2025. Efforts to over- uation of the toxicity related to clinical signs, he- come stunting have included, for instance, mass matological and biochemical parameters, gross media publication. In one public service an- and microscopic findings propose that taking pine- nouncement, the Ministry of Health used Indo- apple and milk at the time is not toxic”. So this nesia’s Vice-President Jusuf Kalla and the slo- food taboo in Bangladesh is wrong (Rahman 2017). gan “Overcome stunting, because it matters”. Food and drink taboos, as well as prohibi- However, the strategy developed to overcome tions of certain behaviors among pregnant wom- stunting has not been not evidence-based. It is en and their husbands, are still common in necessary to ensure valid mapping of the spread Sigedang.These food taboos and codes of con- of stunting in affected regions and to identify duct are integrated, of equal importance, and the proper course of action for each region. equally binding to pregnant women. It is believed In western Indonesia, the prevalence of that violations of them will equally affect preg- stunting has decreased. However, in Java, espe- nant women.Even though modern healthcare ex- cially Central Java, stunting is still found in moun- ists in the region, local culture still strongly af- tain communities such as those in Wonosobo fects the taboos and codes of conduct experi- Regency. In Sigedang Village, Kejajar District, enced by pregnant women. Ethno Med, 13(2): 83-93 (2019) NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE AND HEALTH STATUS OF PCA PATIENTS 85 People of certain ages are more vulnerable women are not allowed to consume certain foods to undernourishment, as a result of which they and expected to follow certain codes of conduct can easily suffer health problems. People in these during pregnancy. This is done to prevent un- age groups are primarily in the developing years wanted accidents in pregnancy, such as miscar- of their lives, and thus require more nutrition. riage or labor complications. These include infants, toddlers, pregnant wom- The existence of such rules is supported by en, and lactating women. Infants and toddlers the social environment. In Javanese village cul- are still growing rapidly, and thus require more ture, the sources and strategies of countermea- protein, iron, calcium, and vitamins. Pregnant sures and social network support are important women, meanwhile, require more nutrition to pro- (White 2011). Immediate or extended family can mote the growth of the fetus and the smooth be protectors, or they can be the ones that mar- operation of organs involved in the pregnancy ginalize.