Food Research Institute

Bilgin, D. G. – Özhanli, H. – Mutlu, C. – Erbas, M.
Tarhana as a food aid suggestion to the world food program


Ceren Mutlu, Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Akdeniz University, Dumlupınar Boulevard, 07058 Antalya, Turkey; Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Balikesir University, Bigadiç, 10145 Balikesir, Turkey. E-mail: cerenmutlu@akdeniz.edu.tr

Received 21 October 2021; 1st revised 24 February 2022; accepted 21 March 2022; published online 9 May 2022.

Summary: Many regions of the world still suffer from food insecurity, undernourishment and hunger problems. These problems are basically caused by a changing climate, natural disasters, depletion of natural resources, rapid population growth, lack of knowledge, conflicts and wars. Governments and United Nations institutions aim to prevent undernourishment and hunger by direct transportation of adequate, safe and nutritional foods via food aid. Tarhana food could be an alternative idea for providing food aid with mixed food materials obtained from various sources, such as animal and vegetal, instead of a single type of food, including a single source such as grain or milk. In this way, they can help to solve nutritional problems of people suffering from hunger and nutritional deficiencies. Tarhana is a traditional, nutritious, easy-to-prepare and digestible mixed food material obtained by fermenting cereals and dairy products with some vegetables and spices. The inclusion of tarhana to food aid packages can be a solution to hunger and nutritional deficiency problems and it can also be a transition point of passing to solid food. This review aimed to reveal some properties of tarhana and the idea of the inclusion of tarhana in food aid packages prepared for people suffering from undernourishment and hunger.

Keywords: hunger; undernourishment; malnutrition; food security; food aid; tarhana

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