Health, Nutrition, and Sustainability: Exploring Unconventional Food Sources Volume 1

Evolving dietary preferences, increasing concerns over food security and a growing awareness of the negative impact traditional food production practices have on the environment, have caused a major shift in the food landscape. Health, Nutrition and Sustainability: Exploring Unconventional Food Sources, Volume 1, addresses the surge in interest in exploring unconventional and alternative food sources that can diversify diets and become new sources of sustainable foods. From the underutilized to the lesser known, these foods are prime to improve nutrition and reduce ecological and carbon footprints. Health, Nutrition and Sustainability: Exploring Unconventional Food Sources, Volume 1, introduces readers to untapped food sources such as novel grains and seeds, underutilized fruits and vegetables, rare spices and herbs, edible invasives and edible flowers, and seaweed and microalgae and highlight their bioactive components and nutritional values. Through topics such as waste valorization, precision agriculture, organic farming and climate-smart agriculture strategies, the book also demonstrates how adaptation of underutilized plant foods play a crucial role in meeting global food security while minimizing environmental impact. The authors also navigate the readers through the safety and toxicity of these foods. A complementary volume highlighting the dietary, sensory, and gastronomic applications of unconventional foods and how they can enhance future product development is also available.- Explores nutritional and sustainable aspects of unconventional food sources- Discusses ethical sourcing and environmental benefits of alternative food sources- Highlights innovative approaches to waste valorization by repurposing food byproducts as a source for future foods- Uncovers nutritional potential and bioactive components of edible flowers- Provides insights to the safety and toxicity of unconventional food sources

About the Author

Dr. Tanmay Sarkar is currently working as a Lecturer in the Government of West Bengal. With 9 years of experience in both teaching and research, his areas of interest include bioactive components from natural sources, ethnic foods, mathematical modeling, and phytochemicals. He is an editor for several SCI, SCIE, and Scopus- indexed journals and has edited numerous books with Elsevier and Springer.

Dr. Slim Smaoui is an Associate Professor at the University of Sfax. His research focuses on the valorization of agro-food industry by-products as sources of bioactive compounds, and the design of functional foods enriched with bioactive ingredients.

He has authored more than 250 publications, including numerous articles in Scopus-indexed, international peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Smaoui serves on the editorial boards of several reputable international journals and is actively involved as a guest editor and reviewer for multiple ISI-indexed journals.