TBM Report
Leading food, health, and agricultural experts convened in the capital on Tuesday to analyze the underlying factors governing dietary choices in Bangladesh, aiming to refine public health interventions for sustainable, planet-friendly diets.
Organized by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) at the Sheraton Dhaka, the Expert Elicitation Workshop brought together 39 specialists spanning government ministries, academic institutions, civil society, the food industry, and youth organizations.
The initiative adopted the Gastronomic Systems Research (GSR) framework to map out the cultural, social, economic, and behavioral dynamics shaping consumer choices. Participating entities included the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Agricultural University, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, GAIN Bangladesh, SAJIDA Foundation, and the SUN Bangladesh Youth Network. Culinary historians and food vloggers also contributed insights on evolving dietary patterns.
Opening the session, Dr. Arindam Samaddar, Project Leader at IRRI, emphasized that addressing nutritional deficits extends beyond merely scaling up food production. Understanding consumer decision-making rooted in affordability, convenience, and cultural traditions remains paramount.
Dr. Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, Associate Professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University, remarked that the GSR framework provides a pragmatic and scalable avenue to tackle complex public health hurdles by linking interventions directly to everyday eating habits.
Highlighting the medical dimension, Israt Jahan Dorin, Chief Dietitian at Bangladesh Diabetic Network Ltd., noted that dissecting cultural drivers of food choice forms the bedrock of effective diabetes prevention strategies. Furthermore, IRRI Representative for Bangladesh Dr. Humnath Bhandari reaffirmed that integrating nutrition into rice-based agricultural systems stands at the core of IRRI’s broader strategy for national food security.
