African Cereal-based Brews: Cultural Heritage and Nutritional Importance

Micronutrient deficiency, or hidden hunger, is a global challenge that affects hundreds of millions of people each year. Traditionally, fermentation has served as a practice to enhance nutrient availability, mitigate anti-nutritive compounds, and provision probiotics. In many African nations, traditional beers, often characterized by low alcohol content, are crafted from a wide range of crops. Despite their nutritional richness, these beverages remain largely understudied. As diets change and growing culture shifts to a focus on quantity, the importance of these traditional beers can be overlooked despite their contribution to nutritional balance and economic and socio-cultural well being of local peoples. The persistence of these drinks is threatened by introduced foods, changing lifestyles, and global development initiatives that neglect the value of traditional foodways and crops. We provide a review of African beers, taking into account cultural contexts, fermentation processes, and nutrition. We discuss the prospects of fostering continuity and revitalizing knowledge, production, and utilization of African beers.