Food - Where does it Come from? Class 6 Notes Science

Food & Nutrition

Food has a nutritive value that human beings and animals eat or plants absorb in order to maintain life and growth.

A balanced diet provides the range of vitamins and minerals our bodies need to function efficiently.

Balanced Diet gives us Complete Nutrition

Uses of Food in our Body

• It provides us with the energy to do various activities.
• Helps in growth.
• It helps in the repair and replacement of damaged parts of the body.
• Protects us from infections and diseases.

Food Variety

We eat different varieties of food like rice, bread, vegetables, eggs, butter, sweets, cheese etc. which have different ingredients in them.

Ingredients of Food

• Materials needed to prepare any food item are called ingredients. Two or more than two ingredients are needed to prepare a dish.
• Examples:
  (i) To prepare boiled rice, rice and water are used, so rice and water are the ingredients for boiled rice.(ii) Atta (flour) and water are the two ingredients required to make a chapatti.
   Flour
  (iii) Vegetables, salt, water, and spices are used in cooking vegetable curry, so vegetables, salt, water, and spices are ingredients of vegetable curry.

Food Materials and Sources

As we said, food comes in a variety of forms, each come from different sources. 

Food Items

• We eat different food items every day.
• Each of these food items requires ingredients to make them.
• E.g., Chicken curry is made with chicken, spices, oil/ghee, and water.

Food Sources

• The ingredients of a food item can be obtained from either plants or animals.
• So there are plant products and animal products.
• E.g., We get rice grains from rice plants.
• Chicken is an animal source of food.
• Items like salt and water make a third category.

Plant Parts and Animal Products as Food

Food from Plant Source

Rice, wheat, vegetables, fruits, etc. are obtained from plant sources. We get these ingredients from certain parts of different plants.

Some examples of edible plant parts are shown below:

Edible Parts of Plants

(a) Root: We eat the root of radish, carrot, turnip, sweet potato, beet, etc.

(b) Stem: In certain plants, the stem grows underground and store the food. Ginger, potato(underground stem), and onion are stems of plants in which food is stored. So, we eat the stem of ginger, potato, onion, etc.

(c) Leaf: Spinach, Lettuce, Trigonella, etc. We eat the leaves of these plants

(d) Fruits: Orange, grapes, kiwi, apple etc. We eat fruits from these plants.

Fruits(e) Oil Seeds: Seeds of many plants are used to extract oil.

Example: Mustard oil is extracted from seeds of the mustard plant. Similarly, sunflower oil, coconut oil, groundnut oil, soyabean oil, etc. are obtained from seeds of respective plants.

(f) Sugar: We get sugar from sugarcane and sugar beet plant.

(g) Tea & Coffee: These are common beverages. Tea is obtained from leaves, while coffee is obtained from seeds.

(h) Spices: They have no nutritive value and are used for adding flavour to food. The major spices are pepper, cardamom, ginger, turmeric. Other spices are cloves, saffron, fennel, cumin, coriander, asafoetida, and fenugreek.

Spices

Foods from Animal Source

We get milk, eggs, meat, honey, fish, etc. from animals. Buffaloes and cow give milk. Hen and duck give eggs.

We get meat from goat, chicken, hen etc. Eggs and meat are rich in protein. Fish is a major part of the food for people living in the coastal regions.

(a) Honey: Honeybee produces honey from the nectar of flowers. It is rich in sugar, minerals and enzymes.

(b) Autotrophs: Plants produce their own food by the process of photosynthesis and are called autotrophs.

(Auto: self; troph: nourishment or food)

Green Plants: Autotrophs

(c) Heterotrophs: Animals; including humans; do not make their own food. They eat food prepared by plants or plant products.

What do Animals Eat?

In the food web animals are categorized as consumers. The primary producers called plants, provide the things to eat and shelter. But they depend on either directly or indirectly.

Food Habits of Animals: The method of eating or choices of food followed by living organisms is called food habit. Example: a rabbit eats grass or plant-based food.

Heterotrophs are divided into the following types on the basis of their food habit:

• Herbivores: Animals that eat only grass and plant products are called herbivores. Cow, Elephant, Camel, Deer, Goat, etc. are examples of herbivores.

Herbivore

• Carnivores: Animals which eat the flesh of other animals are called carnivores. Lion, jackal, frog, tiger, lizard, snake, etc. are examples of carnivores.

Carnivore

• Omnivores: Animals that eat both plants and meat are called omnivores. Crow, monkey, bear, human, sparrow, etc. are examples of omnivores.

Omnivore

• Scavengers: Some animals which eat the flesh of dead animals are called scavengers.

Scavenger

Frequently Asked Questions

Q.1. Explain the importance of food for living organisms.

Ans:  Food is needed by all living organisms for the following reasons:

• It provides us energy to do various activities.
• It helps in growth.
• It helps in the repair and replacement of damaged parts of the body.
• It protects us from infections and diseases.

Q.2. What are the two main sources of food?

Ans: The two main sources of food are: 

1. Plants: We get fruits, vegetables, pulses, etc., from plants.
2. Animals: We get milk, eggs, meat, etc., from animals.

Q.3. Describe the types of animals based on what they eat.

Ans: Animals can be of three types based on what they eat. They are namely herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.

• Herbivores or herbivorous animals are the ones that eat plants. Animals like cows, goats, rabbits, deer, elephants are all herbivorous animals.

• Carnivores or carnivorous animals are the ones that feed on other animals. Animals like dogs, cats, lions, tigers, bears fall into the category of carnivorous animals.

• Omnivores: The animals that eat both plants and other animals are known as omnivores or omnivorous animals. Human beings are a prime example of omnivores.

• Scavengers: Those animals that consume the flesh of dead animals are known as scavengers. Leopard, hyena, and raccoon are animals that are scavengers.