VOL. 8, NO. 5, MAY 2013 ISSN 1990-6145 ARPN Journal of Agricultural and Biological Science © 2006-2013 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved. www.arpnjournals.com 364 PROXIMATE COMPOSITION OF THE PREPARED DISHES OF DISTRICT MARDAN AND PESHAWAR Niamat Ullah 1 , Iftikhar Alam 2 , Aurang Zeb 3 , Najma Iqbal 1 and Alam Khan 1 1 The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan 2 Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, Pakistan 3 Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Nowshera,Pakistan E-Mail: niamatullah@aup.edu.pk ABSTRACT Chemical composition of the dishes prepared in the farmers’ homes of Peshawar and Mardan districts were determined. Three villages in district Peshawar and three villages in district Mardan were selected on the basis that farmers community were living there and these villages were far away from each others covering ethnic and geographical variation. Hundred farmers’ were selected from each village for a larger nutritional study. Information about ingredient formulation and cooking procedure of the dishes was obtained by filling a questioner from 20% of the selected farmers. The dishes were collected from these farmers and analyzed for proximate. The results of the study show the range of various nutrient contents which were; moisture 32.52% (wheat bread bazari) to 96.0% (soup); ash 3.0% (rice) to 11.3% (cabbage ground beef); protein 6.1% (bringil) to 44.3% (soup); fat 0.99% (wheat bread (home)) to 67.9% (spinach (palak) egg); fiber 1.5% (wheat bread (bazaar) to 26.8% (mash bean mint (chakni); Nitrogen Free Extract 0.87% (lady-finger meat) to 75.7% (wheat bread (home); The energy content (kcal/100g) ranged from 384 (wheat bread (home) to 708 (spinach (palak) egg). In conclusion, the dishes of rural areas of these two districts were found quite variable in ingredients and nutrients. Keywords: Composition of prepared dishes, ingredients, nutrients, Peshawar, Mardan. INTRODUCTION Knowledge of food intake and its chemical composition is the first essential in the dietary treatment of diseases (McCance and Widdowson, 1940) and make the basis for any nutritional intervention. This often quoted remark indicates the original motivation behind food composition studies that are normally carried out to identify and determine the chemical nature of the food components affecting health and the mechanisms whereby chemical constituents exert their influence (Greenfield and Southgate, 2003). Food composition tables are absolutely basic tools for the work of the dietitian and the human nutritionist. Every dietary prescription is built on the data in the food tables. Every study of the relationship between diet and health depends on the use of food Tables to calculate nutrient intake. (Robertson, 2003). Food composition provides detailed information on the concentrations of nutrients and nutritionally important components in foods. Food composition have a wide variety of uses, which includes; assessment of health and nutritional status at individual, regional, national and international levels; formulation of appropriate institutional and therapeutic diets, including those for schools and hospitals; helping to identify nutrition education and health promotion needs; food and nutrition training; epidemiological research on relationships between diet and disease; devising nutrition labeling; food product and recipe development; monitoring the nutritional value, safety and authenticity of foods for food trade, and consumer protection and information; improvements to the food supply, such as plant breeding and new methods of cultivation, harvesting and preservation. Dietary assessments can only be as good as the food composition is accurate (Bingham, 1987) the use of foreign chemical composition data presents many problems due to the complexity of developing and compiling data for food composition tables. The problem becomes more difficult when the data available are relatively old, or lack information about a local food dish. Various macro- and micro-nutrients deficiencies/imbalances still exist in various sections of the Pakistani population, resulting in low health standards, poor productivity in terms of physical and cognitive work, and high prevalences of various communicable and non- communicable diseases. These may not be necessarily the outcome of lack of food availability. Improper selection of food items may also add to the phenomenon. The evidence from epidemiological studies and national assessments of nutritional status have, therefore, led to increased guidance and education programmes on choosing a healthy diet. Farmer’s communities have cultural foods, prepared in traditional ways. However reported data on chemical composition of the prepared dishes of these communities are non-existent. Ingredients formulation, preparation methods and chemical composition of the daily foods must be documented with a view to assess the nutritional status of the people in a given community. Present studies were undertaken to determine the composition of prepared food of agricultural families belonging to different geographical locations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.