Multiculturalism as a challenge for a dietitian

Abstract

Dietitian consultation with a patient mainly concerns his lifestyle and eating habits. Most often they result from family traditions or cultural conditions. Dietary recommendations and principles of diet therapy, which the dietitian gets acquainted with during the education process, are usually adapted to the traditional profile of the Pole. Meanwhile, the growing mobility between countries means that more and more people who have different cultural, philosophical, religious and physiological conditions may appear in the Polish dietary clinic. These types of challenges are becoming more and more common. The availability of food products from around the world in Polish stores is also increasing. On the one hand, it allows foreigners to make traditional dishes but also inspires the inhabitants of our country. These challenges indicate the need to include in the process of educating dietitians a module covering knowledge about multiculturalism, cuisines of the world and religious principles influencing the way of eating. This will facilitate the development of alternative recommendations for patients from different cultural backgrounds, taking into account their eating habits. It is also worth putting emphasis on learning foreign languages and deepening the ability to create nutritional recommendations for patients from other countries. This will allow us to overcome the difficulties resulting from multiculturalism.