The sustained surge in African economic growth over the past 15 years has by now been widely
recognized (World Bank 2014; Radelet 2010; Young 2012). Emerging evidence suggests that
this income growth has begun to drive far-reaching changes in food demand among African
households – a diet transformation (Tschirley et al. 2014). As expected from Bennett’s Law, and
as documented earlier in Asia by Pingali (2006), this diet transformation involves a relative
move away from cereal and tuber staples towards meat, fish, eggs, dairy, fruits and vegetables,
and fats. Recent research also shows that the transformation involves a dramatic shift towards
processed foods in urban and even rural areas (Dolislager et al. forthcoming). Other research on
diet transformations in the developing world has focused on the now widely documented
nutrition transition (Popkin 2009) and on implications for natural resource use and
environmental sustainability (Godfray et al. 2010).