Why mangrove not used directly as food source?
Mangrove plants are not commonly used directly
as a food source, probably due to the high levels of
tannins and other distasteful chemicals. There is
processing of the hypocotyls of some species as a food
source (eg, Avicennia marina). This process is common
knowledge to many coastal groups, but is unknown to
people from coastal areas. It was suggested that this is
because indigenous diet was culturally determined and
when migrated into new areas; not necessarily
experiment with new foods, but in the case of the
coastal village people from India, sea level changes
isolated them on the island and there was a major
change from fresh water to marine as the Gulf flooded
(Alongi, 2002).