OBJECTIVE: To investigate factors influencing rural and urban adolescents' food perceptions during a time of nutritional transition in Cameroon, Africa.

DESIGN: Qualitative in-depth interviews.

SETTINGS: Yaoundé urban and Bandja rural areas.

PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen adolescents 12 to 15 years old purposely selected from schools in urban and rural areas.

ANALYSIS: Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using Grounded Theory method.

FINDINGS: Factors influencing adolescents' food perceptions from the rural area were "to live" "health" and "poverty." Among adolescents from the urban poor area, "health," "beauty," and "not enough money" were factors. Among adolescents from the urban rich area, "pleasure" and "beauty" were factors. Rural girls liked "to be fat," whereas girls from the urban poor wanted "to be a little bit fat," and girls from the urban rich wanted "to be normal."

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Food behavior is changing from a diet composed of traditional food in rural areas to a more westernized diet in urban areas. The relationship between socioeconomic factors and nutrition needs to be examined with a sufficiently large number of adolescents to investigate these factors in a quantitative survey. Healthful local food should be available at home and from vendors. Nutrition education about food and diet-related diseases is needed in school.