ABSTRACT
The recommendation and estimation of human energy and dietary requirement until today has been based only on the physiological needs of food nutrients. The fact that food is also an integral part of socialization process seemed to be ignored. In some communities beside having a social function, food is also used non-physiologically such as in religious ceremonies. It was hypothesized that for communities like Bali Island where food is used extensively for non-physiological purpose, such as in religious ceremonies, the present recommendation is still inadequate as--it failed to consider the food needed for that purpose. Furthermore it was believed that the quality and quantity of food used for that practice depends on the socio-economic status of the households.

---

The general objectives of this study was to observe the non-physiological. usage of food in Balinese household, in order to calculate the total food requirement of households for both physiological and social needs and to obtain information on the religious and cultural background or explanation of the practice.

---

The results of semi-structured interviews and observations on 60 households from two villages in Tabanan Districts, Bali, indicated that there were no statistically significant relationship between the quality and quantity of food used non-physiologically and the socio-economic status of the households. Based on the three alternate days 24-hour recall, it was calculated that the food used for' non-physiological purpose in terms of kcal amounted to 3.6 % of the total daily average energy intake of households in village Timpag and 4.1 % of households in Pandakbandung village. Based on observation, Focus Group Discussion and in-depth interview with selected key informants it was estimated that in term of energy, the average daily usage of food for non-physiological purpose for the whole year, were more than 641 kcal which equals to more than 7.5 % of aver-age daily calorie intake of-the sample households.