One of the goals of the World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition adopted at the 1992 FAO/WHO International Conference on Nutrition in Rome is the global elimination or substantial reduction of malnutrition, micronutrient malnutrition and diet-related communicable and non-communicable disease. 1 A strategy identified to accomplish this goal is the promotion of appropriate nutritional intake and healthy lifestyles. 1 The failure of nutrient-based guidelines to substantially influence dietary patterns of different populations stimulated another FAO/WHO initiative to establish the scientific basis for developing and using food-based dietary guidelines relating to practices and prevailing nutrition-related public health problems. 2 There has therefore been a change in focus from the traditional attention to nutrients to locally available foods. Existing guidelines in South Africa are either nutrient-based 3 or aimed only at a population eating a typical Western diet. 4 Motivated by the FAO/WHO initiatives, the Nutrition Society of South Africa (NSSA) decided to form a focus or working group (WG) that could start the process of developing Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs), and asked Professor H H Vorster to initiate the process. In a newsletter of the NSSA published in the South African Journal of Food Science and Nutrition, 5 volunteers were invited to serve on the WG to develop FBDGs that would be appropriate for the whole South African population.