the fore diet consists of pigs, small animals, insects, wild plants, and root vegetables such as taro. root vegetables are cultivated on land cleared by slash-and-burn farming. after the introduction of the sweet potato roughly 150 years ago, food production increased, as the crop could be grown in harsher conditions than existing root vegetables. around the same time, the fore began domesticating pigs, replacing the need to hunt wild ones. the sweet potato not only became a staple food, but was used as feed for domesticated pigs.