- “Extra virgin” olive oil might not be, but could still be good for you.
- “The underlying causes of hunger are more associated with poverty, institutional weaknesses and policy environments than an inability to produce enough food.” Bob Watson, UK government adviser, on food security …
- … which Jamaica is tackling by enlisting an army of backyard farmers …
- … while Filipinos are told to save on rice by eating camote, sweet potato by another name.
- Bifurcated Carrots points to consultations on new seed laws in Europe.
- Sweet sorghum (jowar) boom in India, with preference for traditional varieties.
Hullo, hullo? The Times of India has deigned to notice jowar? More significant in spades than the people it quotes is that this newspaper of upper middle class urban India is talking about what used to be stolid farmers’ fare. Yes, once in while when travelling through rural parts we ate the enormous ‘rotis’ made from jowar. Those, with some spicy mango pickle and a fresh-cut red onion and a dry cooked vegetable, was the staple lunchtime favourite, to be enjoyed in quiet contemplation under a neem or ‘jambul’ tree, while bold goats eyed your tiffin. Now, in the mall-lined main streets or urban Mumbai or Delhi, twee bakeries with cookie-cutter yuppies for clients display their ‘creations’ ‘enriched’ with jowar. Humble pickle? Robust allium cepa (the red onion)? Rural India? We don’t do rural, they say, and slide into their new BMWs, pleased with their new-organic-quaint discovery of jowar.
Bifurcated Carrots points to consultations on new seed laws in Europe.
If the EU is looking for feedback, here’s the page – http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=sppm