- A rum story from Haiti. And another, though a different sort of rum.
- Quinoa and buckwheat best for coeliacs.
- Video of food crisis in Nepal. In other news, there’s a food crisis in Nepal.
- Forest fruits need markets too.
The cultural significance of corn colour
MAT’s post on the cultural consequences of corn colour, which we nibbled earlier today, has been brought to my attention. Immodesty forces me to note that we have explored similar byways here ourselves. Luigi experienced first hand contempt for yellow corn among a small sample of ethnic Africans. MAT’s assertion that “corn meal in the United States is yellow,” is undone by the clear north-south divide in preferences, noted here. ((Could some clever clogs please write a quick application to ask Facebook members their preference and mash it up with their location? Now!)) The whole business of yellow foods’ nutritional value is touched on in many places, not least here. And, of course, there’s the whole orange-fleshed sweet potato saga. Somehow, these “soft” ideas about culture seldom get the respect they deserve when talk turns to improving staple crops.
Mapping the fast food culture
Amid all the hype about Michelle Obama’s blitz on child obesity, USDA has come out with an interactive Food Environment Atlas, which has been much commented on in the blogosphere. Here’s what the distribution of fast food restaurants in the US looks like:
Coincidentally, Pete at PeteSearch has mined Facebook profile data and come up with this visualization of the connections among users:
Is it me, or there a coincidence between the maps? Here’s one of the things Pete says about the Nomadic West:
Starbucks is almost always the top fan page, maybe to help people stay awake on all those long car trips they must be making?
Geography is destiny?
Nibbles: Vet, Pastoralists, Eggplant, US food map, Mexican food, Poultry, Maize, GMOs
- What’s it like being the only vet in a country? The BBC tells us.
- The CBD on how to be a good pastoralist.
- James does a mini-roundup of the India GM brinjal to-do.
- Mapping the fast food culture.
- Mexico wants Unesco to recognize culinary traditions. As if tamales were in danger of extinction. Didn’t France ask for the same last year?
- Heirloom chickens don’t taste like chicken.
- Deconstructing the cultural significance of the colour of corn.
- “GM crops: still not a panacea for poor farmers.” In other news, still no cure for cancer.
Nibbles: Artichoke, Barley, Aquaculture, Organic farms, Pig conservation, Involuntary parks, Chokeberries, Grass evolution, sustainability
- Jeremy says: Put an artichoke in your tank!
- American boffins say: I know what, instead of making beer with it, let’s feed barley to fish.
- Ugandan fishermen say: Want a “boutique” fish?
- USDA says: “The nation’s organic farms and ranches have higher average sales and higher average production expenses than U.S. farms overall…”
- South African animal genetic resources experts say: Save our pigs!
- The Economist says (we paraphrase) war is good for biodiversity conservation … but where are the wild relatives?
- Right here, in the boreal north, and we need to conserve it, and the knowledge to use it, say Canadian conservationists.
- Rainfall, not temperature, was the trigger for C4 grasses say other American boffins.
- “It’s a sloppy use of language to equate vegetables and food,” says Rachel. We agree.