My Search for Viandas (A guide to what they are!)

Germania, my lovely grandmother, came to the States from the Dominican Republic in the '60s. She was an amazing cook and from her I learned how to make the Sancocho, a traditional Dominican stew featuring an assortment of viandas and meats. The thing about a Sancocho is that it's a dish meant to be shared with the family plus the neighbors plus the kid from down the block who always hangs out with the neighbor's son plus whoever else happens to be walking by. There's no such thing as a "four portion" Sancocho. Which is why I've decided to make one for some of my students.

Success?

Malanga

Ñame (the true yam)

From before the War. The porcelain is made in England.

Here is a project I wish I'd done. Photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio's new book, Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, examines food and the effects of globalization.

Though the photos themselves speak volumes about hunger and injustice and wealth, I love that the families in them are smiling and welcoming the viewer into their homes. Also interesting to note: the presence of Coca Cola, processed foods, whole grains, the absence of protein and fat, the context of home versus refugee camp, and the size of families.

What does a weeks worth of food look like around the world?
Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25



Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11



Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07



United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98



Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09



Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27



Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53


Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55



Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03



Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

See here for a few more photos and to read comments.

Because the price of food has skyrocketed in the past few years (due in part to the rising transportation costs of fuel and the increased demand on staple grains that make for good biofuels as well as the increased demand for arable land), we've seen widespread food riots. In Haiti, they recently toppled a government--this is also how Baby Doc was finally forced from power in the 80s (see this exceptional work by Michel-Rolph Trouillot for more on how Duvalierism was not entirely exceptional). And things are quite bad in Somalia, though Ethiopia begs to differ.

Though we might think that food riots are about hunger and starvation, Charles Tilly's analysis of modern Europe showed that food riots are about prices and not just food scarcity. He relates stories of people taking over ships of grain and, rather than stealing it, selling it for what they think are fair prices. If we read the news items on the unrest of the past few months, while there clearly is the danger of starvation, we see repeatedly that the riots also are about rising prices and, in Somalia's case, the unwillingness of merchants to accept local currency as payment. So, there's food. It's just that the people who need it can't get it.

Yes, I tried my hand at recording a series of clips (first time ever!) for youtube to show people how to make flan. You can watch this for laughs or grimaces.

Ever since states began administering the agricultural resources of their populations (like, thousands of years ago), food scarcity, hoarding, and price jacking have incited unrest. The recent upsurge in reporting about food is more than a media trend. Changes in the recent past have drastically affected the price of food, globally, and are leading towards an escalating crisis which the World Bank has declared an emergency as hundreds of millions are in danger of plunging into worse poverty.

The price of food has risen. This is chiefly because of the connection between food and fuel. With oil prices at new highs, it costs that much more to transport food and the increase is passed on to the consumer. With oil prices at new highs, alternative sources of fuel are increasingly economically viable--hence the turn to biofuels (ethanol, from corn, being the best known but there are other oilseed being grown) and so crops that could be going to feed people are being converted to fuel, decreasing the supply of food and raising the price and of course the increase is passed on to the consumer.

In the past year, the price of food in poor countries has gone up by 50%, which is why we see demonstrations in Haiti, leading to the ouster of its Prime Minister. This is also why Argentines, the world's highest per capita consumers of meat, had to subsist on pasta and pizza for weeks when farmers and ranchers halted shipments of their produce in retaliation to the government's desire to raise taxes on farmers to benefit from the financial windfall from higher profits. And this is why American farmers who've been paid money for decades to let their fields lie uncultivated are starting to use those fields for biofuels and more "traditional" crop usage.

And, to be very clear, I, like Toussaint, think of Haiti as part of Latin America.