Posts tagged food is my being

Scientists at Monsanto Speak Out

this came via anoncentral but their link was busted.*turns out you have to go original source to watch the worthwhile short video trailer, reblogging makes video disappear*

a little non-academic speak for the day - ‘cause brain est muerto.

part of the reason i’ve expatriated (still in progress) is because since i was 9 (1992), eating in the US, i have had unexplainable stomach pain. they ran tests; results inconclusive. so since 1992 (!), i haven’t eaten meat in the US - because not eating meat seemed to result in a whole lot less stomach pain. after 2007, almost every meal caused me pain. in 2009 things got so bad, I survived on vodka and water mostly for about 4 months (i’ve met other people who had similar pain and said vodka helped). the pain got to be too much. another gambit of tests were run *the extent of medical technology* (shout out to CICP - Colorado Indigent Care Program); results inconclusive.

when i visited Britain in October 2009, i finally ate without pain. since i’ve (temporarily) immigrated, i’ve really had no problems - except now i can’t stomach red wine, which is lame.

as an (agricultural) political economist, my research was shunned from US doctoral programs. i wanted to research to what extent do US agricultural subsidies, particularly in corn and cotton, artificially deflate global agricultural markets. not one person would so much as hear my proposal. i’m currently supervised at the University of Manchester.

i’m not saying Britain is this great free, food-Mecca. i’m saying people in the US have it ‘the shittest’ when it comes to how GMO’ed your food is. and its because monsanto controls dominates dictates, permeates US politics, supremely.

check this out:

i’m not arguing a fallacy -false deduction, Dean?- here. i’m simply saying - in a non-academic, brain dead way - … watch out for your food.

tonybaldwin:


Disclose.tv - Scientists inside MONSANTO speak the truth Video

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So this cost 11.20 CHF at the coop in Geneva, and I think thats a pretty good deal. The problem is in pounds that’s £7.60. Seeing as how that’s probably exactly what I’d pay for this meal in Britain - and the fact that Geneva is the 3rd most expensive city in the world (Tokyo and Singapore) - I think Mr. Cameron needs to start talking more about inflation. Cause I’m seeing it…

So this cost 11.20 CHF at the coop in Geneva, and I think thats a pretty good deal.

The problem is in pounds that’s £7.60. Seeing as how that’s probably exactly what I’d pay for this meal in Britain - and the fact that Geneva is the 3rd most expensive city in the world (Tokyo and Singapore) - I think Mr. Cameron needs to start talking more about inflation.

Cause I’m seeing it…

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Ummmm someone needs to check me for super powers because my food the last 2 days has been beyond amazing.

Photo 1: Southern style black eyed peas w/bacon and onion flavoured with tabasco and red wine vinegar, AMAZING, complimented with freshly baked olive wholemeal bread.

Photo 2: Lamb chops with black pepper fig and caramelised red onions in a red wine/apple juice reduction, served with lemon butter asparagus and buttered coriander potatoes and enjoyed with a Fitou (coastal French red) and a bit of Satie (the coincidentally French composer).

The lamb… it made me want to cry it was so amazing. I CANNOT say that I’ve ever made ANYTHING superior to BLACK PEPPER FIG AND CARAMELISED ONION LAMB CHOPS!

BRING IT ON AMATEUR CHEFS!! I AM AMAZING IN THE KITCHEN!

ps: this was my treat for 3 hours of first-time teaching in International Relations.

fucking VIVA!

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I’m a BIT of a braggart (like that?) but I have got white and wholemeal bread perfected! Shoving toast in my face as we speak. One of the best things Anonymous encouraged - know how to feed yourself w basic materials.

I’m a BIT of a braggart (like that?) but I have got white and wholemeal bread perfected! Shoving toast in my face as we speak.

One of the best things Anonymous encouraged - know how to feed yourself w basic materials.

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The US is the world’s largest producer and exporter of corn, giving it the power to dictate global market responses.

Domestic consumption of corn, as ethanol, has driven up the price of corn worldwide, according to studies from the World Bank and other institutions.

Debt ceiling bill in US Congress expected to cut almost half ($6 billion) in subsidies to production of corn ethanol!!!!

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!

when this bill passes my subsidised student loans will likely end, leaving me with $12,000 to find before fall 2012, BUT!!!! ALMOST HALF OF ALL SUBSIDIES TO CORN ETHANOL PRODUCTION WILL BE CUT!!!!! FOR THE WIN!!!!

SOMEONE CALL ADAM SMITH!!!!!! SOMEONE CALL MEXICO AND TELL THEM THEY MAY BE ABLE TO AFFORD MASA AGAIN!!! SOMEONE CALL BRAZIL! omg…

I’m so fucking pleased.

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WTO PUBLIC FORUM 2011: VIDEO CONTEST — THE WTO SEEKS YOUR ANSWERS TO GLOBAL TRADE CHALLENGES
In the run-up to this year’s Public Forum on 19-21 September 2011, the WTO invites you to participate in a video contest to tell us your answers to global trade challenges, the main theme of this year’s Forum.
Find out more at: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news11_e/pfor_10jun11_e.htm
Video: http://www.wto.org/library/flashvideo/video_e.htm?id=115
Public Forum website: http://www.wto.org/publicforum

yeah nice try, guys.

we SO aren’t doing your work FOR you.

solve your own damn global trade challenges….

… okay i’m working on it.

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just an fyi - there’s always some way you can fight hunger

a few days ago i emailed the UN World Food Programme (donate here - $15 feeds a child or mother in Dadaab for 1 month) and said,

I am a PhD researcher at the University of Manchester working on food security, global hunger issues.

I was wondering if the WFP is in need of volunteers to help with aid assistance in Dadaab.

If so, can you please inform me if the WFP could provide me with lodging and/or airfare?

I’m in between academic years and do not have access to my financial aid for the year as of yet. However, I am extremely interesting in helping in any way I can.

Best,
L. (removed)
University of Manchester
PhD Researcher
Politics

And they actually got back to me! HR got back to me! They directed me to my local office.

HOW FREAKING AWESOME IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

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food is my being. if you dont see this boy and feel love… then i probably think you are evil. its the unseen who are often the most helpless. i’m pretty sure judith bulter or hannah arendt said something like that… newsflick: Two-year-old, Aden Salaad, looks up toward his mother, unseen, as she bathes him in a tub at a Doctors Without Borders hospital, where Aden is receiving treatment for malnutrition, in Dagahaley Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya, Monday, July 11. With a population of almost 400,000, the Dadaab Refugee Camp in north-east Kenya is beginning to resemble a city. Like in any fast-growing metropolis, the morning rush here can be a miserable time; the infrastructure creaks louder than at any other part of the day. This must be the most desperate rush-hour of any city in the world. At around 8 a.m., a huge crowd of new residents begin to stream through the gates of the reception center. Most have been forced here by the worst drought to affect East Africa for 60 years – described by the United Nations as a “humanitarian emergency.” Continue reading.

food is my being.

if you dont see this boy and feel love… then i probably think you are evil.

its the unseen who are often the most helpless. i’m pretty sure judith bulter or hannah arendt said something like that…

newsflick:

Two-year-old, Aden Salaad, looks up toward his mother, unseen, as she bathes him in a tub at a Doctors Without Borders hospital, where Aden is receiving treatment for malnutrition, in Dagahaley Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya, Monday, July 11.

With a population of almost 400,000, the Dadaab Refugee Camp in north-east Kenya is beginning to resemble a city. Like in any fast-growing metropolis, the morning rush here can be a miserable time; the infrastructure creaks louder than at any other part of the day. This must be the most desperate rush-hour of any city in the world.

At around 8 a.m., a huge crowd of new residents begin to stream through the gates of the reception center. Most have been forced here by the worst drought to affect East Africa for 60 years – described by the United Nations as a “humanitarian emergency.” Continue reading.

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27+ years and still learning lessons about hunger: my own journey

If you follow me, you’re aware that I’m an agricultural political economist who has temporarily shifted to investigating the structures that inhibit progress in ‘solving’ global hunger/starvation/malnutrition.

If you follow me much, you’re also aware that I’ve just returned from 3 very hard weeks in Geneva - a city where the average income is $119,000 and the majority of it is tax free… the most widely felt effect of this is that FOOD is very expensive.

And if you’ve followed me for 5/6 years, you’re aware that because of my belief in solidarity and my commitment to academia have led me to now 3 periods of intense starvation/malnutrition, Geneva being the most recent and the second most effective (as far as how much muscle/mass I lost).

A few days ago, a very brilliant colleague of mine posted this link to an article about a group of individuals who voluntarily starved in solidarity through WWII and the effects of starvation…

MY POINT IN ALL OF THIS IS: this study describes exactly what I went/am going through. After I was able to eat more than 1200 a day, for 3 days I wanted to die because of how disgustingly fat I felt… furthermore, since I have returned from Geneva I feel constantly hungry, and there is no amount of food that quells that hunger.

BUT MOST SIGNIFICANT: returning to eating over 1500 calories a day has been very painful and nauseating. Each time I eat, I have pain and feel very ill. Consuming the littlest amount of food (a cup of tea, for example) is extremely difficult. Combine this with the psychosis of being in love with food, wanting it so much, and now being able to afford it (!), and you have a VERY MESSED UP MENTAL STATE.

HERE IS THE LESSON: when you work in agricultural economics and want to feed the over 1 billion hungry, you have to know what they are going through… not just what its like to be hungry for a long period of time… but what it is like when food is reintroduced.

I think the personality trait I am most proud of is that I always search for the lessons in life. And even though hunger is a concept I have experienced personally (and as a PhD researcher, its incredibly difficult being malnourished - because the PhD doesn’t stop), I still have lessons to learn (and thus will likely keep encountering my own ‘hunger’).

…like how to reintroduce food to someone who is malnourished… and that contrary to some beliefs, tackling world hunger is not simply about passing around a loaf of bread.

Food is my being.

I share this not for any personal gratification, although my struggle has been tremendous and educational. I share this because it is of vital importance to me, that as we scroll through our daily tumbles and facebook posts, we often forget what is important (because of the crazy cat girl).

Finding solutions to global problems is critical. I hope all of you understand this. I hope all of you contribute something to future possible solutions. At the very least, I hope to bring the issues of hunger into your daily lives through my own experiences.

SEE THIS MOVIE and listen to me. get it???

My tumblr focuses on ‘the revolution’ or revolutionary behaviour, and a massive part of that revolution is about CRITICAL CONSUMPTION. I mostly focus on food, raw food, not synthesised products, BUT I think this documentary really gets at the heart of what I feel is the ONLY way forward to humanity.

Our consumption habits influence so much more than we are aware of… I mean, we are aware that when we consume fast food and sugary drinks instead of real, nutritious food, we gain weight/fat and harm our heart (and our sex lives btw!)… *AND BY THE WAY THE DASH DIET - ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! JUST EAT LESS, AND EAT WHAT OUR BODIES ARE MEANT TO CONSUME: VERY LITTLE (RED) MEAT, WHOLE GRAINS, AND LOTS OF FRUITS, VEG, AND WATER!* But consumption habits have a massive impact on the environment, our mental alertness/awareness, and how we connect to people in our local and our global.

If I could just get everyone who reads this to THINK every time they eat anything… that in the world, currently, there are over 1 billion people who are starved or malnourished… I would call it a win.

I think that’s a lot of what Spurlock is trying to do as well… I fully support him AND HIS QUIRKS. He’s the right man for the job, and I really appreciate this WONDERFULLY in-depth, short 5 minute interview.

PLEASE. watch. … and be critical.

Viva la revolution!

After 2 weeks of paying out the … for food in Geneva… I have finally landed in a hostel where I can cook a proper meal. That’s 2 POLISH sausages with mash and a onion, mushroom, beer gravy. If I wasnt an honourable Brit before I left… bringing the bangers and mash to Geneva just might do it? The French-speaking Thai guy in the kitchen was ASTOUNDED! I can has Britizenship?

After 2 weeks of paying out the … for food in Geneva… I have finally landed in a hostel where I can cook a proper meal.


That’s 2 POLISH sausages with mash and a onion, mushroom, beer gravy.

If I wasnt an honourable Brit before I left… bringing the bangers and mash to Geneva just might do it? The French-speaking Thai guy in the kitchen was ASTOUNDED!

I can has Britizenship?

Lunch at the WTO. 15 CHFs, proper gourmet on the rooftop. The cheapest meal in Geneva is at the bloody WTO… WTS is that?

Lunch at the WTO.

15 CHFs, proper gourmet on the rooftop.

The cheapest meal in Geneva is at the bloody WTO…

WTS is that?

Yep. You’re seeing it first here in France. ITS THE MONTH OF WHITE ASPARAGUS! Tookie! Get thee to France! Food is my being!

Yep. You’re seeing it first here in France. ITS THE MONTH OF WHITE ASPARAGUS!

Tookie! Get thee to France!

Food is my being!

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