Development Roast Giving international development a proper roasting
Until recently, probably like for many of you, my imagination when it came to corn, aka maize, was limited to a bright yellow sunshine goodness, steamy and fresh on the cob soaked in butter and lightly salted, bursting with warm juices with every bite, the remnants of which I discover in my teeth hours after I am done. Or, perhaps, some ready-to-eat tinned sweet-corn kernels added to my jacket potato, tuna, chilli (sin)carne or simply adding a crunch and a juicy burst to my salad plate. In reality corn comes in a rainbow of colours and subtle gradient of tastes and despite one or two varieties being only an occasional dinner or snack companion for many of us in the West, corn or, as it is known in Spanish, maiz, has been the mainstay of the peoples of Central America and many other countries for centuries. Read More »
Metaphor Magic in Public Opinion
Metaphors and their associated cousins similes are incredibly useful tools. They can help break down complex concepts into easily digestible bites. Like a magic wand with a technicolor rainbow trail passing over an old grainy black and white movie, they can really paint a picture and bring to life concepts and ideas the way that straight talking may not. They are one of the reasons Obama is such a clear, engaging orator. His speeches have been analysed and he is found to be framing the economy as a person, a house and a journey, using various metaphors to simplify more esoteric economic concepts in the imaginaries of his audiences.
10 Things I Bet You Didn’t Know About Food
Food is a key part of everyone’s lives. It is also, however, at the core of many of the world’s problems and disagreements. Today, Development Roast brings you ten roasting facts that we bet you didn’t know about food.
1. 15 species of cultivated plants “literally stand between man and starvation” because they make up 80-90% of all globally consumed calories.
2. Sugar was unheard of in England in 1000AD, yet by 1900s it made up 20% of all caloric intake. Whilst Soy, domesticated as far back as 3000BC, is now a vital component of 75% of all products on supermarket shelves, including chocolate and is in most products sold by fast food industry. Read More »
Lazy, Greedy Gluttons? Is obesity really such an individual problem?
It is no secret that the world is getting fatter. Lazy, greedy gluttons! If only you would just put down the burger, eat a banana and go for a jog. Right? Is it really that simple? I mean Weight Watchers tells us it’s all about point scoring and will power and the occasional leaflet from the NHS insists it’s a matter of your 5-a-day, so what is wrong with us? Why are there now 1.5 billion adults and 43 million children overweight or obese worldwide, rising by a staggering 214% since the 1950s? Yes, some of it lies in self-control. We are not stupid, we all know a stick of celery is healthier than a stick of Twix. But since this is such a widespread phenomenon, I don’t think it all lies in the choices we make. Is it perhaps also genetic? I find it hard to believe that the rate of evolution is so rapid that in a generation or two a third of Americans and Brits and 24% of all Mexicans have now developed the obesity gene, with around another third being at least overweight. So if it is not entirely us or our DNA, then what on earth is going on? Well, the fact that the rate of childhood obesity in Mexican kids is highly correlated with their proximity to the US border should serve a clue. Read More »
So you want to do your bit for the planet? Here is some food for thought…
Climate change, water shortages, rising global pollution levels and food insecurity have made environmental sustainability the most pressing concern of our time. Improvements in production systems and agriculture, and advances in clean technology, will certainly help, but as the global population becomes more conscious of the issues facing us as a human race, we begin to ask ourselves what it is that we can do to help preserve our planet for centuries to come. More than in anything else, the answer to that lies in the diet choices we make.
Aesop, Golden Eggs and Ecosystem Services
Everybody knows Aesop’s fable about the farmer with the goose laying golden eggs: Day after day, the lucky farmer awoke to rush to the nest and find another golden egg, growing richer by the day. But with his increasing wealth came increasing greed and impatience, and unable to wait, the farmer decided to kill the goose and get all the eggs at once. But when he opened the goose, he found it empty, with no eggs and no way to get any more. He killed the very asset that produced his wealth, while he should have nurtured and nourished it.
Email sign up form
[contact-form to=’iouliafenton@gmail.com’ subject=’INESAD Mailer – PopUp’][contact-field label=’Sign up for weekly email updates from Development Roast’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]