From Food First comes an urgent action in defence of farmer leaders in Chihuahua. Send it to the Mexican embassy in the US, UK , Canada, or your own home country today.
It’s biofuels a-go-go here at Stuffed and Starved with yet another post on the theme. That the wires are buzzing with news about biofuels is welcome, though. It means the newsagencies are catching up with the struggles in the fields.
Following up on yesterday’s post here’s some more biofuels from Brazil.
The Myth of Biofuels
Here’s something that has just come over the wires. It’s a statement from some of the most important social movements in Latin America, and it’s a deep indictment of biofuels.
The Brazilian ‘biofuels’ miracle has been powered by sugar cane. All along, those in the fields have known the cost of the biofuel venture.It’s often forgotten that biofuels need to be grown somewhere. And when they are, they’re not grown in a mom-and-pop scatter-a-few-seeds-on-the-ground-and-soon-you’ll-have-a-gas-tree sort of way. It’s big, industry and monoculture. It’s a multimillion dollar affair. And, in Brazil, it’s an engine of exploitation and environmental destruction. Here’s the text.
Photo Credit
Edmittance:+:Joe Dunckley
The 2007 World Summit on Food Sovereignty has come to an end. Of the many good things at the conference’s website is one of the best definitions of Food Sovereignty. Here are the edited highlights from the Declaration, to which 500 representatives from over 80 countries signed their names:
Although I don’t make a habit of reproducing press releases in their entirety, this one’s germane enough, and unlikely enough to be anywhere else, to warrant a posting here.
It comes from the Nyéléni : the 2007 World Summit on Food Sovereignty, and it shows how farmers in the US and the rest of the world, have far more in common than we’re led to believe. Keep Reading »
The New York Times recently carried the following story on protests in India: Keep Reading »
Last week, KFC asked the Pope to bless its new Fish Snacker(tm) sandwich. It’s Lent, you see. Many Catholics have begun to fast for forty days. It’s forty days without meat. It’s forty days with more fish. And it’s forty days of profit opportunity for the food company with the right connections.
Over at Cook Here and Now Marco has posted a beautiful manifesto for the enjoyment of food. He makes, quite correctly, a connection between food and sex. Despite the fact that its residents eat so much of it, the US is still fairly priggish about enjoying food. Pleasure in eating is still a sin. Licking your plate clean is venal. If we’re to believe the adverts, food is more a vehicle for nutrition than anything else. Marco celebrates the fact that food is inescapably sensuous. Read his vision here.
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