Go fish in Mauritius

By contributor Sean Carey

Sit on a beach in Mauritius and face the lagoon on a sunny day when the tide is out. Chances are you will see several young Creole men with harpoons or spears walking near the reef in search of fish of one sort or another.

Most of what they catch is eaten by their families, although they may sell some to hotels and restaurants in the vicinity. Put simply, such no-cost and freely available seafood is an important part of the diet and sometimes provides much-needed cash for low-income households.

In other parts of the island, there are a significant number of small fishing communities. Around 60 fish landing stations punctuate the 205 km coastline. Tamarin, in the south-west part of the island, part of the Riviere Noire district, is one such place. The village, which lies at the mouth of a river estuary, is gaining a global reputation for big-game fishing, dolphin watching and surfing. It has a significant working-class Creole population, and the menfolk typically make their livelihoods from artisanal fishing using small boats within and just outside the lagoon.

The big challenges for the Tamarin fishermen are to ensure the sustainability of fish stocks and to find ways of adding value to the catch. As elsewhere in Mauritius, fish are often sold on the beach-side by middlemen to people from other ethnic groups who make up the island’s near 1.3 million population – Hindu, Muslim, Chinese and French Mauritians – as well as tourists in self-catering accommodation.

When I visit Mauritius, I am struck by the difference in taste and texture of fish that has just been landed compared with fish which has been lying around in the heat for several hours, even when protected by the shade of a tree.

When I purchase pole- and- line or long-line caught yellowfin tuna at my local supermarket in the U.K., I marvel at its quality, especially when taking into consideration that the produce will have been caught either in the Pacific or Indian Ocean, airfreighted to Gatwick or Heathrow and then transported by trucks around the country. Although the tuna in the supermarket doesn’t quite match the condition of the fish that can be obtained before noon at the beach in Mauritius, it is very definitely better quality than fish purchased in the afternoon.

Why? The difference is all down to refrigeration.

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It’s official: Curry is good for you

By contributor Sean Carey

Around 10,000 Indian, Bangladeshi, Nepalese and Pakistani restaurants and takeaways in the U.K. routinely serve up curry to a significant proportion of the country’s 62 million population. Curry is probably the nation’s most popular food. According to one recent estimate the sector is worth around £3.6 billion annually and employs some 80,000 people.

powdered turmeric — Powdered turmeric. Flickr/megabeth

No surprises, then, that British newspaper editors are interested in publishing “curry” stories. In the last week alone, two reports about the likely role that curcumin, the bioactive substance which gives turmeric its yellow colouring, plays in human health have made the headlines.

The first story came from a study carried out at the Shobhaben Pratapbhai Patel School of Pharmacy and Technology Management in Mumbai. Researchers combined curcumin with piperine, an extract of black pepper, and the flavonoid quercetin, which is found in a wide variety of fruit and vegetables as well as black and green tea. The combination of the three substances called CPQ had a dramatic effect on blood glucose, body weight, cholesterol and triglycerides in “low-dose streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.”

Co-author of the study, pharmacist Dr Ginpreet Kaur, who has a long-standing interest in metabolic syndrome — one of the most significant health problems among populations in advanced and developing economies — stated that CPQ “significantly decreases glucose transport, causing a decrease in its uptake. It is probably due to the presence of flavonoids in the combination which get attached to glucose transporters.” In the published paper, the authors soberly conclude that more work is required on CPQ “with the aim to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanism involved with the usage of these nutraceuticals for the prevention of metabolic syndrome.”

tumeric root — Tumeric root. Flickr/Steenbergs

The popular press in the U.K., however, felt under no obligation to go along with the conventionally restrained language of the scientists in India. Under the headline “Fight the menace of obesity and diabetes… with turmeric” the Daily Mail suggested “if you wish to get rid of those extra kilos or are desperate to control your diabetes and cholesterol, then head straight to your kitchen spice cabinet.” It was only towards the end of the article on the “miracle in the kitchen” that a note of caution was sounded: “Medicinal properties of curcumin cannot be fully utilised due to its limited bioavailability in the body. To be effective as medicine, one would have to consume several spoonfuls of turmeric in one dose.”

Turmeric, a member of the ginger family, is cultivated widely throughout the tropics. It grows to around 90 centimetres (3 feet) in height. Most of the world’s supply of the herb originates in India, where in addition to its culinary and medicinal uses, it is also employed in Hindu wedding ceremonies and other religious rituals.

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Mauritian food gets its first Masterchef champion

By contributor Sean Carey

Last Saturday, just days before this week’s final of the BBC’s amateur cooking competition, Masterchef, I was standing outside Hammersmith underground station in London, talking to a Mauritian Muslim friend. He was convinced that one of the competitors, Shelina Permalloo, born in Southampton of Mauritian Hindu Telugu parentage would win. He reckoned he had spotted how much the two judges, Australian-born restaurateur John Torode and his Cockney co-presenter, greengrocer Gregg Wallace, appreciate her Mauritian-inspired food as well as her personality.

Up until this point, I thought 29-year-old Shelina, a resident of Tooting in south London, had a very good chance of being crowned champion as she had made it through to the final three of more than 20 contestants. But my Mauritian friend convinced me that not only would it be good for Shelina, but it would also be good for the TV series as the former charity worker brought a point of differentiation to the food on display through her creative use of spices. And, as he pointed out, Wallace kept repeating that Shelina “brings sunshine to a plate.” Quite an endorsement.

And so it came to pass. Yesterday evening, Shelina Permalloo was duly crowned U.K. Masterchef 2012 champion. She very gracefully gave a great deal of credit to her widowed mother, claiming that she was really just her mother’s “sous chef.” Shelina added:

“I only ate Mauritian food growing up as it gave our family that affinity of being close to the island. Mauritian food is very frugal which is great in these economic climates but at the same time full of flavour, heady with aromatics, nutritional and damn tasty.”

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Brown rice in India?

Ever since hippies in the West discovered brown rice, those of us (speaking for myself at least) who remember books such as Diet for a Small Planet and Victory through Vegetables, have welcomed brown rice to our table.

For me, at least some of the time, a steaming bowl of white basmati or jasmine rice is still more enticing to me than its chewy brown counterpart. I think this is a personal failing rather than something to do with brown rice.

How interesting, then, to stumble on an article published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association describing perceptions in South India about brown rice. It is written by S. Kumar, a social scientist and R. Mohanraj, a psychologist, both living in Chennai, India, and several other colleagues in India and at Harvard University in the United States.

The study is based on qualitative research — focus group interviews with 65 South Indian adults. The sample included men and women, people who were and were not overweight, and people who did and did not live in a slum situation in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The focus groups were homogeneous by gender.

Findings: overall, participants favor eating rice and rice-based foods. So far so good, but what about color preferences? In general, rice that is not white or long-grained is considered to be inferior.

Knowledge of brown rice and its nutritive properties was limited, though some people were aware of the health benefits of brown rice. The interviews suggest that old people with health problems might be more likely to accept brown rice than healthy, young people. So…it’s sort of medicinal and taste/quality are less important in that case.

Participants did have suggestions for promoting brown rice. They include: having the government and health officials endorse it and educate people about its benefits, advertize recipes with brown rice as an ingredient, have celebrity film actors endorse it, and give out free samples.

Notably, across “non-slum and slum groups,” women were more open to trying brown rice than men. But even the most open-minded women suggested that it would be a slow process to make brown rice an accepted part of the everyday diet.

A different kind of cooking show

For those of you (including me) who enjoy watching TV cooking contests, we know that the worst that can happen is that an aspiring winner is perspiring, or the presentation was chaotic, or the judges made nasty comments about the taste of one of the dishes.

For millions of women who cook family meals, especially in developing countries, the challenges are quite different. There is no panel of judges and no “time’s up” called out to arrest the work of the contestants in their well-equipped stainless-steely kitchen.

Instead, there is a “killer in the kitchen” which calls time’s up for mothers and children who spend a lot of time inhaling cook stove fumes.

On November 3, Rob Bailis, assistant professor of environmental social science in the department of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, gave a CIGA seminar entitled, “Arresting the Killer in the Kitchen: The Promises and Pitfalls of Commercializing Improved Cookstoves.”

Bailis took the audience on a rich and insightful tour of how improved cook stoves could have a major positive impact on women, children, and the environment. His talk drew on knowledge about the effects of various types of fuel for daily cooking on the cooks and the wider environment.

His slides included maps of types of household fuel in various regions of the world. He brought together data from the fields of environmental studies, public health, and local surveys.

He discussed the “energy ladder hypothesis” which says that as people get wealthier, they use cleaner fuels. As I was listening, I was thinking: okay, this doesn’t sound good for the earth, given the way the economy is going.

Another point to share is this: Bailis said that Western development experts have been pushing improved cook stoves for three decades but there is very little evidence about their effectiveness in terms of reducing health risks for cooks/children and reducing deforestation and other environmental problems.

China is the country to watch on improved cook stoves. Of the 200 million improved cook stoves in the world, 80 percent are in China. Let’s hear about the “best practices” there and how they might be replicated elsewhere.

Thirty years is a long time, especially without much to say in terms of what works. Time to switch channels and get back to the cooking throw-down.

Maybe we need a TV show about what works in development?

Update from Professor Rob Bailis:
In fact, there is evidence that some improved stoves certainly improve quality and, based on that, we can justifiably hypothesize that if families adopt such stoves and use them regularly, then their air quality will improve and their health risk will be reduced. More importantly, there is evidence of this – just last week (about a week after my presentation) a paper was published in the Lancet by Kirk Smith and his team. This reports the results of the first randomized control trial based on improved cookstove adoption. They found that the stoves they promoted reduced the incidence of severe forms of respiratory infection by around 30%. So the evidence exists. What is lacking is program-specific follow-up to understand whether a given intervention is resulting in effective and long-term stove adoption. But, like I hinted at in my talk, the carbon markets are having an interesting influence on project monitoring by creating elaborate protocols to make sure stoves are actually used.

Upcoming event at GW on cookstoves

The CIGA Seminar Series Presents

Arresting the Killer in the Kitchen:
The Promises and Pitfalls of Commercializing Improved Cookstoves

Rob Bailis, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

When: Thursday, November 3, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Where: The Elliott School of International Affairs, Room 505
1957 E Street NW

Professor Bailis will review the impacts associated with dependence on solid fuels as a source of residential energy throughout the developing world and discuss the current state of household energy interventions.

Light refreshments will be available

RSVP requested: http://bit.ly/rkc49g

CIGA is part of GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs and its Institute of Global and International Studies

Supermarket wars in the Irish Republic

By contributor Sean Carey

Almost the first thing I noticed as I entered the one-way system in Youghal, a seaside town at the mouth of the River Blackwater in East Cork, was a huge banner draped over a high stone wall at the rear entrance of the local Supervalu supermarket. It was advertising the merits of the “Real Rewards”, a loyalty scheme which gives customers points that can be used on future purchases.

The next day I needed to buy some provisions for the family holiday. So I paid a visit, using the front entrance of Supervalu in the main high street area of the town. In the foyer of the shop was a picture of current owner, Ken Brookes. His family had first opened a grocery shop in another part of the town in 1888. All sorts of price cuts on products which were available within the store were flagged up at the entrance.

I recalled that this upfront advertising explicitly emphasizing “price” wasn’t there on my last visit to Youghal three years ago.

When I got to the checkout, a young Irish woman asked whether I had my “Real Rewards” loyalty card with me. “I’m on holiday so unfortunately I’m not going to be here for long enough to make it worthwhile either for Supervalu or for me,” I replied. “That’s fine,” she smiled as she took my credit card.

In case anyone, including recently arrived tourists like me, didn’t get the message, the Irish television broadcaster, RTE, was also running a series of commercials on its various channels. In the ad a friendly Irishman with a banner behind him proclaiming “Permanent Price Cuts” walks towards the camera, and declares: “There’s no need to go anywhere else.”

“Anywhere else”, of course, refers to Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket group and the third-largest in the world (after Wal-Mart and Carrefour). Tesco established a significant presence in the Irish Republic in 1997 and then expanded greatly especially after 2000, taking advantage of the economic boom which ran until the so-called “Celtic Tiger” imploded in 2008.

Price cuts at Tesco. Flickr/Craig Murphy

Unlike some of its U.K. competitors like Asda, Sainsbury’s, Safeway (now Morrisons) and Marks & Spencer, Tesco was quick to spot the potential profits in tapping into the new and fast-expanding middle class to be found on the other side of the Irish Sea. This social group was growing because people who would have traditionally left Ireland to seek opportunities in other parts of the globe, especially English-speaking countries like the UK, US, Canada and Australia, no longer needed to migrate because well-paid jobs, often available with US and other foreign hi-tech companies, were in plentiful supply.

The big question for Tesco given the size of investment that would be required was: would its entry into the Irish market be sufficiently scalable to be profitable or not?

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Is there hope for the Niger Delta?

A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme reveals the extent of environmental devastation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta due to extractive oil and petroleum industries. Although the study was partially funded by Shell, it appears that it has some bite. Perhaps a sign of hope.

Meanwhile, an African king is suing Shell, and Niger Delta villagers are going to the Hague to take on Shell. Perhaps further signs of hope.

Oil-related problems in the Niger Delta are not new. They are old, enduring and stain the future of Nigeria. They have to do with powerful corporate and state interests, corruption, global oil and petroleum demand, and the unrelentingly harsh cruelty of capitalist profiteering at the expense of local people and their environment and livelihoods. Nigeria is a major provider of petroleum to the United States.

The Niger Delta region has been exploited with impunity by outside powers for many years. During the British colonial era, Nigeria provided wealth for the Crown through the export of palm oil (Osha 2006). In the postcolonial era of globalization, a different kind of oil dominates the country’s economy: petroleum. Starting in the 1950s, with the discovery of vast petroleum reserves in Nigeria’s Delta region, several European and American companies have explored for, drilled for and exported crude oil to the extent that Nigeria occupies an important position in the world economy.

Most local people in the delta, however, have gained few economic benefits from the petroleum industry. Instead, most have reaped major losses in their agricultural and fishing livelihoods due to environmental pollution. They are poorer now than they were in the 1960s. In addition to economic suffering, they have lost personal security. Many have become victims of the violence that has increased in the region since the 1990s through state and corporate repression of a local resistance movement.
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Open CCAFS call for proposals

CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has launched an Open call for Proposals for the “Farms of the Future” research project, aiming at the:

Development of a method to study farmer’s social, cultural and gender specific barriers for enabling behavioral change and improve adaptive capacity, based on farmers’ exchanges between climatic analogues locations

The project will particularly improve understanding of social and cultural perceptions of future climates, local practices and available tools for enabling change. The adopted approach will allow the participatory diagnosis of capacities and needs, thus aiding in the design of community-appropriate adaptation strategies.

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Street food: take it or leave it

Street vendor, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Flickr/Adam Jones

Sean Carey’s earlier post about getting his car washed made me think that his car is probably cleaner than many people’s hands (you may recall a post in 2010 reporting on a study of fecal matter on public transportation riders’ hands in four places in the U.K).

My morning’s ramble through Google Scholar led me to an article (PDF) that most readers may have missed — it’s not written by anthropologists, and it’s published in the African Journal of Biotechnology. But it will be of interest to any world traveler, especially those who (like me) sometimes cannot resist street food. Plus, it’s open access.

The researchers collected and analyzed 70 samples of dish washing water, 85 pieces of money and 80 utensils from street food vendors in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

You can read the details yourself in the article. Here is the conclusion: The data show high levels of pathogens in all the samples. Pathogen risk increases when vendors use their bare hands to serve.