Tag Archives: food

Lovings of the week – Nepali food

17 May

Of all the things I love about Nepal, the food (and the tea) have got to be right near the top.

The food is always delicious, it is vegetarian based with meat options (rather than the other way round) and the combination of rice, beans and vegetables seems agree with my body much more than other cuisines. Which means I am often bounding off the walls with energy here.

This post is a collection of a few photos I’ve picked up along the way.

Nepali Spice Rack

Freshly ground fennel seed seems to make it’s way into most dishes.

Gundruk or dried spinach – considered the Nepali national food

“Mountain soup”, made with Gundruk

Veg Thali – a combination of daal (lentil soup), curry, vegetables, pickle and a mountain of rice. We eat this every day, twice a day, and always it contains different vegetables, curries and pickles. If I ate Veg Thali every day for the rest of my life I would be happy.

Cooking gas producer, hard at work (Yes, I am working with biogas here in Nepal)

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<3 of the week – Providing the internet to rural communities, the “Joule standard” and dinner in North Korea

12 Jan

North Korean Flag*

  • Ever think about how difficult it would be to access information without a computer? (Remember trivia competitions before iPhones?)  Question Box has come up with a simple but clever way of connecting people in rural agricultural communities in India to the internet through a call centre. “The premise behind Question Box is that many barriers keep most of the developing world from taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge available through Web search engines.” A similar model has been launch in Uganda, but the slower internet connection and lack of relevant local information on the internet meant that Question Box had to create their own database of answers.
  • This week I met Maurice Adema, managing director of Sundaya. He strongly believes that energy illiteracy is the reason for our energy crisis. “If I told you a man was 3m tall and 25kg you would understand something doesn’t make sense. But if I told you I ate 300MJ for breakfast this morning you would have no idea whether this was a lot or a little.” He advocates “getting rid of the Watt” because the unit is “useless and confusing”. Instead Adema says we should implement the “Joule standard” to simplify the way we talk about energy. His views make a lot of sense to me – you can read his more detailed explanation in his free short book, available here.
  • Yesterday I was taken to a North Korean restaurant called Pyongyang here in Jakarta. I thought it was just the food that was North Korea, but wikipedia tells me the entire set up is North Korean. “According to Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner, the restaurants are one of several overseas business ventures of Room 39, a North Korean government organization dedicated to acquiring and laundering foreign currency for the North Korean leadership.  The North Korean staff, who live on the restaurant premises, are said to be thoroughly screened for political loyalty and to be closely watched by on-site North Korean security agents.” I wonder where exactly the US$15 I spent will go and how many North Koreans have had the opportunity to try such a delicious and opulent meal.

* Image from John Palveka. Some rights reserved.

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<3 Lindt Chilli Chocolate

9 Jun

My three-reasons-to-love Lindt Chilli Chocolate:

  1. It has a sharp bite and goes great with strawberries
  2. People always think of it as novel and exciting when you bring it along
  3. It is so often on special. Which means the special price is probably just the normal price. But it feels special.

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<3 The things I forget about myself

2 Jun

Everyone has things which they forget they do. That they keep being reminded about.

Here are my three-reasons-to-love the things I forget about myself:

  1. I eat very, very slowly. I always have – since before I can remember. But I forget. Or I don’t notice. I am told, by Ghanaians, that I am not using the correct technique for eating. This makes me laugh.
  2. Actually, this makes me laugh with my whole body. I often laugh with my whole body. But I keep forgetting this, which means I keep doing it. This makes other people laugh. Which makes me laugh even more. (With my whole body).
  3. All this laughing makes people tell me I am crazy. This, I am sure is true. And this, I definitely keep forgetting. But this, I have to love. Because this, this is what brought me here.

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Advice to myself when I was 17 (or, what to do when you are sad)

10 May

The Sunscreen Song is so, so popular on the radio over here in Ghana.

Hearing it over and over has got me to thinking – what sort of advice would I give to myself 10 years ago?

(Also, this would hardly seem a blog with an “advice to my young self” post).

Eating is the most important things that you do every day.

If you do nothing else each day, eat.

And do it often.

Don’t worry so much about what. Or how much.

Just do it.

And stop skipping breakfast.

(You will again get this feedback in a career performance review in 10 years time).

Relationships are important. And everyone can teach you something.

You already know this.

But, I cannot emphasise it enough. There will be times when you will wonder whether it is really worth the effort.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

No matter their age, 4, 40, 400, other people have had a lifetime of experience that you have not had. And they can point out things about you that you will never be able to see.

On top of that, every single major event in your life (thus far) will be precipitated and then aided by a relationship which has been forged over time.

(Thank you, thank you, thank you)

Don’t worry so much about finding inspiration, it will come.

Just be on the lookout for when it does.

And leave the time and space to act when it does.

(This includes the middle of the night).

Also, on that, relationships will come. And as my father reminded me just this weekend, responsibility, it too will come.

There is nothing wrong with sadness.

So be patient and it will pass. It always does.

It is a part of you, just like it is a part of everybody else.

But it is hardly all that you are.

Incidentally, the best way to fix sadness is people (see relationships, above).

But, you will keep forgetting this.

So keep reminding yourself.

 ————————————————————————————

 Thoughts on inspiration in this post come from Hugh McLeod.

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<3 Food in Ghana

28 Apr
three-reasons-to-love food in Ghana
  1. The dishes are AMAZING.
  2. Ghanaians have been so patient in teaching me how to eat it/make it/enjoy it.
  3. They have their own version of Mexican*.

(*Or perhaps Mexicans have their own version of Ghanaian?)

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Food (or, the value of starting small)

28 Mar

Oh god.

Food.

The endless debate.

Where to even start.

My own shady history? My desire to be vegetarian since before I can remember?

Perhaps a recount of the time I came to the conclusion that I was going to need to eat three meals a day for the rest of my life? (Yes, yes, epiphanies are ridiculous).

Perhaps it is safer to start less personal. On more solid ground. With the carbon argument. The water argument. The many sides of the local argument. The organic argument. The in-season argument. The preservatives and additives argument[1]. The community argument.

The nutritionist’s argument(s) (they generally don’t agree). The nautropath’s argument(s) (they don’t agree either).

The “eat-the-colours-of-the-rainbow” argument[2].

But no. Those starting places are too specific. Better to start broader with a portrait of food; my portrait of food.

Perhaps tied in with the cultural landscape? (Let him eat lamb!) Or the ethical landscape?

Or are we getting too non-specific now? Perhaps just the Greek view then? Or the animal rights view?

What about my own list of definitions, with experiences? But would this include the freegan? (What about how I didn’t know I was going freegan?)

AAAAARGH. AAAAARGH.

So we end, of course, where we should have began.

With advice received from two highly trusted sources (or sauces, whichever you prefer):

“Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants” (Michael Pollan)

“Eat Food You Like” (My beautiful, amazing, light-filled cousin)

[1] With witty comments like “mould doesn’t grow on 90% of food in the supermarket because mould isn’t stupid!” Thanks Michael Pollan!

[2] Which begs the question, what happens at the other end?

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