*[Enwl-eng] Foods We Love

4 views
Skip to first unread message

enwl

unread,
Feb 3, 2024, 5:00:36 PMFeb 3
to "ENWL-uni"
 

Many of our favorite foods are linked to family and culture. What if they disappear?

News of the world environment

 NEWSLETTER | FEBRUARY 02, 2024

Like the Journal

Tweet with the Journal

Daily nature shots

Vanishing Foodways

IN THE VERY EARLY HOURS of the morning, when the community is still asleep, Juana is already in action. It is three in the morning and her gastronomic corner, the Kiosco Luís Elián, is getting ready to open its doors. Soft music fills the air as she concentrates on her culinary work. At 5:00 AM, customers begin to arrive in search of a warm and comforting breakfast.

By lunchtime, a line has formed with people waiting for Juana’s cooking. The menu of the day offers a variety of options, from stewed chicken to fried ripe plantains. But it is the rice soup that attracts everyone’s attention. It is the star dish, a simple but satisfying combination that promises to keep stomachs full for hours. In this corner of Panama, as in the entire country, rice is an essential component of daily life.

Thousands of miles away, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, a similar scene occurs every morning. There, Dorys Peña runs a small food stall known locally for the preparation of majadito batido or graneado passed down from generation to generation.

Like her Panamanian colleague, Dorys learned the amounts of ingredients and cooking times when she was a child. Her secret is to diversify the use of rice. Whether as a majadito graneado (toasted rice) or majadito batido, which is not grained and is seasoned with a spoonful of urucu, which adds a saffron-like color, her preparations include onion, paprika, pepper, cumin and shredded charque (dehydrated beef), and are complemented with eggs, plantains and served with boiled yuca.

Juana, on the other hand, prepares the soup with a smaller amount of seasoning, but the result is just as effective. She mixes the rice with meat and vegetables to submerge it in a fragrant broth which gives it an unmistakable homemade flavor. She modestly says, “Today it didn’t turn out so well.” But one of her diners is quick to contradict her. “Please give me a little more rice.”

Certainly, rice represents a bond with tradition and culture that is shared in almost all of Latin America and the Caribbean. According to data provided by the Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology (FONTAGRO), it is the fourth most consumed food in the region and contributes on average 11 percent to the per capita caloric intake in Latin American countries. Panama and Bolivia are worthy representatives of this abundance which, despite the indispensable role of rice in many recipes, could face various risks in the not-too-distant future.

Food brings us together. Our mouths water for a dish that is part of our gastronomic tradition and our history. They are dishes that have been on our palate for generations. But what if that was no longer so?

 

This article is part of a three-part series produced by InquireFirst that looks into traditional foodways in Latin America that are now at risk.

Photo by 2010CIAT/NeilPalmer

SUGGESTED BROWSING

Search Theory

“In a field where even minutes matter, efficient search tactics can mean the difference between life and death.” Which is why researchers in the relatively new field of “lost person behavior” are “following the data where it forks.” (Undark)

A Concrete Problem

Any guesses about what’s the world's largest extraction industry? Nope, it’s not oil. It’s sand — the main ingredient in concrete. And thanks to ballooning demand and organized crime, we are dredging river sand worldwide at rates that far outstrip nature's ability to replace it. (Scientific American)

Faking It

Female northern myotis bats take turns looking after each other’s pups under the bark of old trees — just the sort disappearing in a rare British Columbia rainforest. Scientists have come up with a rather unique solution to help these endangered animals. (The Narwhal)

Unwelcome Returnees

“The reintroduction of musk oxen to Alaska was the result of a decades-long campaign by early 20th-century settlers and promoters … drawn up without the consent of Indigenous people.” Now the animals pose a threat to local lives and property. (High Country News)

Not a subscriber yet?

You can get 4 issues of our award-winning print magazine delivered for $20 ($25 for international addresses) by clicking this secure link.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

Earth Island Journal is a nonprofit publication. Our mission is to inform and inspire action. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our Green Journalism Fund.

Did a thoughtful friend forward you our newsletter? Keep up with the latest from Earth Island Journal!

Share Follow
Tweet Follow
Subscribe Subscribe
Facebook Twitter Instagram

You are receiving this email newsletter because you signed up on our website.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can sign up to the email newsletter here.

Support our work by subscribing to our quarterly print magazine.


Copyright © 2024 Earth Island Journal, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

Earth Island Journal
2150 Allston Way Ste 460
Berkeley, CA 94704-1375

Add us to your address book

 
Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2024 4:45 AM
Subject: Foods We Love

 
supporter


------------- *  ENWL  * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service
Russian: ENWL (North West), ENWL-inf (FSU), ENWL-misc (any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
Send information to en...@enw.net.ru
Subscription,Moderator: en...@enw.net.ru
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/
New digests see on https://ecodelo.org
 (C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages