‘chinese Food’ Is The New ‘friday.’ Except Racist
World Food Day 2013: How to help end hunger
It is my view that an evidence-informed approach to food fortification policy-making starts with the recognition that not all causes of inadequate nutrient intake are the same. Too often food fortification policy is made because of the perception it offers a relatively easy and immediate quick fix to a health problem resulting from an inadequate nutrient intake, irrespective of the cause of the inadequacy. A failure to consider the underlying cause of an inadequate nutrient intake risks putting in place an ineffective policy intervention, or worse, one that carries safety concerns as well as adverse ethical implications. Successful food fortification interventions have been those where the technology has been used to directly tackle the underlying cause of an inadequate nutrient intake such as addressing inherent nutrient deficiencies in the food supply. For example, universal salt iodization has been highly effective in reducing the prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders around the world with minimal risks (when implemented in accordance with policy guidelines) and minimal adverse ethical implications. Conversely, potential health risks and adverse ethical implications have resulted when food fortification policies have been developed and implemented with a lack of consideration of the underlying cause of an inadequate nutrient intake. For example, mandatory flour fortification with folic acid has been implemented in approximately 70 countries around the world as an intervention to reduce the prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs). This policy intervention has been based on compelling epidemiological evidence that folic acid can reduce the risk of a relatively small number of women experiencing a NTD-affected pregnancy. However, NTDs have an uncertain multifactorial aetiology in which genetics plays a major role. What the evidence also shows is that for the small number of women who may be genetically predisposed to a raised folic acid requirement, folic acid is exerting its protective influence by acting more as a therapeutic agent than as a conventional nutrient. In these circumstances targeted folic acid supplementation or voluntary flour fortification with folic acid are policy interventions that are more directly tackling the underlying genetic cause of the policy problem. These policy interventions are associated with less health risks and adverse ethical implications than mandatory flour fortification with folic acid.
About 2 billion people in the world lack vitamins and minerals that are essential for good health, and around 1.4 billion are overweight – one third of them, obese. Children born to parents suffering from these forms of malnutrition start out with a higher risk of impairment from birth and illness later in life. Poverty is handed down from generation to generation. Now it’s time to stop the cycle. October 16 is the FAO’s annual World Food Day, and the organization is seeking to heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world and stimulate discussions for solutions. The theme for 2013 is aSustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition,a and while the scope of that might seem daunting to the average diner, it’s easy to make a difference, even from the comfort of your own community. The FAO suggests: – Hosting a World Food Day meal Oxfam has great tips for shopping for and preparing a meal that supports local farmers, as well as conversation starters that will help you and your guests get to the root of who is producing the food you eat. – Growing a garden Food pantries struggle to keep fresh food on the shelves. You can help keep them stocked with bounty from your own home garden. No time, no sun, no space? Here’s how to get past all the excuses and obstacles . Need more inspiration? Meet the CNN Hero who created an oasis in a Southern ‘food desert.’ – Eliminating food waste A recent study by the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers revealed that 30a50% or 1.2-2 billion metric tonnes (that’s about 2.6-4.4 trillion pounds for those of us not on the metric system) of all food produced on the planet is lost before reaching a human stomach. There are plenty of factors at play including large portions of edible crops being rejected because they’re not physically attractive enough, problems in the supply chain and inefficient harvesting but perhaps it’s time to consider that your own kitchen might be part of the problem. Fix that in four easy steps.
Choosing between heating and eating: British demand for emergency food aid spikes
Feds taper gets pushback from abroad Howard Schneider As the U.S. central bank is expected to wind down its stimulus policies in coming months, the world is nervous. As U.S. faces potential downgrades, markets flash alarm Zachary A. Goldfarb Fitch warned it could strip the U.S. of its AAA rating as investors signaled their concern over the debt limit. Chris Mould, the Trussell Trusts executive chairman, appealed to the government to launch an inquiry into the causes of hunger in the U.K. With winter approaching, the worst may be yet to come. This is disturbing, he said. Its not going away. Its getting worse. WORRIES AHEAD OF WINTER Mould said that increasing numbers of people in Britain are living on incomes that are insufficient to cover the rising costs of food, gas and electricity, fuel, transport and other basic necessities.
Chinese Food is not racist because it depicts pan-Asian cuisine; its racist because it lazily traffics in racial stereotypes and paints over the distinctions between vastly different Asian cultures with the same its all Chinese to me! brush. Its difficult to tell whether Wilson understands that the song he wrote deals in harmful misinformation, but judging by his earnest responses to Rebecca Blacks success, its likely thats not the case. Chinese Food is another example of the kind of cultural tribute thats harmful even when it lacks malicious intent the reason many Americans still dont understand why, for example, the song What Made the Red Man Red from Peter Pan is racist, or why calling Washington D.C.s NFL team the Redskins is not okay. Theyre not explicitly hateful, of course, or even vicious, but they are ignorant and diminishing towards huge swathes of people, reinforcing ideas about them that are vastly overgeneralized and demeaning. A communication breakdown still exists in the space between the celebration of multiculturalism and the commitment of hate crimes, a space where people mean well and certainly dont consider themselves racist, but still obliviously inflict damage and then refuse to acknowledge its existence or impact. Yesterday, Gawkers Cord Jefferson wrote a thoughtful article that explained how racism exists not just in overtly hateful thoughts and comments, but in the framework of plausible deniability that builds up around racism and how insane that plausible deniability can make people feel. Like those terrible Asian schoolgirl jokes on Seth MacFarlanes new sitcom Dads, Chinese Food can attempt to hide behind the post-racial America argument, the one that says that its okay to exploit stereotypes because they cant do us any harm, not anymore but it will fail. Thats the real danger behind the myth of colorblindness, the myth of post-racial America: the potential for the racism embedded in this confectionery video to be denied and enjoyed anyway. The problem, particularly with a viral video like this one, is that everyone sees it, but not everyone sees the damage implicitly wrought by it. Earlier today, a YouTube commenter wrote on the videos page , This is why kids become racist. She could be right; I can hear this song echoing down the halls of my high school as readily as I could The Fox. Viral videos like Chinese Food, when theyre widely viewed, become a part of our shared culture; theyre what millions of people talk about, reference in conversation, share with their friends. When those video depict other groups of people in inaccurate and demeaning ways for entertainment as exotic, monolithic, or otherwise fictionalized they encourage us to internalize those ideas, or at the very least to laugh them off. Chinese Food is, in a sense, a frillier, less overt manifestation of the same kind of minstrelsy that Miley Cyrus gets away with .