Food

The History of Tea Leaf

Image depicts a statue erected on Mt. Loi Saing (Paddamyar Taung in Burmese), near Taung Pė Village, situated within Namsam Township, northern Shan State. The statue goes that when the Burmese king Alaungsithu travelled across his new kingdom around the 5th -6th century, he found Palaung people at Loi San Mountain in Southern Shan State. When he found them to be poor and struggling, he gave them laphet seeds believing it would help them find money for their family.

Unusual terms used to refer rice under BSPP

There existed unusual terms used to refer certain types of rice during the BSPP government. Here are three examples. U Myo Win Than is a 55 years old Burmese man who used to live in Myittha, Kyaukse district, Mandalay.

He explained that “Yar Kyaw Sa Par” refers to the variety which exceeds a hundred tinns (Burmese unit of volume measurement that equals to 40.9148 L) per acre when harvested.

Names of rice mainly grown in Rakhine under Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) from 1962-1988

Ma Mya Than, 58 years old, is a middle class Rakhine (Arakanese) lady who lives in Buthidaung, a town in northern Rakhine. She used to sell various varieties of rice. Rakhine, situated on the western coast of Myanmar, is rich with natural resources including fish, timber, oil and gas. According to her, although Rakhine exported many acres of rice under Burmese Socialist Programme Party for years, there were around five types of rice that farmers in Rakhine mainly grew.

Cultivating Rice in Covid-19 Times

 COVID-19 is not the only challenge that common people across the world have been faced with. But there are places where this problem has been compounded due to other kinds of natural challenges felt locally. This has been particularly so in the state of Assam in India where annual flooding ravaged  lives and livelihood. The worst hit have been the ones settled in low lying flood prone zones across the state, making it simply impossible for many to engage in cultivation of the staple food crop, rice. 

La Fête d'Aïd-el-Kébir

La fête d'Aïd-el-Kébir ou la tabaski ou encore la fête des moutons est un événement très spécial au Mali.
Spécifiquement au Nord du Mali où les moutons sont égorgés, grillés et toute une bonne ambiance autour de la viande.
Unique à son genre.
 
Cela ressert les liens sacrés du voisinage, de sang et de parenté ou de confession. C'est le moment le plus heureux de l'année où la modération se cherche.

Ilish Porbo: A Community Food Festival

People often associate strong emotions of ‘home and comfort’ with certain food and food preparations. This stands true for the first generation Bengali migrants living in the Delhi-NCR area. Each year, during the monsoon season, members of Amraa Shobai, group of Bengali residents from Delhi and NCR, organize the ‘Ilish Porbo’ food festival in Chittaranjan Park (CR Park).

Hunger: "We want rice, we don't want cash!"

This haiku encapsulates my impression of the debate titled 'Cash or kind transfer? The regional, national and global dimensions of revamping the Public Distribution System' facilitated by Augustin Brutus, a scholar activist (Intercultural Network for Development and Peace) and post-doctoral scholar at IFP, Nithya Joseph, at the Pondicherry workshop.  The participants included Sudha Sundaraman, of the AIDWA (All Democratic Women's Association) and members of the local women's group SAMAM (Samam Makalir Suyasarbu Iyakkam).

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