I have been
vegetarian for over 30 years and I
enjoyed this article about
vegetarianism
and women food
producers by Raymond Lloyd. I read it in
the Parity Democrat.
From fast food to Slow Food,
Vegetarianism, and Women Food Producers
9th Salone del Gusto Turin
25-29 October 2012
Early to late October 2012. While covering the World Bank annual meetings
in Japan, I toured the Yokohama Noodles
factory to witness the extraordinary progress in forty years from wet noodles
on a plate to dry noodles in a cup. As a
vegetarian, I was glad to benefit from this revolution, as the only way to
avoid pork, chicken or tuna. At the
World Bank every cheese or egg sandwich contained a slice of ham, so I was glad
to get back to the hotplate in my hotel to pour boiling water into a cup of
vegetarian noodles. Some shops have taps
of boiling water to provide cup noodles on the run, while their current use in
disaster areas can be a blessing.
From
1961 to 1986 I lived in Rome, and have been back to Italy, mainly to Pisa and
Venice, every year since. Food in Italy
is the best value for money in the world, equalled only in India. I have been a vegetarian since 8 March 2000. There are at least six reasons, or
rationalizations, for becoming a vegetarian:
health, moral, aesthetic, economic, ecological and, for me, solidarity
with the hungry, on whose behalf I worked for twenty years with the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO).
I
am not a polemical vegetarian, but it is still a sacrifice. I have been to only one Michelin-starred
restaurant since 2000, in Luxembourg in 2005, and often have to refuse food at
receptions, where most waiters assume vegetarians eat fish. Nor am I a vegan: I eat dairy products, honey and, unlike
Indian vegetarians, eggs. I also eat
cheeses with rennet, although in Britain, 70% of cheeses are made with
non-animal rennet. I am still a
beneficiary of Italian food: in the
1960s I had to travel south of Salerno to buy sun-dried tomatoes: in Britain
they now seem to flavour everything. In
Rome I could buy rocket-flavoured
insalatina at the Testaccio market:
now there are many combinations of fresh salads and herbs packaged in
London supermarkets. The one Italian specialty
I miss is the crusty pane di campagna
made with 100% durum wheat: the nearest I get to it now is sourdough bread.
In
Italy I would slice and roast jacket potatoes in olive oil: I could never make enough for my Roman
friends. I used to package pasta, garlic
and chillies to make spaghetti aglio olio
e peperoncino, for hosts in
America and round the world. I rarely
give dinners now, because in Britain, unlike in Italy, I found this a one-way
track: few Brits invite you back. Every
morning I enjoy by myself my own Scottish-Italian speciality, salted porridge
topped with cold pressed olive oil.
I
come to the Salone del Gusto for three reasons.
It is the best tasting fair in Europe, if not in the world. It keeps alive or revives little-known
products and dishes. And it encourages
food producers, not least women’s groups in the developing world. In Rome I began the world’s first field
programme for rural women, described in my 2010 Salone paper, found at
http://www.shequality.org/Women,
Inclusive Democracy, Food & Agriculture.doc, which also describes my
subsequent work for women’s advancement.
Thus most recently, on a tour with EU agriculture ministers in Cyprus E Troodos in September, I have publicized
the candied fruits of Niki Agathokleos at www.nikisweets.com.cy,
who employs twenty women. And in Northeast
Brazil in June, prior to the Rio+20 Earth Summit, I took the Slow Food Foundation
leaflets to look for umbu and baru nuts, revived and harvested by family
producers.
Raymond Lloyd - Email shequality @ gmail.com
www.shequality.org for places in bold, see www.shequality.spaces.live.com
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