Right on, Marin Nestle

Despite reservations I have about the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sunday Food section (see here, for one example), and the limitations to Michael Pollan’s book, Omnivore’s Dilemma, I found today’s column by Nestle to be right on.

Today, Nestle addressed the recent controversy over Omnivore’s Dilemma: many universities and colleges are distributing it as required reading for incoming freshmen, to stimulate discussion. (NPR actually did a story on this recently: Farmers: What do you Think of Pollan’s Ideas?) Apparently, many industry officials and farmers with ties to the agro-food industry are objecting heavily, and have threatened to pull funding and support from these schools.

Nestle responded:
Although the rancher’s argument might appear to be about the value of presenting balanced views to students, universities are supposed to distinguish between academic and commercial interests. As university professors, Pollan and I base our opinions on our education, training, research and professional experience – not on how they might affect an industry. Our job is to teach students to read and think critically so they can form their own opinions about what we and others tell them.

If our professorial opinions cannot be offered without public disclaimers and insistence on equal time for opposing views, I have to assume that what we are saying must be perceived as influential. If it indeed is influential, I expect even more pushback as the current food movement extends its reach and becomes stronger and more effective.

Trouble? Bring it on.

(Emphasis mine)

South Asian Film Festival in San Francisco this week

3rd I’s seventh annual South Asian Film Festival in San Francisco begins this Thursday.

About 3rd I:
3rd I is a non-profit, national organization committed to promoting diverse images of South Asians through independent film. We represent filmmakers and audiences from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, The Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet, and the South Asian Diaspora.

No Malayalam films in the line up, but there are several non-Bollywoodesque films that look interesting.

Pesticide drift in CA

A harrowing news story of (commonplace) pesticide poisoning from the California Report.

Note: even workers on organic fields are susceptible to drift from other farms. Makes me wonder how chemical-free our organic fruits and vegetables really are….

Listening to this story, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a certified organic farmer in Wayanad, Kerala this past summer. According to this farmer, he’d like to convert all of his land to organic farming, and has mostly done so, except for his paddy fields. The reason for leaving the paddy fields alone? Frequent (and normal) flooding of fields washes pesticides from the paddies of other farmers into his, rendering any efforts to be chemical-free worthless at this point in time.

Biodiversity and Sashi Tharoor

(Unrelated — or are they?  This is where my PhD seems to be heading now….)

Rattan plants facing extinction in the Western Ghats

Sashi Tharoor wants more organic farming in Kerala

Chief Minister: encourage organic farming in the State

From the Hindu:

Encourage organic farming, says V.S. Achuthanandan…this will save the soil from negative impacts

Language Study in India

I was lucky to be able to participate in AIIS‘ Malayalam language course this past summer, and I highly recommend AIIS’ language programs (which is now accepting applications):

The American Institute of Indian Studies welcomes applications for its
summer 2010 and academic year 2010-2011 language programs. Programs to be offered include Hindi (Jaipur), Bengali (Kolkata), Punjabi (Mohali), Tamil (Madurai); Marathi (Pune), Urdu (Lucknow), Telugu (Vizag), Malayalam (Thiruvananthapuram) and Sanskrit (Pune) and Pali/Prakrit (Pune). We will offer other Indian languages upon request. All academic year applicants should have the equivalent of two years of prior language study. For regular summer Sanskrit, we require the equivalent of two years of prior study; for summer Bengali, Hindi and Tamil we require the equivalent of one year of prior study. For summer Urdu, we require the equivalent of one year of either Hindi or Urdu. We can offer courses at all levels, including beginning, in other Indian languages for the summer. Summer students should apply for FLAS (graduate students) if available for funding to cover the costs of the program. Funding for Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu may be available through the U.S. State Department’s CLS program (see www.clscholarship.org ). Academic year students are eligible to apply for an AIIS fellowship which would cover all expenses for the program. AIIS is also offering a fall semester program. We offer Hindi and Urdu at all levels for the fall; we require two years of prior language study for other languages for the fall. The application deadline is January 31, 2010. Applications can be downloaded from the AIIS web site at www.indiastudies.org . For more information: Phone: 773-702-8638. Email: aiis@uchicago.edu.

Weblink on cultural events in Kerala

A friend of mine just shared a link with me, which I thought I’d post: SpaceOut, a blog that lists “the cultural events happenings in Kerala, with programme announcements, reviews and links.”

Time to reconsider that gold horde?

Thieves are apparently targeting the homes of South Asian families in various states for gold.

To switch geographies, it amazes me to go to Kerala and see how much hype and popularity there is over gold jewelry (even today still, despite the escalating price of gold).

Here’s a taste for some popular gold shops in Kerala:
Alukkas
Alapatt
Bhima

The last website (Bhima’s), has an interesting quotation: Like life, every piece of our jewellery is all about true relationships. It’s pure and sublime. It brings happiness and memorable moments.

Sublime, eh? South Indian obsession with gold is fascinating, given recent academic research that suggests that this obsession changes — and has perhaps intensified in the past few years — in connection to trends in consumer culture (see C. Van Hollen).

What’s “good” food?

The San Francisco Chronicle recently did a tasting and review of Korma curry sauces. The verdict: all of them were overly salty and sub-par.

My favorite line from the piece is the following: They may be popular, but, at least by the panel, they were not beloved.

If they –and other foods– are so popular, yet so disdained by gourmet chefs and foodies, why do such gourmands have a large following?

The article also reminded me that despite what is considered high culture (e.g., not packaged korma curry, and, dare I conjure, authentic* korma curry), most Keralites I know can’t live without salt. Food is not good if it’s not overly salty. We can debate where such a taste came from –perhaps leftover from food preservation techniques due to a lack of refrigerators in a tropical climate? — but I’ve found that despite what gourmet chefs celebrate, lots (not all, of course) of Keralites like their meat burnt, their food overly salty, and the burning sensation that takes over your mouth when food has a bit too much molaga poodee (chili powder).

*I’ll leave “authentic” up to you all to debate.

In honor of World Food Day, two stories from the Hindu

Protests against genetically modified eggplant (bt brinjal).

Kerala’s Chief Minister reasserts his position against GMOs

And, randomly: the most expensive Malayalam film hits theaters today. Worth the money?