India has the largest population of children with an estimated 18 million. Many displaced children migrate to Mumbai. Two organizers with the Organization for the Protection of Children’s Rights in Mumbai started a pilot project several years ago to develop City Farms by street children to not only improve their socio-economic condition, but also to leverage their creativity and energy while protecting the environment. By giving a creative outlet for the children, they receive economic support while getting an experiential learning opportunity managing organic waste, beautifying the city landscape, providing local and organic foods to urban dwellers, and promoting ecological sustainability.

Can you believe it? I can’t.

Over the last several years, the issue of what is real, authentic food has surfaced, oftentimes loudly with great passion on all sides. I loved the discussion y’all brought on about my post about being a snob and eating organically. It definitely isn’t easy, and sometimes, just too expensive for me. But as some of you raised, even the food industry has corrupted that word – labels sometimes show up that says organic, but is not.

A U.K. food company director was jailed for fraud – he stuck “organic” labels on food that was pumped of synthetic additives.

Organic foods from China are not always what they seem, according to a Public Radio International report. But the organic food industry is a $26 billion one in the U.S. Lots of money to be had.

The Cornucopia Institute, an advocacy group promoting family-scale farming, filed formal complaints against Target in 2009 that some of its products labeled organic were not really organic. According to the complaints, some of the companies that sell through Target, like Dean Foods, quietly shifted away from organic ingredients taking advantage of consumer confusion of “organic” and “natural” labels.

Meanwhile, many local, small-scale family farms may grow and harvest everything organically and according to the guidelines of the Organic Trade Association, but don’t want to or have the resources to go through the hoops and costs of getting the pretty little certified organic label.

Yet everywhere we turn, we see “REAL FOOD,” “PURE,” “NATURAL,” “AUTHENTIC,” “ORGANIC.” What does it all really mean? Kelly the Kitchen Kop just raised a most fascinating discussion about whether Qorn and other “meatless meat” products are real food.

How do you define food versus foodstuffs?

What I do know is that I’m confused and wary of what’s out there.

I’m not obsessive – I do like my Bojangles once or twice a year, and I won’t say no to the peanut M&Ms at the movie theatre. But I find myself having a hard time sometimes describing how I want to eat – food that my great-grandmother would recognize, food that tastes right because it hasn’t been invented in a test tube, food that I don’t have to wonder will give any children I have two heads or an extra finger (though that COULD come in handy in some cases, the finger, not the head). I want plums that don’t make my lip to swell up anymore because it was washed in “good for me” pesticides. I want beef jerky made with nothing but beef and spices, and not that beef stick stuff you find in roadside convenient stores.

I want good food, but since I can’t seem to call this food, “real” or “authentic” or “pure” anymore, as these words have been corrupted, I’m making up a new word.

I’m calling the food I want frank food.

Why frank food? Frank means: forthright, honest, blunt, truthful, candid, aboveboard. Frank foods by definition cannot be adulterated. It is aboveboard. Frank food unabashedly tells you what it is, and it will tell you truthfully when you’re lying.

Frank food is a real, goodness apple that is guileless, unadulterated and uncorrupted with pesticides. Frank food is butter, made with frank milk, free of rBGH and hormones – not margarine or Crisco or something else created out of a laboratory. Frank food is the grass-fed, free-range roadmeat that Hunger and Thirst harvests, fresh and local.

Frank food is what our dear friend at Eat Well, Eat Cheap raised as a great new year’s resolution, inspired by Salon’s Francis Lam who vows to no longer eat “cheap chicken.” Instead, frank chicken is well, frankly, chicken. Nothing added. Since frank chicken costs more, for me, that also means less chicken and meat, which is not a bad thing.

Another frank food is dal, a traditional thick stew usually of lentils or or beans, found in many South Asian cuisines. This Dal is courtesy of Zomppa Tsering, a recipe passed down for generations in the Indo-Tibet region. This frank food is also fairly inexpensive to prepare – hooray! The measurements may be a bit off, I tend to be very generous with my spices – I throw them in until I like the color and keep adding. This dish is chock full of protein, healthy, easy, and can last for days – just freeze any leftovers. I made this in my fancy new Christmas present!

Truly, a frank food without much pretense. It is what it is, and what it always has been.

Zomppa’s Dal with Spinach

Dal with Spinach (courtesy of Zomppa Tsering)
1 cup dry red lentils (soak for at least an hour)
1 red onion, chopped
2 TB ground ginger
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 TB turmeric
2 TB cumin powder
1/2 tsp chili powder or chili flakes (optional)
2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
1 bag baby spinach
3 cups water, chicken or vegetable stock
Oil

1. In large pot, saute onions in 2 TB oil until translucent
2. Add garlic and ginger, saute for 30 seconds
3. Add turmeric for 30 seconds – do not burn
4. Add tomatoes and saute until well mixed and soft
5. Add cumin
6. Add lentils and combine well, add additional spices if so desired, constantly stir for 2-3 minutes – do not burn
7. Add water or stock. Adjust according to thickness desired (lentils will soak up liquid)
8. Salt to taste
9. Cook over medium heat until lentils are soft (about 20 minutes)
10. Add baby spinach in last 5 minutes of cooking

Check us out on Hearth n Soul Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Tip Day Thursday, and Full Plate Thursday!

On a 100+ day, what’s better than the BEST mangoes in the world? Alfonso mangoes from India.

Ice cream on a roti…amazing amazing unique twist on traditional ice cream sundaes, found at Twisted Noodle in Durham, NC.

I had the fortune to visit and eat my way through Vancouver last year, and truly, it is an eating destination for all the athletes, families and visitors from around the world.

Location: The Water Street Cafe, Vancouver, BC

From the “Snow Leopard,” Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the first skier from Ghana to Samir Azzimani, the lone athlete from Morocco, the Winter Olympics is the time when athletes from all over get to showcase and represent their respective nations. The Olympics allows the world come together and see how similar we are: who didn’t want to hug Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette after her bronze-winning performance after her mother’s sudden death or feel for the Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer who was on his way to the gold only to be mistakenly sidetracked by his coach?

Yet despite sugar-coated messages about an increasingly shrinking and equal global society, regional inequities seem to be deepening further. From falling water tables to rising temperatures, we’re in deep, deep trouble, particularly as food demand increases. However, while the troublemakers are global, the consequences seem to fall heavier in certain regions. For example, while China is reducing malnutrition (although urbanizing to a degree that hurts grain reserves and the environment), the percentage of malnourished children in India is astonishingly high. I have written a bit on inequity in India and the issue of hunger and malnutrition.

So is there a solution? GMOs?

Pankaj Mishra pointed out the hypocrisy of a ‘modern’ India heading on the path towards Modernity, while children and farmers live in increasing debt and dependence on a growing bureaucratic food system. India’s “successful” Green Revolution in the 1970s when staple food production increased as a result of “aid” and “advanced” crop techniques are now seeing more dire consequences, including farmer debt, food insecurity, widening urban-rural gap, and rural income inequality, not to mention malnutrition, dependence on foreign oil. Between 1993 and 2003, 100,000 farmers committed suicide in rural areas, clear signs of desperation.

Food aid?

Development aid seems to be determined by the invisible hand of foreign policy and domestic agribusiness, rather than by goodwill, at least in the U.S. For example, according to journalist Celia Duggar who focuses on food aid, the U.S. requires all donated food to be grown in the U.S., driving up cost and delaying delivery of needed food. What does this mean? That middlemen, including Archer Daniels Midlandand Cargill, made over $700 million in 2004 by selling food commodities through USAID.

Meanwhile, those in Haiti coming out the devastating earthquake has to keep waiting for food while counterfeiters create fake food coupons. Take a look at this chart from 2007 that follows food aid.

Source: New York Times

In whose interest do these policies lie?

CARE turned down $45 million in federal food aid, citing that some of these policies hurt the people they are supposed to help. Instead of donating tons to middlemen, then, how about finding and supporting the indigenous programs that work directly with those in need, such as a revolutionary community kitchen scheme in India to combat malnutrition? Or giving cash donations to support the World Food Programme, which has gotten 75% more food for countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia by buying corn grown IN those countries rather than shipping them from the U.S. (novel idea?). After all, it doesn’t seem fair that only SOME of us get to eat food like this.

Location: Kirin, Vancouver, BC

For those of us working in the do-gooding world of development and relief aid: it’s time to stop patting ourselves on the back about our wonderful intentions and seriously take a look at our results. When it comes to food security, there shouldn’t be a Gold medalist or Silver medalist.

We should all be standing on the podium together.

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal is a beautiful place with serene mountains and loud, dirty streets. There are meditative Buddhist stupas…

…devout Hindus performing puja, a religious ritual of gratitude…

…chaotic street markets…

…and intoxicating spices.

The food is amazing. There really aren’t large supermarkets with prepackaged meats in styrofoam or frozen dinners packed with who-knows-what. If I ordered chicken, I knew the chicken was usually coming from the family’s backyard.

Given its geographic proximity and history with neighboring countries, there are a lot of Indian influences, with curries and dal (lentils) that you eat with your right hand.

There are also a lot of Chinese and Tibetan influences with noodles and heavy meat dishes.

Being in the Himalayas, there’s even a local beer.

But not everyone gets to drink this beer or eat the food. The ten year Nepalese Civil War from 1996-2006, during which time over 12,500 were killed and over 100,000 displaced, what is left is a food insecure nation – 41% of the people lack sufficient food. 80% of children under 5 are malnourished. Issues of chronic food insecurity, high food prices, and natural disasters make Nepal a food vulnerable nation (World Food Programme).

Climate change has led to once-predictable rains and water run-off from the Himlayas to droughts and floods, wiping out topsoil and entire villages. Crop yields are decreasing, certain types of rice and vegetables are no longer growing where they once did, and even wild animals have begun to show changes in their gestation periods. The danger of glacier meltaway is real (The Guardian). Yesterday, December 3, Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal held a summit on climate change on mountain communities (Radio France), signaling greater attention on this critical issue.

Read more about how to help with the World Food Programme or think about giving a gift of animals via Heifer this Christmas to support local families to bring an end to chronic food insecurity.

In the minds of many Americans, India is the exotic land of Slumdog Millionaire, Bollywood dancers, and romantic ashrams of Eat, Pray, Love lore. Along with China, India is sometimes depicted as “taking over” the U.S. – where “they” are getting rich from taking jobs from “us.” Two of the wealthiest people in the world are from India. Over 200 million in India have the purchasing power that rivals that of the U.S. There are jasmine-scented gardens…

…fancy, air-conditioned malls…

…and man-made lakes for picnics.

Well, guess what.

India also leads in world hunger.

Check out this quick video:

Over 200 million people in India are undernourished. That’s like saying EVERYONE in France-Germany-UK COMBINED go hungry. 50% of child deaths are due to malnutrition. And this is in face of the fact that we as humans have the capacity and technology to make enough food to feed everyone in the world several times over (based on a European diet). So why and how are so many people food insecure?

What does food insecurity even mean? Well, food security is not only the availability of food, but access to it. Food insecurity can range from chronic food insecurity (i.e. chronic hunger) to transitory food insecurity.  Just because food is produced doesn’t necessarily mean one has access to it.

According the BBC, the hungriest in India are often the food’s producers: the farmers themselves. With a focus on new technology, government subsidies to make fertilizers and GMOs cheaper have also led to crop prices plummeting (situation sound familiar?). As a result, many Indian farmers have been unable to pay down their debt and many have been unable to eat what they grow. With global food prices doubling to 11% from a year ago and this past year’s monsoon failure and subsequent torrential downpours destroying crops, some farmers have even resorted to suicide.

Beyond the images of confident Bollywood dancers and sophisticated businessmen, let us not forget that there are families – moms, dad, babies – who do not even have the security of knowing when or if they will eat next.

If India seems to far away for you, let’s take it to the U.S., where food insecurity is not unknown. 1 in 6 families in the U.S. go hungry. That is 500,000 families and 17 million children in the U.S.

So what can we do? Visit sites like the World Food Programme. Donate. Learn. Share information. Raise awareness. If you’re a blogger, become a Bloggers Against Hunger.

For more information on India’s hunger crisis (statistics pulled from these sources):

• Times of India: India tops world hunger charts.
• Economy Watch: India’s hunger crisis worsens despite economic successes.
• Sydney Morning Herald: India’s hidden hunger.
• Hindustan Time: India’s food crisis is incomparable.
• Vancouver Sun: biofuel could be reason for world hunger.

Us…them…U.S….India…we’re all in this together. Wherever we may be, food should not be something to be insecure about.

Popular local soft drink in India…bought and bottled by the Coca Cola Company.

I believe in slow cooking but also believe in human ingenuity; so if there is something that allows me to cook fresh nutritious food fast and reduce my utility bills – I am game.

Interesting facts
- Invented by French Physicist Denis Papin in 1679.
- The concept is cooking food in a sealed pot by using steam heat, without reducing the nutritional value. The temperature in the pot becomes as high as 266 F (130C)
- Often used at high altitudes, where due to reduced atmospheric pressure it lowers boiling temperature.
- Reduces cooking time for most food by 1/3rd the time. The website below gives cooking times:

http://www.healthgoods.com/Shopping/Appliances/Pressure_Cooking_Times.htm

How to use a pressure cooker
Pressure cookers have come a long way; however, pressure cookers differ depending on the brand. The cardinal rule is to read the instruction manual.

I own a Hawkins and make sure that the valves are clean, sealing ring is not too loose and the steam vents are clean. In addition to ensuring that your pressure cooker is clean the ratio of water to food is also important.

On Youtube I found some interesting and useful instructional videos;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9v2S49sHeQ

So if you are looking into saving time, energy and want to dare to try a new cooking method/equipment – give the pressure cooker a try – and let some steam out!

Overseas, the influence of immigrant cuisine is no different, and they too get adapted and influenced by local cuisine. Let’s revert back to India, for the moment, where Chinese food is not only seen on street vendor carts (a whole chain), but the Indian-Chinese food is delicious.

From wonton soups to lo mein, the dishes are “Indianized” to add unique flavors. A popular dish is chili paneer, almost like a Szechwan tofu dish only made with Indian paneer and different spices.

A simple recipe adapted from Recipezaar:

16 ounces paneer
4 TB corn flour
1 TB tomato paste
1 TB chili or hot sauce
10-12 small green chilis, chopped
2 TB soy sauce
4 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (or leave out if you don’t peppers, like me)
Salt to taste

1. Roll balls of paneer with corn flour
2. Heat some oil in skillet and fry paneer until golden brown, remove from heat.
3. Add more oil and fry onions until brown
4. Add green chilis and fry for a couple minutes
5. Add green pepper if using it
6. Return paneer
7. Add tomato paste, chili sauce, and soy sauce and stir fry for about 3 minutes
8. Salt to taste

Not your typical General Tso’s chicken.