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Today’s guest, Michael Victor, has spent the past 16 years living in Laos and getting to know its farming systems and its food. To some extent, that’s become a personal interest. But it is also a professional interest that grew out of his work with farmers and development agencies in Laos. Most recently, he’s been working with The Agro-biodiversity Initiative, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The idea is to make use of agricultural biodiversity in a sustainable way to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of people in upland regions. One thing the project has done is to collect all the information it can about agricultural biodiversity and make it available online. When Michael visited Rome recently, I grabbed the chance to find out more about Lao food and diversity.
Notes
- The Pha Khao Lao website is available in English and Lao.
- I think that the restaurant Michael mentioned is Thip Khao in Washington DC. Duly noted for next time. Any reports gladly received.
- I seem to be way behind the times on riverweed. A couple of years ago even BBC Good Food had tried it. (Scroll down.)
- Banner photograph by Periodismo Itinerante from Flickr
Listened to Food and diversity in Laos by Jeremy Cherfas from Eat This Podcast
Some interesting tidbits here, particularly about a society seemingly on the cusp of coming and greater industrialization. I can’t help but thinking about Lynne Kelly’s thesis about indigenous peoples and cultural memory. I suspect that Laotians aren’t practicing memory techniques, but because of technological and cultural changes they are loosing a lot of collective memories about their lifeways, food, and surrounding culture that have built up over thousands (or more) generations.
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Starting totally different this time round with an interesting byte from Laos.
On a recent highly listen worthy eatthispodcast (Jan 21), there’s an interview with longtime Lao agro expert Michael Victor:
With
sticky rice as the country’s main stay both from the view of production and
consumption, Michael explains how conserving past knowledge of the agro-forest livelihoods can help new
generations become aware of their traditional foods and food habits
which can assist in playing a major role in the conservation of Laos’ forest lands. The website of the project is Pha Khao Lao, well worth a visit.
Raw
Cambodia’s rice news still revolves around the tariffs imposed by the EU.
The Khmer Times (Feb. 13):
Vietnam has come to the rescue. Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 15):
Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 20) repeats the above but with more detail:
Even the Asianews Network (Feb. 21) highlights the kingdom’s need to change direction:
Measures include:
The Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 23) reports on more possible potential lifelines for the rice sector:
Backnews. The Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 1) reports:
Sought
Beyond the Khmer border, rice related news; as usual mostly from Thailand. The Bangkok Post (Feb. 19) kicks off this section with a docile bit:
Bangkok Post (Mar. 8) curiously sees farmers looking east:
Vientiane Times (Feb 21) puts it’s hopes on China:
None lesser than the Guardian (Jan. 30) hails SRI (System of Rice Intensification) techniques in the region:
Fight
The Thai junta has been trying to push through new legislation in a bid to control rice production in Thailand. The press has not been ummm … impressed. Bangkok Post opinion (Feb. 17):
The Nation (Feb. 25) reports:
The Nation (Feb. 26) continues:
The Bangkok Post (Feb. 26) notes that the proposed bill has been shelved, waiting for more opportune times ahead?
Comments on this article btw were scathing.
The Nation (Feb. 27) hasn’t finished:
Comment from the South China Morning Post (Mar. 6):
Short
Meanwhile and further afield, the Nepali Times (Mar. 1) has an editorial on rice policies:
Also in the same edition:
Though it’s encouraging to see a major local publisher looking into the country’s main crop (rather than power politics and city affairs), a distinct failure to understand the basics of rice economics seems to have hindered drawing more logical conclusions.
Imports / exports are very much dependent on demand. Nepal has seen a wicked growth in population which hasn’t been met with any substantial expansion in cropping area: with the exception of some expansive flat lands along the border with India, most rice tilling takes place on small fields which do not favour modern tilling methods.
The growth in population in the mountains has actually meant that field sizes are at best staying minimal, simply meaning that more persons are dependent on the production of these small fields. Self-sufficiency hardly results in agro innovation / investment, so it’s no wonder productivity has not grown.
Control
Thailand’s love affair with weed killers continues. The Nation (Feb. 13):
The Nation (Feb. 15):
Bangkok Post adds with an opinion piece (Feb. 18):
While on the subject of weeds and killers, Mongabay has an article (Mar. 5) on Monsanto’s glyphosphate and winning awards:
Odd business.
Talking of odd business, the Khmer Times (KT, Feb. 18) sat down with
Nothing controversial of course.
(Alarm bells ringing)
Understanding
The Khmer Times (Feb. 25) has an article on another project upstart (read: rehash of same old song) by the ADB this time:
Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 22) takes a peek at cashew economics:
The Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 8) on cassava:
The Khmer Times (Feb. 19) notes a lesser known rice alternative:
Stress
The Khmer Times (Mar. 7) mentions that:
Phnom Penh Post (Mar. 8) on fruits, mango:
Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 12) on Pailin longans:
And finally, the Phnom Penh Post (Feb. 12) on Kampot pepper:
Food podcast! #laos eatthispodcast.com/laos-diversity… esp for @Tr1sh_C
Latest episode is up now: Food in Laos.
eatthispodcast.com/laos-diversity/
Fascinating episode of Eat This Podcast today. Now I actually know something about Laos!
Food and diversity in Laos