3 Comments to 'India to Americans: back away from the buffet table'
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India to Americans: back away from the buffet table
Posted By katie allison granju
Apparently folks in India see the food crisis in their countrya bit, ahem, differently than the Bush administration:
The global food problem has clearly been created by Americans, who take in far more calories than the typical person in India, said Pradeep S. Mehta, secretary general of the center for international trade, economics and the environment of CUTS International, an independent research institute center based here.
Mr. Mehta said that if Americans slimmed down to the weight of middle-class Indians, “many hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa would find food on their plates.” He added, archly, that the money spent in the United States on liposuction to get rid of fat from excess consumption could be funneled to feed famine victims.
Mr. Mehta’s comments reflected ballooning criticism of the United States in India , especially after President Bush was quoted as saying of India’s burgeoning middle class, “When you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.”
The remarks, widely reported in the developing world, were made at a news conference in Missouri on May 2 and followed a statement on the subject by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that had upset many Indians.
May 13th, 2008
Well, speaking as a person who eats too well and needs to lose some weight, the Bible defines gluttony as a sin. This is perhaps understandable in terms of the arid countries of the ancient Middle East where the carrying capacity of the land was very low without irrigation or a river delta like the Nile. In the ancient days, padding your middle or building thunder thighs was probably viewed as sinful because consuming that extra food denied its availability to someone who might really need it.
In the world today, it is my understanding that there is no shortage of food for the world population. The problem is having the means to get it to the people who really need it, and this is often hampered by political issues—like with those government dips in Myanmar and those dips in Darfur. Fixing the problem will depend to a large extent on how we handle the dips. The problem is not so much a food problem as it is a “dip” problem. Anyone know how to make the dips disappear?
Well, around my house we make the dips disappear with a big bag of Ruffles…
Maybe Shrillary could win an election in India. She of the “we will take from you what is yours and give it to the common good” statement. No matter how much lipstick is slapped on the snout of that socialist pig, it is still a socialist pig.