Tag: Food

12 African Artists Leading a Culture Renaissance Around the World

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In one of his famed self-portraits, Omar Victor Diop, a Senegalese photographer and artist, wears a three-piece suit and an extravagant paisley bow tie, preparing to blow a yellow, plastic whistle. The elaborately staged photograph evokes the memory of Frederick Douglass, the one-time fugitive slave who in the 19th century rose to become a leading abolitionist, activist, writer and orator, as well as the first African American to be nominated for vice president of the United States. Diop is no stranger to portraying the aches and hopes of Black people…

Weekend podcast: Grace Dent on the love of cheese, Marina Hyde on dull spy ‘scandals’, and a male escort on what women want

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Marina Hyde ponders a government so tedious, even the ‘shocking’ revelation of an alleged spy can’t sex things up (1m20s); Grace Dent delves into ‘the great social leveller’, cheese, and what our love for this foodstuff says about us (8m8s); and a male escort reveals what women want when they pay for sex (34m56s). How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian

At BRICS Summit, Putin Tries to Rally Support

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The five-nation BRICS summit is focused on whether to expand the club and how to be a counterweight to Western powers, but the meeting opened in Johannesburg on Tuesday in the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with President Vladimir V. Putin attempting to rally the members via video to Moscow’s side. In a speech to fellow leaders of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa group, Mr. Putin blamed the West for Russia’s exit from an agreement on Ukrainian grain exports that had helped stabilize global food supplies…

China’s Extreme Floods and Heat Ravage Farms and Kill Animals

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The downpour began in late May, drenching the wheat crops in central China. As kernels of wheat blackened in the rain, becoming unfit for human consumption, the government mobilized emergency teams to salvage as much of the harvest as possible. In a viral video, a 79-year-old farmer in Henan Province wiped away tears as he surveyed the damage. The unusually heavy rainfall, which local officials said was the worst disruption to the wheat harvest in a decade, underscored the risks that climate shocks pose to President Xi Jinping’s push for…

Chinese culinary craze of stir-fried stones rocks the internet

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In tough economic times, a new money-saving ingredient for stir-fries is gaining in popularity among Chinese internet users: rocks. Videos of chefs making stir-fried rocks are the latest trend on Chinese social media. Some show chefs frying up pebbles with garlic and chilli at busy night markets, while others depict bucolic scenes of villagers cooking freshly fished stones on a riverbank. However it is made, the dish, known as suodiu (suck and discard) is having a resurgence, at least in videos of people pranking unsuspecting friends. While some online chefs…

‘Lunch of suffering’: plain ‘white people food’ goes viral in China

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Under a photo of processed cheese, ham and crackers packed neatly in plastic, a Weibo user writes that to eat this for lunch is to “learn what it feels like to be dead”. The post is part of a trend among Chinese social media users who are recreating “báirén fàn” or “white people food” to better understand – or poke fun at – western packed lunches made up of plain ingredients such as raw vegetables and sliced meats. The social media platforms Weibo and Xiaohongshu have been inundated with photos…

How a Chinese cafe above a DIY store became the best place to eat in Canada

Chin@Strategy

The checkerboard floors of Vancouver’s Northern Cafe are warped, the only views are of nearby industrial warehouses, and diners waiting for a table must navigate the hazards of an active lumber yard. And yet the tottering Chinese Canadian restaurant, with its red vinyl booths and mismatched porcelain mugs, is so busy on a weekday morning that a scattered line forms between pickup trucks and forklifts. The rickety structure of the eatery, which sits above a hardware store, holds the unlikely honour of being the best place to dine Canada, according…

Karen Clarke obituary

Chin@Strategy

My wife, Karen Clarke, who has died of cancer aged 60, was a special needs teacher who improved the lives of scores of marginalised young people in south London. Her lessons, influenced by her earlier life as an archaeologist, translator, marketing consultant and cookery book author, were inspirational; and it was this work, and her output as a writer, that gave her a true feeling that she had made a positive and lasting contribution. Karen was born in Fareham, Hampshire. Her parents had met in Hong Kong; her father, Basil…

BrewDog to expand in China after Budweiser deal

Chin@Strategy

BrewDog has said it plans to brew in China as part of a deal with Budweiser China to expand sales in the world’s biggest market for beer. Budweiser China would start brewing BrewDog’s Punk IPA, Hazy Jane and Elvis Juice beers by the end of March at its Putian craft brewery near the south-east coast, the companies announced on Monday. BrewDog is focusing on international expansion after a difficult few years in the UK. The company, headquartered in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, lost its status as a ethically certified B Corp in…

China’s Bid to Improve Food Production? Giant Towers of Pigs.

Chin@Strategy

The first sows arrived in late September at the hulking, 26-story high-rise towering above a rural village in central China. The female pigs were whisked away dozens at a time in industrial elevators to the higher floors where the hogs would reside from insemination to maturity. This is pig farming in China, where agricultural land is scarce, food production is lagging and pork supply is a strategic imperative. Inside the hulking edifice, which resembles the monolithic housing blocks seen across China and stands as tall as the London tower that…