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…
Tag: Food
BrewDog to expand in China after Budweiser deal
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.
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…
As food shortages hit locked-down Shanghai, the gift of two carrots and a potato was pure luxury | Jennifer Pak
On day 32 of Shanghai’s lockdown this year, I somehow managed to buy fruit in bulk. I shared some grapes and kiwis with a friend. She insisted I take something in exchange from her dwindling food stash. So I grabbed a potato that had sprouted and two slightly wrinkled carrots. What a relief. Shanghai’s government effectively shut the city’s borders during the lockdown in April and May. Getting basic items was difficult. Shops were closed. Delivery drivers were in short supply. Suddenly, 25 million of us had to rely on…
Chinese pork prices surge to new high prompting authorities to act
The price of Chinese pork surged to a new high in August, prompting authorities to take the year’s first dip into national meat reserves to ensure supply for the holidays. Pork costs in China rose an average of 22.5% last month, compared with last year. It followed the highest recorded month-on-month increase of 25.6% in July, as CPI also hit a two-year high of 2.7%. August’s rise occurred despite an unexpected slowdown of CPI inflation to 2.5%. China is the world’s biggest consumer of pork, and the country’s government maintains…
Etles Uyghur, London: ‘You’ll be well fed, and learn a little along the way’ – restaurant review
Etles Uyghur Restaurant, 424 Finchley Road, London NW2 2HY (020 7431 5698). Starters £7.50-£9.99, mains £12.50-£16, big plate chicken £30, desserts £4.50. Unlicensed The menu at Etles Uyghur restaurant, located at the leafier Golder’s Green end of London’s Finchley Road, is not just a thrilling list of edible promises. It’s also a subtle lesson in physical and human geography. Obviously, there’s no pork listed because of the predominantly Muslim culture of the Uyghur people, which the Chinese government has been attempting to annihilate so brutally, for so long. Nor is…
Our global food supply is at risk when high gas prices limit the creation of fertiliser | Andrew Whitelaw
If water is the source of life, fertiliser is the source of scaleable food production. The increasing cost of fertiliser is one of the largest contributors to a “cost-price” squeeze affecting the farmers of major agricultural products in Australia and globally. The cost of food is increasing in step with the cost of producing that food and, in the past quarter in Australia, we have seen food inflation increase by 2.8% – the fourth-highest quarter since the turn of the century. The price of wheat, the main staple for much…
Economic Headwinds Mount as Leaders Weigh Costs of Confronting Russia
The interruption of wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia, which together account for 28 percent of global exports, along with supply chain disruptions, a severe drought in India that has caused it to ban shipments of grain and Covid-related lockdowns in China, are also causing food prices to spiral and increasing global hunger, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. The question for both American and European policymakers is how to corral leaping prices without sending their economies into recession. The Federal Reserve has begun raising interest rates to tame…
China’s ‘Zero-Covid’ Mess Proves Autocracy Hurts Everyone
After the city locked down its 25 million residents and grounded most delivery services in early April, many people encountered problems sourcing food, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Some set multiple alarms for the different restocking times of grocery delivery apps that start as early as 6 a.m. Updated April 13, 2022, 6:35 a.m. ET In the past few days, a hot topic in WeChat groups has been whether sprouted potatoes were safe to eat, a few Shanghai residents told me. Neighbors resorted to a barter system to exchange, say,…
Bisquey business: Maine politicians bemoan China lobster deal flop
China has failed to live up to its promise to buy more Maine lobster under a deal that opened the door to an easing of a trade war under Donald Trump, Maine’s congressional leaders say. Maine’s lobster industry was hurt by retaliatory Chinese tariffs in 2018 but failed to see substantial export gains after China committed to buying an additional $200bn in US goods, the delegation contends. Under the “Phase One Agreement”, China was supposed to increase purchases above 2017 levels. But China has bought “almost no lobster above 2017…