Melvin's blog

Nshima & Curry

Melvin's  Blog

Nshima & Curry

WE'RE LUCKY TO HAVE ENOUGH FOOD

Food. We can’t do without it. It’s one of our
basic needs. As my high school biology
teacher often emphasized, a typical human
being needs food more than anything else,
except of course oxygen, water and
television. My memory of such important
facts continues to amaze me. I should be on
"Oprah."

Speaking of Oprah, I’m sure she
understands the importance of food. She
has a personal cook and a kitchen that’s big
enough to feed China. If I could build my
dream house anywhere, I’d build it in
Oprah’s kitchen. I’d sit on my deck every
evening and watch Oprah put it away. It
would be like feeding time at the zoo, but
with fewer leftovers.

Oprah: "What’s on the menu today?"

Cook: "I wasn’t feeling too well, so I just
made ribs, steak, fried chicken, meatloaf,
pork chops, lobster and crab."

Oprah: "That’s OK. I’m not that hungry. I’ll
just order some pizza. But thanks for
making the appetizer."

Actually, Oprah doesn’t eat all that much
these days. Concerned about her weight,
she has cut back drastically, putting a few
thousand farmers out of work.

It may be hard to believe, but most women,
even Oprah, need food more than they need
clothes, jewelry and shoes. And though it’s
not always apparent, most men need food
more than they need football, beer and
deodorant.

Imagine a robber breaking into the home of
Claire Marino and her husband, Dan, who
recently retired from football:


Robber: "OK, give me all your jewelry."

Mrs. Marino: "No, not my jewelry. Take
anything but my jewelry. Take my clothes,
take my food, take my husband."

Robber: "I can sell your clothes and eat your
food, but what can I do with your husband?
Does he have any useful skills?"

Mrs. Marino: "No, not anymore. Well, he
does know how to eat, as you can see
from his big belly. And he also knows how
to lie around. So maybe he's perfect for
you. You can jump over high fences by
using his belly as a trampoline. Anyway, I
don’t want him around if I have no clothes
to wear and no food to distract him."


It’s easy to take food for granted, especially
in a developed country like America, where
food is so plentiful that many people, even
when they're sober, use food for decorating.
A pumpkin on the porch, an ear of corn on
the mantel, a can of whipped cream in the
bedroom.

But despite the abundance of food in some
countries, an estimated 790 million people
around the world are underfed. And that
figure doesn’t even include the women on
"Friends."

Partly because of media coverage, we tend
to believe that the world’s hunger problems
could be solved, once and for all, just by
feeding everyone in Ethiopia. All we’d have
to do is fly over Ethiopia in a big plane and
empty Oprah’s refrigerator.

Unfortunately, hunger is so widespread that
even Oprah can't solve it. More than 525
million undernourished people live in Asia
and the Pacific. About 24,000 people die
every day from hunger or hunger-related
causes.

Here in America, most of us don’t have to
worry about putting food on our plates. We
have other worries, such as whether our
plates match our serving dishes, whether
our glasses are spotless, whether our
silverware looks fancier than our
neighbor’s. And every now and then, we
have the audacity to complain.

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