Universal Value Exchange

My wife is just learning how to cook American food, so I am always trying to find good recipes for the food that I love. Since she isn’t familiar with a lot of the foods, a recipe is rather important for her. It means that she can make sure that the food is as perfect as possible. So far, so good. I swear the food is so good, she could even open up a restaurant. Hmm, is that another great business idea?

I remember back when I was teaching English in Thailand. One of the special projects I did with my students was to work with a few restaurants in town to translate their menus and give their wait staff special training in English and dealing with western tourists. It was a good experience and a lot of fun.

I think they would have loved to see The Perfect Server. It’s a waitress training video from Vat19. It’s a good overview of what it takes to be a good waiter or waitress, including all of the proper ways to serve food and treat guests. Many of the lessons are shown by comparing the actions of two waiters, the good and the not so good one. In fact, this video would be perfect for restaurants as part of their new server training sessions.

You can find this video and other amazing products, like the giant wine glass, at Vat19. Yes, you have got to see that giant wine glass. It holds an entire bottle of wine!

There is a very bad impending rice shortage that is preparing to strike rice importing countries in Asia. This could be very bad and it is not something that has come out of the blue. This is a crisis that has been brewing for several years as land previously devoted to rice production in rice exporting countries has been put to other uses.

This means that rice production growth in the main exporting countries has leveled off and rice exports have started to fall. This means that countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are having a very tough time finding adequate rice on the world market.

Prices in the Philippines have already spike by more than 30 to 50% at the retail level and further price increases are in the offing with an actual shortage predicted in the fall. This isn’t a one time problem, but rather this is looking to be a yearly problem with no end in site.

And this could very well turn into a political issue.

A friend of mine is looking at opening a restaurant. I think he is aiming for a trendy traditional style of restaurant that tries to serve very traditional types of food in a trendy atmosphere. I think his menu looks pretty good, but he is still trying to find the right location and the right furniture to create the look he wants.

I have suggested that he go with some of the trendy furniture, like the trendy restaurant chairs that you can find at Contract Furniture. They’ve got a great selection of furniture for all types of venues, including restaurants and patios. No matter if you need indoor or outdoor furniture, they have it all at decent prices.

I was reading today that farmers in Argentina are up in arms over new export taxes. These export taxes only affect the food products that are exported. Foods that remain in the country do not have these taxes. In effect, it’s a way to make it more financially advantageous to sell food locally and that keeps inflation down.

In a normal market, this could be atrocious, but we are not in a normal market. Commodity prices around the world have soared and farmers have likewise seen their income increase. I think it’s perfectly acceptable for a country to make a decision that feeding its own people at a reasonable price is more important than having some farmers make windfall profits.

Just my opinion.

Throughout west and central Africa, one of the staple food products is the black-eye pea. I had never really given much thought to this or even knew what a black-eye pea was. See the peas are eaten as a protein and the leaves are eaten like a spinach. The stems are feed to cattle that provide more of the food people need. Because its multiple uses, the black-eye pea affects the live and lifestyles of many. Since it is a staple food for hundreds of millions of people, increasing the yields of the plants can increase the quality of life for its consumers.

Scientists in Virginia are creating varieties that have a larger yield and can withstand drought and pests. In fact, some initial witchweed resistant varieties are already being planted in Africa. This article brings to mind many of the advances that American institutions have been giving to the world and should be highlighted.

Source: Team seeks to improve the black-eye pea by Associated Press, retrieved 2/19/08.