"Saturday, January 23, 2010
A Meal With Haiti in Mind
Often people from less wealthy countries are in a situation where the only meal they get is based on beans and rice. Looking into the nutritional value of those economic meals, we find that they are very well balanced and, as I said before: Balance is everything!
Last night, while thinking about the famine that the people of Haiti must be going through, I cooked a meal that was super economical, easy to prepare and rendidor, a source of bounty. I cooked one bag of black beans, boiled 2 cups of long grain brown rice, fried 2 sweet potatoes cut in the shape of long french fries in an inexpensive blend of soy and olive oil, and fried two thin-sliced plantains. I topped the black beans and brown rice with queso fresco and wedges of avocado and had an island dinner for 4 while Mafusser read to us "Please, Malese", a Haitian trickster folk tale. The leftover beans were used for breakfast the next day.
It is unfortunate that, as I'm typing, thousands of Haitians do not have this economic meal in their stomachs, but we can manage our personal economy by preparing meals like this. Instead of splurging on a fancy dinner, we can help by sending financial support to Haitian relief funds and by praying for their spiritual and material rebuilding. Remain curious my friends!
Morning everyone! I support myself financially and this usually is the exact meal that I prepare for myself for dinner every night. Plantains are all that I'm missing but it's much more financially sound than eating out. It's usually enough for two and then another meal or two for the next day.
ReplyDeleteNutritionally, merely beans and rice are wonderful for energy, protein and minerals. It's heartbreaking that so many in Haiti and in other parts of our world, people are struggling to even put this amount of food onto their table.
I agree with your opinion ,because it is really important to do saving in our daily life for our future. In addition, the balanced diet is also important for human being to keep ourselves healthy.
Deletei dont who would sit here and eat this
ReplyDeleteit is not about who would sit here and eat this but more of if this is all you had would it could it be enough?
DeleteI would. Actually looks good too.
DeleteI would definitely eat this...if I had the money to purchase the ingredients.
Deletei guess everybody has make due of what they got
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting on Soylent to hit the market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food_substitute)
ReplyDeleteSays it gonna come out in late September. It is almost here then.
DeleteIf you pre order it now you get between 1 and 4 weeks and that's only in December. I think it'll be a year or so before it's on store shelves, if it ever is.
DeleteWith the description of the meal, I dont see why public demand wouldnt be high enough for it to be in stores by years end.
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ReplyDeleteyou would say that to justify why this food might be okay to eat
DeleteI agree, the only time some of these organizations help out is when a disaster happens, then they ask for aid but these people that go day by day with no nutritional meal have no assistance majority of the time.
DeleteDon't get me wrong, my culture is based on rice and beans and I love eating both. I am simply focused on what the article was saying because in reality there is so many more ways by which so many people are not being helped. For example, right now in the world there are two bullets per person, and it is in the rise. A trillion dollar business. People are still starving all around the world.
DeleteMacrobiotic diet is very popular in my country such as healthily Haitian food.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic_diet
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ReplyDeleteAs said before, beans and rice are very nutritional and if not the most. If both of them are put together they form a complete protein also known as the whole protein. Such protein contains all 9 essential amino acids that provide all the energy and dietary needs for human beings. http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.php
ReplyDeleteHumanity has for a long time been very greedy. A lot of things are being wasted, everywhere. A 2004 study showed that forty to fifty per cent of all food ready for harvest in the United States never gets eaten. - See more at: http://endhunger.org/food_waste.htm
And yet the people in Haiti are still starving, so sad... The solution is out there but people will not get out of their way to help out. We have the food, the means for transportation and still no one does anything...
yes americans are very wasteful but there are people here in america for sometimes things beyond their control that have left them hungry, so are we to help next door when we cannot even help our own house?
DeleteTrue, it was just a specific reflection on the Haitian problems. Obviously this can be applied internally as well. Especially with the food's properties and simplicity in harvest. I was just focusing on the situation mentioned in the article. In turn you are right, we must broaden or in this case focus our horizons. Help is needed everywhere.
DeleteWow i remember fasting and all i allowed myself was to eat fruits and vegetables Absolutely NO MEAT. by the third day i was complaining on how i just didn't want to do no more but i got through doing 40 days and it was cool and also my brother is raw vegetarian so he introduced me to alot raw vegetable recipes. but i wonder if we all fasted with haiti mind. What could happen?
ReplyDeleteRamen soups are like 17 cents a packet. I used to eat those all day. Thats college life though, nothing compare to the hardships that the Haitians went through 3 years back.
ReplyDeletehell yea i kno wat you mean on that
Deletei hate ramen noodle soups, i can get some pasta/rice and season it myself, and be good, my oldest went through a stage when he was little where he would only eat rice and drink water and the doctor never told me there was anything wrong he maintained a good weight and didnt even get sick so i was good and he was better
Deleteman i love those noodles. just saying.
Deleteyou should try them with that chili powder thingy. it was the only way i kept them down meal after meal, day after day.
DeleteAre you talking about Tajin? That stuff for fruit, that i eat by itself. haha.. i can eat them without anything on them.. well i could add some salsa to add a little spice.
Deleteno, its some mexican thing but kinda the same. like lucas powder but less candy-like.
Deletei have no idea what you are talking about then. I just know about Tajin.
Deletetrenchas chili powder, i swear to god it will put tajin to shame.
Deletewhat i have never heard of that. hmm. maybe ill go out and look for it and see how good it is compared to Tajin.
Deleteits gonna change your life.
Deleteim not a 100 percent sure on that since ive never tried tajin.
but ive eaten the entire bottle by itself before and had horrible stomach pain, and it was worth it.
Well Tajin is sweet and spicy more for like fruits. wow its that good?! i must try this powder with my ramen. :D
Deletealright then, i'll try tajin and youll try trenchas. that's cultural exchangement or something :D
Deletenot really, because I'm mexican.. I've just never heard of it. hahah but yeah if you want it to be :)
Deletei was good with the black beans, rice, i would have instead season with some pepper stripe and called it a day i am not a fan of the sweet potato nor of plantains, so that would be my mean, or maybe even smashing the beans and then boiling the rice in it and make like a soup. it is sad that there are people around the world that go through this but to me there is a relation between this and of our previous discussion on the whole a mother bringing her child into this type of world, now this may sound a bit heartless, and im ok with that because i dont need no one to validate if i have a heart or not i have a husband and 3 kids for that, but maybe instead of feeding these countries as a solution to the problem we should offer birth control, by doing so parents (without meaningless blood shed) could prevent the over population thus in relation 2 pounds of rice will go a lot further for 4 than say 6, as humans we have the free will to make a difference in what we contribute to our own society with that said if certain resources arent available then certain outcomes cannot even be an option. yes children, going hungry is an issue, but are the parents that brought them here not held to some level of accountability? I have 3 and that was enough for me and my HUSBAND, but those who have bared more than that with multiple people are they justified for having doing so. i know a lady who works a minimum wage job with 7 kids and 5 different baby daddy's living in a 3 bedroom apt, WHY.... there is NO way for you to support those kids and i feel if certain measures was taken more directly on the source of the problem over a duration of time the problem itself would decrease. and thats just how i feel about it
ReplyDeleteI agree with this, it's short sighted to just send food over when there's a big tragedy and it's on the news, once the news stops covering the disasters, people stop sending aid and then things like overpopulation and under nutrition start back up again. It makes more sense to donate to contraceptive programs, or programs that build infrastructure within the country that can be sustained.
Deletemy stepfather is from Honduras, which he as told me himself that it is a poor country, well the part of Honduras he came from, i never actually believed him until we took a vacation down there. His family literally ate nothing but rice, beans, and bananas. They would sometimes smash the banana and fry it, or they will let let it dry in the sun. My mom and i got so tired of it, since me and her are use to eating some sort of meat everyday. So one day my mom decided to cook for my stepfathers family, we went out the food market bought red meat. So dinner is done everyone sitts and starts eating, but we noticed that no one was hardly touching the meat, and we asked whyy????? and there response was....."we're not use to eating meat", i could understand why, the meat is expensive there but take advantage while were here and eat the meat.......but i guess, we cant force them to eat the meat if they dont want to, but wat are you gonna do, they rather eat there beans and rice.
ReplyDeleteagreed, i knew some hondurans and thats all they ate, every so often the mom would cook a meet but it was always chicken and SOMETIMES fish, she seasoned it different but it was all pretty much the same and she lives in houston and spent most of her time in new york, but when i asked why? she said that this is how here people ate, and i was like oh cool
DeleteI can say that personally, I would MUCH RATHER have beans and rice than red meat any day. Has anyone seen the meatpacking expose' on the history channel????
DeleteWhen someone cooks red meat, I must leave the room. The smell is disgusting to me...
Thats crazy but i see where they were coming from. My family eats steak like every single day and sometimes I just get so tired of it I'm just like no I'm not eating this anymore i rather have a tortilla with cheese. Or just rice and beans.
DeleteAt the risk of sounding selfish, I must say that I cannot remember the last time I went out to a fancy dinner. Since losing my job and starting school, my family's personal financial situation is reaching the point where SOMETHING has got to give...my cell was cut off this morning, my car is going to be repossessed soon, and I have barely enough gas in my car right now to get back home. Bank accounts that were once comfortably padded with funds are now devoid of all but a few dollars, and I hope and pray every morning that I will have food for every meal...but sometimes not. I know that mine is not a situation of poverty or famine like those in Haiti, however sometimes I wonder who will send money to the "Hartley and Family Relief Fund." Hahaha but I am only half-way joking.
ReplyDeleteAgain, at the risk of sounding selfish, it IS unfortunate that thousands of Haitians "do not have this economical meal in their stomachs" but what is even more unfortunate (to me) is the possibility of my own son without food in his stomach. I am sure that I sound like a spoiled brat, complaining about my problems when there are those much worse off than me...
...however, I do not think I will be sending any money to Haitian Relief Funds any time soon (although I do wish them luck with the spiritual and material rebuilding).
Aside from that, the author of above article seems (to me) to be written by someone not undergoing financial hardship (which could be absolutely incorrect)...and it is easy for said person to recommend sending relief funds to a third world country.
In conclusion, the above meal looks absolutely delicious. I may try it some time...when I have money to actually make a grocery store run. I am probably very much off the point here, so I apologize in advance.
At the Risk of Sounding Bitter,
Christine
dats some good stuff right there
Deletehow is that some good stuff??????
DeleteI do not believe that we should feel guilty (not saying that you are but if you are then you shouldn't be!) for recognizing our own difficulties, when there are others out there whom lack much more. There have been many times when I was not aware of when my next meal would be, or days that turned into weeks in which I would not have a functioning cell phone, or praying that my car wouldn't stop because of that inevitable ghastly cautionary gas light that would turn on, or not knowing if I would again be able to see my parents and brother but there are many things that I can be thankful for. I know at that time I tried to focus on the things that I do have and what others don't but it's so hard. And to even think of helping another seems impossible because there's so much that has to be done to help yourself. I'm a little all over the place in my response to you but all I would like to say is that I feel your pain, or as much as I can try. No one can truly understand a situation unless they are absolutely present within it. I sincerely wish you the best of luck and any and all the positive emotional energy I can muster.
Deletechristine, you do not sound selfish you sound reasonable for your situation, being a true mother is the most selfless thing there is on this world. worrying about your child eating, or being able to get to him(transportation), or being able to be reached(cell) are all big issues, i have had my share of struggles and this blog is not the place for them but i too am overcoming them slowly yet surely. i can share the knowledge i have gained over the years ONLY if you are open to it, NO baby should not have to see their parent distress, it doesnt matter the age. my heart goes out to you so very much.
Deletethis is furthermore what i was saying you cant go out saving the world when your home is well falling apart
what you had said in the beginning really took me back when all me and my family had to eat where beans and cornbread for three days having almost nothing in our refrigerator. but i know the effects it can have on a family. i feel you girl. But i do want to tell you is that god has a deep love for you Christine. seek him.
DeleteThanks guys, for the positive vibes. I am sure that everything will be fine.
DeleteI myself eat a lot of rice and beans with cheese but thats because I like it. I could eat that everyday but I would probably get bored of it eventually. But if I didn't have anything else to eat and I did have to stop eating out thats probably what I would eat. A lot of food is gone to waste specially at my house, but that does not mean my parents are going to stop buying all the food they buy. This is a very economical meal though.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that everyone could help send funds and other stuff to the people over in Haiti but you know people, they are selfish and most of the time as long as they can feed themselves and their family they are fine and won't spare a penny to help anyone else. If its not a friend in need or a family member then they could care less about that person. Therefore we have to rely on the people that actually care about anyone other than themselves. Until then people will continue to waste food and just care about themselves.
oh okay real coasher
DeleteYou can make some awesome migas if you throw in some tortillas with spices and stuff.
Deletehahhaha some migitas con huevo. I make that for breakfast when i have nothing else to eat :D
DeleteAs an independent person who cannot rely on anyone else for help (financial or otherwise) I can honestly say that I do not HAVE a penny to spare for the people in Haiti.
DeleteAnd yes, as long as my son is fed, I am not too concerned about Haiti. Doesn't mean that I don't care about other people.
I have my parents to rely on but like me Myself i am broke so I can't go out shopping or eating out i have to make do with whats in our fridge. Therefore i dont have money to spare i barely have enough of my own money for gas. Thats where all my extra money goes.
DeleteYes, gas will suck your finances from the bank very quickly.
DeleteI eat two times a day, so i save money like that. i also eat those canned fruits for like 70 cents. dont need no fancy big mac
Deletespecially in a jeep. :\
Deleteahh man mickey ds is completely out of my life. Last time i ate it i threw it up. I used to LOVE that place. Now I'm just like no thank you!
Deletei used to get a dollar burger and a straw berry milkshake back when i wasnt broke. best meal ever.
Deletehaha best meal ever. i used to think i could eat mickey ds everyday that was like my place. Then i stopped eating it for like a month and just got grossed out and now i dont eat there anymore. :(
Deletedid you work there? everyday? damn, thats like that one guy who made the documentary about mickeys ds and their supersize food
Deleteno i never worked there. i never would like to work there.. i wouldnt be able to control myself around the fries. it just grossed me out. that documentary was crazy!!
DeleteA growing number of people in haiti are not getting enough to eat following hurricane sandy and tropical storm isaac which destroyed food crops so a lot of people just have what they call "haitian mud cake".they make it with clay and water .Personally it makes me feel sad because a lot of people don't have that meal .
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DymkAsjNtv0
Deletewow! that was an amazing kind of interesting story. I've never thought like that. Can you imagine if the majority people that we know would act like that in order to help others? the world would be so much better. There is really a great number of people around the world starving and dying with no possibilities of cook an cheap or economic meal. While many of us having expensive meals and not even finishing it we throw it out. many of us complain about our lives, but we are far from suffering.
ReplyDeletePenser (Think about it)
i can eat beans and rice but not everyday
ReplyDeleteAs a young mexican child, i used to eat that everyday as a snack.
Delete