12th House

I wish I had a chicken-themed photo for this blog post. Perhaps I’ll add one later. For now, the above photo is a picture of lamb hearts. Notice a stone under one? I call it “Saturn in Libra.”

I was having a fascinating discussion about the difference between generations (as defined by Pluto transits) on Mystic Medusa’s blog and remembered one of my favorite blog posts ever. We were discussing the Pluto in Scorpio generation’s revolt against processed food and subsequent affinity for fresh produce and home cooked meals. And I thought of this post I read in 2007, its called “How the World Bank Almost Killed Me.” Its written by a lovely woman who got frustrated translating a World Bank document. Excerpt below:

The African farmer doesn’t either have the means to fight against the massive importation of chicken from European countries. As European cereal producers benefit from direct aids, imported chicken are cheaper than local chicken (0,50 €/kg against 1,8 to 2,4 €/kg).

In Cameroon, local producers could cover 90% of the national needs. Today, they provide only 37% of the poultry consumed in this country due to fierce price competition.

On top of that, we’re not even talking of a nice fat imported chicken…In fact, Africa receives frozen chicken parts. The good parts (wings, legs, drumsticks and breast) are sold to European consumers. The rest is left for the African consumer: ends of wings, feet, rumps. One can also wonder about the quality of these products as the cold chain is often interrupted before being presented to the consumer. The meat might have been thawed then frozen again several times.

If we change the way we eat and buy food, we will change the world. Some problems are really that simple to solve.