Foreign foods

After this you can call me myopic or alarmist but at least you’ll know my line of thought
It’s weird the number o chicken brands we now have in our local store
Weird coz I’m down here in little old Zimbabwe and I’m seeing Brazilian chicken
And it costs almost half the price of local chicken
Hold on!
There’s got to be a catch somewhere
I stroll to the laundry section and I hear a comment
“Ah! Sipo yeblue yadzoka (the blue soap is back)”
The lady next to the one commenting on soap is examining the back of a laundry powder box
They’re looking for the manufacturer’s address
Another man at the end of the isle is asking for real milk, not this one from a carton
Foreign things have invaded our market especially in the past year
We couldn’t produce things that we needed to get by so imports increased
Little did we know that down the line we’ll have the task of looking for Zimbabwe on the label so that we are happy with our purchase
Yes we had shortages hence the influx of imports to ease the ‘lack’
But today not many of us will not have misgivings when they buy that takeaway chicken
If anything, people now consciously choose beef
And there’s this misnomer -that people got wrong but for the wrong reasons they made the right choice
It seems the general populous has no idea what RDA means on a food package
Mealie meal was the first product to flood the market as sadza is our staple and we didn’t have enough grain to provide adequate supplies of the stuff
The mealie meal we got was whiter than the local variant and the grains were either large when cooked or just too fine
The result was not the kind of sadza that we’re used to
Then some wise someone had the presence of mind to read the labelling on the pack
They figured that “ % RDA for persons age 13 and older” meant that their 10year old kid wasn’t meant to eat it as it wasn’t good enough for them
Then when things were much better the chickens came in
Beef always was cheaper than chicken as chicken was somehow special meat and beef was the staple by default
But in came the cheap chickens and people flocked to buy them
I remember when I first cooked imported chicken
Try as I might to fry it properly, it wouldn’t, it’d just brown a bit almost burning it
It’s a queer texture
It’s meat alright but I prefer my local chicken, even if it’s not free range
I used to wonder what all the fuss was about organic foods
They tend to be more expensive to the extent that a normal household can barely afford them
Then I look at why people have opted for Gm food in the states
I think it’s just a case of poverty and money
The ones taking the food cannot afford the organic alternative so they buy the GM variant
Then since they’re used to it and they don’t see anything wrong with them or their offspring, they say it’s OK and people are just exaggerating this stuff on side effects about GM food
But I look at the average Zimbabwean and I just cannot but marvel at their faith in another human being
They don’t trust that nothing will happen to them or their offspring in generations to come
They look at mainly the South Africans and they say the reason they’re that big body wise is becoz of the kind of food they eat
And to some extent I agree
Nothing is for free
Someone once told me that there’s nothing such as a free lunch
The other party will get something out of that ‘free’ lunch so it won’t be free
So it is with these imports
They sail across oceans and seas and they still land cheaper than the local product
Yes, the normal supply and demand rules apply but what if supply is excessive such that prices are pushed down to the detriment of local produce?
I may go on forever but I think I’m not being paranoid when I say there’s a catch and I look forward to reading ‘conspiracy of the rich’ as soon as I’m done with my exams
What looks like help from one side is actually stealing when looked at from the right perspective and not form the eyes of the one in need
There’s all to gain by having new markets and once people develop habits it’s difficult to wean them off
But I’ll say hats off to my fellow Zimbos
They’ll look the gift horse in the mouth coz we ain’t used to riding horses so why are we getting it?
All this GM stuff is playing with nature and I shudder when someone says ‘yes, it’s playing God, but we’ve been doing it for hundreds of years’
Maybe I’ve watched too many sci-fi movies and read too much into conspiracy theories
But trust don’t come easy from people like us
And that’s the thing I like about being African
Though backward people may view us, we’re much safer and saner that way
I make my own world.
It almost gets me to start on “vakadzi vatorwa” but that’s another post for another blog.