The G8 talks in L’Aquila earlier this month was followed with great interest by many people around the world – despite the fact that the G8 face a plethora of massive problems, they didn’t do too badly at all. Naturally there was criticism – especially by those who don’t contribute or sacrifice and then there were thousands of articles, posts and suggestions offering solutions to the problem.  However, the solution isn’t that simple and it’s not merely a matter of feeding the starving – were that the case, the food crisis would have been solved long ago and the critical hordes would have found something else to be critical about.

As we mentioned before, there will be more than 1 billion chronically hungry people in the world this year – the highest figure to date. However, with the world’s economic crisis, this is hardly a surprise and had to be expected.  It is with some interest that I read an article in the London Financial Times a little while back where the matter of food aid was discussed at length. The writer says, and I quote: “It does not have to be this way. The world is rich enough and humanity sufficiently inventive to secure food for everyone. The problem of hunger has long since been solved in large parts of the world. But elsewhere it remains a monument to failures of policy and leadership – above all the misguided preference for in-kind food aid over productivity. Oxfam, a charity, finds the G8 has cut aid for agricultural development to just a quarter of the $20bn a year it spent in the 1980s. The food aid that replaces it perpetuates the problem it is supposed to solve, destroying incentives for farmers in the countries that receive it – making them even more dependent on continued aid”. All well and good, no disagreement here except that I feel that a little gratitude for any aid given would actually be in order. Any country needs to be grateful for aid received because it is only when the recipients and their governments become grateful as opposed to expectant, that true progress can be made. “Meanwhile farm, transport and development lobbies in donor countries, especially the US, are not keen to lose their subsidies. This must end.” Why? To my mind, in that word lies the problem – nobody must do anything, they should but they there is no must – we need to get our wording right here and our attitudes because we should inspire the donors to give, not demand – maybe we’ll get much further and maybe we’ll do it in peace.  “The G8’s commitment of $20bn over three years to a food security fund is a step in the right direction. This amount can do a lot of good, if it is well spent, which requires sustained political will. Donors must not use it to repackage existing commitments, and recipients must not be allowed to dress up long-fancied projects as suddenly related to agriculture” The article continues and is, as all the Financial Times articles always are,  interesting and well written …. until one get’s to this part:  ”But research and capital investment will disappoint as long as global food markets remain distorted. Richer countries must eschew bilateral barter deals and end their shameful agricultural subsidies – especially those taking the form of in-kind food aid. While aid cannot be stopped while people’s lives depend on it, it should be shifted into cash so recipients can buy food from the sources they see fit – including local production”

I burst out laughing here. No mention is made of who the recipients must  be and who will control the money – does the writer have any idea what will happen to the money if it lands in the hands of the governments, friends of governments or anyone in any position of power?  Who, does the writer think, will ensure that all the money is spent on the starving?  Aid organizations (like the UN above) have to control food programmes and agriculture has to be stimulated by foreign aid organizations otherwise even the seeds will be stolen and the farmers will receive nothing.  Without rigid control in these countries, the hungry will, most certainly, not get any food at all – they will continue to go hungry and the fat will get fatter. I agree that the world has a moral obligation to help the poor in the third world countries, but they also have a moral obligation to help their own poor and their own hungry – why does the G8, whose countries are also suffering terribly from the global crisis, have to be put under such enormous pressure to find money out of their own coffers when the governments of the recipient countries, don’t do a single thing to help. Swiss mp’s take the tram to work while African mp’s travel in limos with body guards in tow – isn’t there something wrong with this picture? We all know that the people of countries like Zimbabwe (and frankly most of the African countries) desperately need aid but why is it that the governments of these countries are not forced to start spending on their own people and not on themselves? The presidents, ministers and members of parliament continue to accumulate wealth and live it up and spend as if there were no tomorrow instead of spending it on their own people. Why can aid not be given sensibly – as Obama stipulated on his trip to Ghana? Recipient governments have money to buy weapons, new cars, fancy apartments and host mindbogglingly expensive events where they consume litres of French champagne and food that even emperors can’t afford nowadays. They live like kings and the G8 countries have to feed their voters? Where is the logic in that? The only way anyone is going to improve matters for the millions of starving is by rooting out corruption and misrule and that’s not going to happen if the rulers of the countries aren’t forced to face up to their responsibilities.

The world is facing a crisis on more than one level and  the only way to comfort oneself when faced with a crisis, is to do something that pleases the soul without making things worse. I can think of nothing better than comfort food that costs little and that is slightly different from the norm. Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that reminds us all of home and is a supreme comfort food, whether we like to admit it or not. We all go through the stage where we deny that we ever liked it and then we grow up and accept that a creamy forkful of just cooked pasta and thick cheese and egg sauce covered with crunchy mozzarella is exactly what we need when the world gets us down.

Ingredients

• 500 ml  dried macaroni or any other suitable pasta (buy good Italian pasta because the texture is always just right)
• 225 g fresh spinach leaves, very well rinsed and chopped
• 2 mozzarella balls, drained and ripped
• 225 g feta cheese, crumbled and not the very salty kind
• 200 g Parmigiano-Regiano
• 250 g goats milk cheese (goats milk gouda or cheddar is good)
• 300 ml béchamel sauce
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1 large tomato, peeled, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 250 ml chopped spring onions
• 2 tbsp light extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 ½ tsp coarse sea salt
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• ¾ tsp sweet ground red paprika
• 1 tsp garam masala*
• ½ tsp ground turmeric

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 C and grease an oven dish well with butter or ghee.
• Boil the macaroni in plenty of lightly salted water until it is just al-dente,  remove from pot and rinse the pasta well in icy cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat and add the mustard seeds, cover the pan and cook until the seeds have stopped popping – it shouldn’t take more than about 90 seconds, then immediately add the ginger and stir-fry this until it is golden in colour – it should take no  more than about 30 seconds.
• Add the spinach in batches and fry until it just wilts at which point the tomato, salt, chillies, garam masala and the turmeric can be stirred in – cook until the tomato has softened – about a minute or two, remove from heat and set aside to cool down.
• Whisk the eggs into the béchamel sauce and then add the spinach mixture into the béchamel and combine everything well.
• Add the macaroni, the Parmigiano-Regiano and the feta, top with the ripped mozarella and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and crisp and the texture firm.
• Garnish with  the spring onions and serve.

KASHMIRI GARAM MASALA*

This is a particularly good masala and certainly worth making as it can be used to spice up many dishes.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken into smaller pieces
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp ground dry ginger
• ½ tsp black cumin seeds
• ½ tsp whole cloves
• ½ ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground mace
• Seeds of 4 black cardamom pods – it’s not much fun to remove the seeds, but essential for this masala

Method

• Pre-heat a small pan over medium heat and add the cumin  and the cinnamon, toast shaking the pan every few seconds until the cumin seeds turn a reddish brown and the cinnamon seeds seem to be crunchy – the aroma is very strong and it’ll take about a minute or two.
• Remove the spices from the pan immediately (otherwise they’ll burn) onto a plate to cool and as soon as they’re cool, grind them in the grinder with all the other spices until everything is as fine as finely ground black pepper.
• Store in a tightly sealed container away from light, heat and moisture – and not in the fridge, like coffee, spices do not do well in the refrigerator.