Yes, it has been an embarrassingly long time since I posted something of substance up here. I blame it on too much travel, and the flu. Sifting through the accumulated mail, the financial crisis is of course front and centre.

The Retort group here in the Bay Area have sent along two items that deserve particular mention - one, above, a bit of ephemera from the streets of San Francisco, the second a timeless comedy skit from two very British comics, John Bird and John Fortune. And it's all the more impressive for having come out last year...

... read more »

Raj's blog | 48 comments

Posted on 8 October, 2008 - 17:57

I'm a fool. It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and the last post clearly leaves itself open to a piracy-related gag.

But since I'm clearly not quick witted enough, here's some food-and-piracy-related trivia. In the book Stuffed and Starved, I wrote about how the term 'Limey' came to be associated with British seamen because that's what they ate to prevent scurvy.

But did you know that "Buccaneer" also has a food-related etymology? According to the Oxford English dictionary, the original use of the word was "One who dries and smokes flesh on a boucan after the manner of the Indians. The name was first ‘given to the French hunters of St. Domingo, who prepared the flesh of the wild oxen and boars in this way’.

So now you know.

Arrr. ... read more »

Raj's blog | 2 comments

Posted on 19 September, 2008 - 19:04

File this under 'End Times'. Here's a bag of grapes that you can use only if you abide by the condition that "The recipient of the produce contained in this package agrees not to propagate or reproduce any portion of the produce, including (but not limited to) seeds, stems, tissue and fruit." Via Sam.

Raj's blog | 1 comment

Posted on 19 September, 2008 - 17:22

Fer real.

Full details here. Via The Virtual Stoa.

Raj's blog | 2 comments

Posted on 31 May, 2008 - 04:49

My friend Patrick Wilkinson has put together a fine video about the upcoming spraying of large parts of California in the ongoing war on the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM, pronounced el-bam).

As Patrick's film suggests, there'd better be something mighty scary about this moth to warrant monthly aerial spraying over most of Northern California over the next five years.

So what's the danger? Will the moth summon forth the apocalypse? No. Is it the harbinger of some strange Africanized disease? Not even. Will it ravage California's agriculture? Kinda. But not actually by eating anything or laying anything or causing anything to be damaged.

The reason LBAM is a menace is, er, NAFTA. ... read more »

Raj's blog | 3 comments

Posted on 31 May, 2008 - 04:03

Earlier today I was on Canadian radio, joining the wonderful Costas Halavrezos on his show, Maritime Noon. Unfortunately, technical glitches meant I missed the first part of the show, which included this classic and almost-certainly-documentary footage from the beginning of How To Get Ahead in Advertising. ... read more »

Raj's blog | 5 comments

Posted on 19 March, 2008 - 22:07

All credit to him. Mike Huckabee has a sense of humour about his prospects in the US election.

So now that Mitt Romney has dropped out there are only three candidates worth taking seriously. Since this is Stuffed and Starved I ought probably to find a food related angle to the candidates, rather than posting a couple more suprisingly good Saturday Night Live clips like this one ... read more »

Raj's blog | 2 comments

Posted on 28 February, 2008 - 16:41

Prompted by a reader, I've realised that I've not yet posted this fantastic video by the good people at Free Range Studios. It's an oldie, but for a die-hard Star Wars junkie, this short gets closer to the spirit of the movie series than The Phantom Menace ever could.

Raj's blog | login to post comments

Posted on 7 December, 2007 - 18:01

Starbucks isn't just a nasty and overpriced coffee shop - it is rapidly becoming a place where people buy music. Musicians fight hard to get their CDs picked for sale at the counter. Minor New York City-based musician Davido had what he thought was a surefire Starbucks-compatible tune, the Java Jitter. Starbucks didn't like it so much, so they rejected him.
... read more »

Raj's blog | 1 comment

Posted on 31 October, 2007 - 16:27

We haven't had something from the lighter side of food politics for a while here at Stuffed and Starved. And, in keeping with recent trends, here's a couple of paragraphs from Ronald Reagan, from Paul Krugman's column in the New York Times yesterday:

In 1960, John F. Kennedy, who had been shocked by the hunger he saw in West Virginia, made the fight against hunger a theme of his presidential campaign. After his election he created the modern food stamp program, which today helps millions of Americans get enough to eat. ... read more »

Raj's blog | 1 comment

Posted on 6 October, 2007 - 16:35