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Overstressed Americans Binge on Junk Food, Drive up Sales, Cheers Snack Food Industry!
The slow-motion collapse of the U.S. economy is harming consumers and businesses across the country — well, almost every business that is. One industry is enjoying big sales gains thanks to the stress experienced by ordinary working people. North American sales of “savory snacks” (potato chips, Cheetos, etc.) by Frito-Lay are up 9% for the third qurater, reports Potato Pro, “your source for all things potato.” Sales rose despite hikes in gas and ingredient prices and lowered earnings for Americans. (Some companies made up for the higher costs by switching to smaller bags.) Potato Pro jefe Paul van Eijck thinks the trend is only going to accelerate. As the U.S. economy worsens, stressed-out Americans will binge…
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Climate Change Threatens Peru’s Native Potatoes
Here’s a timely article from Eliza Barclay on a topic close to many Peruvians’ hearts: potatoes. Cover photo from The Potato, Treasure of the Andes Extreme weather shifts caused by global warming are interrupting millenia-old agricultural cyles in the high Andes, reports Barclay for the Miami Herald. That turmoil is having a devastating effect on crops of native Peruvian potatoes, which grow at altitudes of 3,000+ meters above sea level. Barclay notes in “Peru’s Potato Farmers Adapt to Climate Change” (Sept. 11, 2008): For the first half of his life, Gregorio Huanuco farmed to a rhythm that dictated the survival of his grandparents and ancestors for thousands of years. He waited…
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(Not) Trailing Bush at the APEC
The Texas cowbow-turned-El Chalan, APEC Leaders’ Summit, Nov. 23, 2008; photo c. Jorge Vera It was 4 p.m. on the final day of the APEC Summit, and most of the leaders and the journalists had left the Minstry of Defense building where the summit had been held. El Fotógrafo and I were huddled in a cubicle in the International Media Center, trying to identify which Asian leader was which in a photo EF had taken earlier that afternoon. “Is that the president of Thailand? No, Vietnam?” We kept checking with a list of published photos of the leaders, most of which appeared to have been taken when the leaders were younger…
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We Want to Be Your Solution for All Things Potato
Delicious purple Peruvian potatoes Potatoes are a big deal in Peru. The Peruvan Andes were the birthplace of the potato, and today Peruvian farmers cultivate more than 3,000 native varieties of them — potatoes with names like Ica Huila and Purple Viking and Wilja. The United Nations has declared 2008 “the International Year of the Potato,” and this event is being celebrated in gastronomic festivals, restaurants and stores throughout Peru. Peruvians are passionate about potatoes and spend a lot of time preparing and eating them. This is not a country where you can get away with serving inferior spuds. Peruvians know a good potato when they eat one. Now that I’ve lived here for a…
