Simone Weil:
"What a country calls its vital economic interests are
not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable
it to make war. Gasoline is much more likely than wheat to be a cause of
international conflict."
Wikipedia:
"The jackfruit is one of the three auspicious fruits of
Tamil Nadu, along with the mango and banana, known as the mukkani (முக்கனி). These
are referred to as ma-pala-vaazhai (mango-jack-banana). The three fruits
(mukkani) are also related to the three arts of Tamil (mu-Tamizh).[30]
Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh. It is also the state fruit of
the Indian state of Kerala."
Eating jackfruit in summer, when the fruit used to compete unfavourably with the mangoes for attention, at our home in Miraj (मिरज), was a family activity.
Twice or so the summer, my father used to buy the fruit and, with the help of my mother, used to cut it and we would sit around and eat the whole of it. There were two types of the fruit available- 'kapa' (कापा) and 'barka' (बरका). Apparently, you need the former type to eat it the way I have described it.
"The World Bank and United Nations warned recently that
rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall had already reduced yields of
wheat and corn, and could lead to food wars within the decade."
So contrary to what great Ms. Weil has said, wheat could be
a cause of international conflict !
"Researchers say
jackfruit — a large ungainly fruit grown across south and south-east Asia —
could be a replacement for wheat, corn and other staple crops under threat from
climate change.."
"...Efforts in
India to exploit the fruit’s potential coincides with a global push to expand
food production, especially in developing countries which are expected to face
growing challenges to feed their people in the coming decades.
Jackfruit can fill the gap on a number of counts, said
Danielle Nierenberg, president of Food Tank, which works on sustainable
agriculture.
“It is easy to grow. It survives pests and diseases and high
temperatures. It is drought-resistant,” she said. “It achieves what farmers
need in food production when facing a lot of challenges under climate change.”
The fruit is rich in potassium, calcium, and iron, said Ms.
Reddy, making it more nutritious than current starchy staples..."
"Two billion people around the world, primarily in
south-east Asia and Africa, eat insects – locusts, grasshoppers, spiders,
wasps, ants – on a regular basis. Now, with food scarcity a growing threat,
efforts are being made to normalise the concept of entomophagy, or the
consumption of insects, for the other 5 billion. Last year, the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published a list of more than 1,900 edible
species of insects; the EU, meanwhile, offered its member states $3m to
research the use of insects in cooking.
Why? Because insects, compared to livestock and fish, are a
much more sustainable food source. They are available in abundance: for every
human on Earth, there are 40 tonnes of insects. They have a higher food
conversion rate than even our fastest-growing livestock (meaning they need to
consume less to produce the same amount of meat) and they emit fewer greenhouse
gases. As a fast-food option, which is how people treat them in countries such
as Thailand, insects are greatly preferable to the water-guzzling,
rainforest-destroying, methane-spewing beefburger. They are nutritious too:
rich in protein, low in fat and cholesterol, high in calcium and iron..."
"But Wait, We Also Serve Jackfruit"
Photograph/ courtesy: Photomorgana/Corbis,: The Guardian
p.s.
Rajyasree Sen, WSJ, July 6 2014:
"...Ripe Jackfruit –The green unripe jackfruit is used extensively in cooking across India for its texture that resembles meat. And then there is a pungent-smelling ripe jackfruit, which is India’s answer to the durian, famous for its strong odor which is said to resemble anything from rotting onions and gym socks to raw sewage..."
p.s.
Rajyasree Sen, WSJ, July 6 2014:
"...Ripe Jackfruit –The green unripe jackfruit is used extensively in cooking across India for its texture that resembles meat. And then there is a pungent-smelling ripe jackfruit, which is India’s answer to the durian, famous for its strong odor which is said to resemble anything from rotting onions and gym socks to raw sewage..."