Observations in South Africa

Ryan Parks, GHLI Student Fellow

June 2011 

The Campus where I am staying

I’ve been in South Africa for two weeks and one of the most striking things I’ve noticed so far is the country’s multiculturalism. While the U.S. may have more ethnic groups within its borders, the sense of cultural diversity seems far more vivid and pervasive here. 

In the U.S., there is constant tension between cultural individuality and a coherent “American” identity – the eternal “melting pot” vs. “salad bowl” debate.  While there isn’t that same conflict in South Africa.  The lines between the ethnic groups here seem much clearer, with immediately obvious differences in mannerisms and accents, not to mention their food, domestic culture and customs.

One example of cultural differences is the custom of pleasantries before any verbal exchange, something I remember distinctly from my summer last year in Uganda. When I walked up to the ticket booth to buy a movie ticket the other day, I asked for “2 adult tickets for the 8:30 movie” and got a blank stare. I then remembered what I had been told by a South African friend and had the following conversation:

“Hello”

“Hello”

“How are you?”
“Fine, how are you?”
“Fine. Could I have two adult tickets for the 8:30 movie please?”

She then smiled and happily gave me my tickets. It was the same situation when asking the security guard what time the mall closed, or calling the taxi driver for a ride somewhere. After a week of enduring blank stares (and judgment), I’ve gotten far better at this style of conversation.

However, none of that seems expected with the Afrikaners or Anglo-Africans here. It doesn’t surprise them if I do start off with usual salutations, but they seem just as happy skipping all the pleasantries.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be looked after by the (Afrikaner) family of one of the delegates to the conference, Dr. Selma Smith. I’ve stayed at their house for two of my three weekends now, and everything I’ve experienced, from the food to the atmosphere and the domestic life seems far more…familiar (I guess Western) than I would have expected. I haven’t been to a black South African household (yet), so I look forward to that experience in the coming months. 

Arriving in Rwanda

Eleanor Hayes-Larson, GHLI Student Fellow

June 2011

I’ve been in Rwanda six days now, and I love it. I work in the Ministry of Health (MOH), where my focus is directed toward developing a national guiding document on research in the health sector.  I started my job in an “American Style” office, meaning it is a large room with clusters of cubicle-like desks. The staff has been very friendly and welcoming.

I recently had dinner at the home of one of the GHLI delegates. I met his family and a few friends. A conversation ensued during dinner centered largely on what people are paid in the U.S., and what sort of safety nets exist for the poor, as well as why on earth I would want to leave the U.S. to  spend a summer in Rwanda.   

The last part of the conversation was easy. Why do I want to be here? I am here to learn, to do what I can to help the MOH, and to get a sense of how more of the world lives.

The earlier parts of the conversation were harder to negotiate: The Rwandan men could not fathom how a country as rich as the U. S. could have homeless people. One of the men told me with pride that in Rwanda, you would “never pass a night outside” -- somebody will always take you in.  Rwanda also has a very progressive, effective mandatory community-based health insurance program, so the same health benefits are available to the very poor as to the very rich.

There I was, coming from the wealthiest country in the world, having to explain to men from a country only 17 years removed from a genocide that decimated their population and infrastructure, why some people were homeless and didn’t have basic health care in my home country.  Shame is not quite the right word for what I felt, but it was certainly a bit uncomfortable. It was a reality check for me both about how the U.S. is often perceived.

After conveying the events of the evening to my dad, he commented “Your description of conversation topics reminded me that you are, in effect, an ambassador for the U.S.” While I don’t know that I would call myself an ambassador, the evening did remind me that I am doing more here than just developing research policy.

Liver and meatballs separated by a wall of sweet potatoes

A commenter wrote here some time ago that she liked to eat rice because rice can be easily used to separate food items on a plate. One can just as easily use sweet potatoes to do that; preparing the sweet potatoes in much less time than the rice. This post explains how, with a simple recipe.

- Cut up half of a sweet potato as shown on the first photo below, adding coconut oil or butter to prevent the pieces from sticking to a microwave-safe saucepan.
- Microwave the sweet potato pieces in high heat for about 5 minutes.
- Use the sweet potatoes to separate food items as in the second photo below, showing beef liver and meatballs with their respective sauces.
- Cover the dish with a wet paper towel to prevent spilling, and microwave it for as long as needed to heat up the meats. In this case, 2 minutes in high heat was enough. That will further cook the sweet potato, but not to the point of burning it.

The above assumes that the beef liver and meatballs are leftovers that had been cooked before. In this example, we have about ½ lb of meat and ½ of a sweet potato. As far as plant foods are concerned, sweet potatoes are at the very high end of the nutrition density scale. This is a very nutritious and satiating meal (for me) with over 55 g of protein, as well as a great mix of macro- and micro-nutrients.

Food Reward: a Dominant Factor in Obesity, Part VIII

Further reading

I didn't come up with the idea that excessive food reward increases calorie intake and can lead to obesity, far from it.  The idea has been floating around the scientific literature for decades.  In 1976, after conducting an interesting diet study in humans, Dr. Michel Cabanac stated that the "palatability of the diet influences the set point of the ponderostat [system that regulates body fatness]" (1).  

Currently there is a growing consensus that food reward/palatability is a major contributor to obesity. This is reflected by the proliferation of review articles appearing in high-profile journals.  For the scientists in the audience who want more detail than I provide on my blog, here are some of the reviews I've read and enjoyed.  These were written by some of the leading scientists in the study of food reward and hedonics:

Palatability of food and the ponderostat.  Michel Cabanac, 1989.
Food reward, hyperphagia and obesity.  Hans-Rudolf Berthoud et al., 2011.
Reward mechanisms in obesity: new insights and future directions.  Paul J. Kenny, 2011.
Relation of obesity to consummatory and anticipatory food reward.  Eric Stice, 2009.
Hedonic and incentive signals for body weight control.  Emil Egecioglu et al., 2011.
Homeostatic and hedonic signals interact in the control of food intake.  Michael Lutter and Eric J. Nestler, 2009.
Opioids as agents of reward-related feeding: a consideration of the evidence.  Allen S. Levine and Charles J. Billington, 2004.
Central opioids and consumption of sweet tastants: when reward outweighs homeostasis.  Pawel K. Olszewski and Allen S. Levine, 2007.
Oral and postoral determinants of food reward.  Anthony Sclafani, 2004.
Reduced dopaminergic tone in hypothalamic neural circuits: expression of a "thrifty" genotype underlying the metabolic syndrome?  Hanno Pijl, 2003.

If you can read all these papers and still not believe in the food reward hypothesis... you deserve some kind of award.