From Xico

Found: A Real Treasure

The entire thirty volumes of Estudios de Historia Moderna y Contemporania de México de El instituto de Investigaciones Históricas de UNAM can be found online here.  Yes, it's in Spanish.  Give it a try!  I found the link on this blog which is, desafortunadamente, also in Spanish though titled, in English, "The Art of Fiction" written by a 29 year old chilango named Mauricio Salvador which itself links to a site called Hernano Cerdo.  Both blog and site are among quite a number of interesting Mexican sites devoted to literature and history. More later. Right now I'm indexing a book of more than usual current interest: the Spanish version of the book called "Wiser in Battle" by Ricardo S. Sanchez, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq from 2003 to 2004.  His book's release in English was overshadowed by the appearance of Scott McLellan's book. It's a pretty interesting, detailed look at what happened in Iraq and a pretty hard look at some of the actors from the president through Rumsfeld, Bremer, et. al. 

Tomatoes and Salmonella again: life isn't simple

Oy! What to do, what to do?  All this fresh produce and all these threats of disease! 

A good part of me wants to say in my most scornful New Yorker voice, "Take it easy!  What do you expect? Produce grows in the Real Living World! It doesn't grow in a laboratory! 

And to organic buffs, this same New Yorker voice wants to say, "So you think organic by virtue of being organic is safer? Give me a break!

My fertile organic tomato seedlings growing from organic seeds bought at Las Cañadas which will produce a local tomato variety.

There are GERMS and MICROBES and VIRUSES and all kinds of creepy crawly things in The Real Living World, more in fertile organic farms than in the sterile dirt that industrial growers sometimes use.

AND YOU DON'T REALLY WANT TO KILL THEM ALL OFF AS SOON AS YOU CAN BECAUSE YOU'LL KILL THE GOOD WITH THE BAD, AND THEY REALLY ARE NECESSARY TO LIVING THINGS WE LIKE. INCLUDING US. AND SOME OF THE STUFF THAT IS BAD FOR US IS GOOD FOR OTHER THINGS -- THERE'S A LOT OF INTERDEPENDENCE OUT THERE.  BIODIVERSITY MATTERS.

This doesn't mean we should be encouraging the cultivation of salmonella and the like, or ignoring it.  More on that in a minute.

There are a number of precautions that I take in buying, washing and using fresh produce: sensible precautions.

1. Try not to buy fruits and vegetables you intend to eat raw if they have breaks in the skin or if there is a break where the stem was.

2. Apparently, if you rinse warm tomatoes in cold water and leave them, if there are any breaks in the skin of the tomatoes, the temperature differential will cause the tomatoes to suck the water in where it might help breed salmonella.  Therefore, don't wash them in cold water if you intend to leave them unused for any period of time. 

3. Wash them in clean water.  Running water is best if you're sure you're not just quickly passing the item under the faucet.  If running water is not an option (for instance where you have to use boiled or bottled water) fill the bowl three times with clean water.

5. Here in Mexico, where we live, people sometimes use an anti-microbial soak for their produce.  You could consider doing this.  I have to say, we don't use it and so far we have really been quite healthy.However, our physician who is excellent recommends using it for strawberries and local plums -- fruit with very soft or virtually non-existent skins.  We don't actually know anyone who uses the soak, but it is sold everywhere and the fact that we don't know anyone just means we don't see people washing their fruit.  Of course, not using it may be like the man who jumped off the Empire State Building and said, well it hasn't hurt yet, as he passed the 29th floor on the way down. Our water, however, is relatively clean here, and I wash stuff just before I use it and I dry it off with a clean towel or paper towels.  And I am very careful not to buy stuff with broken skins, etc.

6.  If skins get bruised or broken after you've brought them home, remember stuff can fester in them in your own house.  I either cook this stuff or cut off a healthy hunk of the fruit or vegetable around the broken part.

7.  Here is an excellent government site  on salmonella in general. It has more preventive hints as well as a lot of good information.

Now back to the production, transportation and sale of produce.

1.As I've said before, it has NEVER BEEN PROVEN THE SALMONELLA-BEARING TOMATOES CAME FROM MEXICO AND IT HAS NOT BEEN SHOWN THAT MEXICAN PRODUCERS ARE LACKING IN PROPER GROWING PRACTICES.

2. Salmonella can end up on fruit in any number of ways.   In this excellent and concise story from Yahoo News, the dangerous adventures of produce are summed up nicely.  As you can see, it is quite a journey.  And as you can see, the process of trying to eliminate dangerous microbes can never be fail-safe. 

3. We have to strike a balance: at some point the cost of efforts to avoid all contamination in the production and delivery process outweigh the benefits, not simply in money costs, but in terms of  introducing measures that in themselves are harmful -- the point where the treatment is worse than the problem.

4.  Take kids to see working farms.  Take yourselves.  Learn about where your food comes from by directly experiencing it!  Hopefully, you will be more impressed with small operations than with big ones! Hopefully you will also learn that pesticide residues are hard to wash off and can also make you sick.

A Quote

"I suppose that's the tragedy.  They have created a cheap, soiled, empty world, and now we are to have the pleasure of living in it."

Which sounds startlingly appropriate for today, minus warnings of global warning.  It appears in the novel Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst. 

Unfortunately or fortunately, I have discovered Alan Furst novels.  He is quite a remarkable writer.  His books are all set in and around World War II and are absolutely compelling not for blood and guts and high suspense, though there are those, but for characters that live and for prose that sucks you under so completely you forget to come up for air.  It is straightforward prose, nothing fancy or pretentious.  But elegant, and there are passages so beautiful they are like listening to music.

Nafta definitely needs fixging

Barack Obama is right to want to fix NAFTA.  It needs it.  And not only do American workers want it fixed, so do Canadians and Mexicans.  It's not working in the interests of ordinary people.  Here is a very good article on the very significant problems of NAFTA.  It was written by three legislators -- one from Mexico, one from Canada, and one from the United States.

Aspects of free trade are good, but "free trade" unfettered is a myth (not that you'd want unfettered  free trade anyway) and "free trade" as a concept has turned into dogma that really only has appeal to limited economic interests.

La Ceiba, ¡Qué árbol maravilloso!

The first ceiba I ever knew was the one that stands watch over and shades La Ceiba Gráfica in the hacienda in La Orduña where we sometimes study printmaking and where I take tai chi on the upper veranda.

It is giant mothering tree, sheltering all manner of living things on its trunk and in its branches.

I thought this must be a rare tree, so magnificent is it.  The ceiba is, in Maya cosmology, the axis of the world, the center of the cosmos, the channel of communication between the world of people and the world of the gods.  Or maybe one could say the ceiba is the place of union between the human and the universal.  Scholars also say the ceiba, the tree of life, connects the sky above with the water below.

There were people, precursors of the Maya, who thrived in an area of Chiapas called Izapa from around 600 BCE to aroundd 150 CE. They populated their space with temples and palaces and especially monumental carved stones, one of which seems to record a creation myth with the ceiba at the center.

 

Some scholars think in this creation scene, we see humans being pulled, not yet completely formed, from a hole in the left side of the tree's trunk. The task of the other figures is to complete them.

Here is a Mayan illustration of the ceiba tree at the center of the earth.

There are other Maya beliefs about the ceiba, including that it is actually their place of origin and the source of the abundance of their resources and of the protection of the gods.  Some Maya believe that their ancestors and gods and other supernatural beings live in the ceiba.

Maya religion is not easy for me to grasp: it really does feel like looking through a glass darkly.  I think, generally speaking, that the Maya understand themselves to e much more a part of nature than we do; that they are not so distinct from animals and plants...and that essences of living things are much more fluid.  I think the Maya did not see such strong boundaries between what might be called heaven and earth, or between the supernatural and the natural as we do.

The Maya believe that the gods created humans to praise them, and the gods haven't yet gotten us humans right: they destroyed the first three versions of us as failures.  The present version, of which we are a part, is also thought not to be so great, and it is expected that in the not so distant future, they will destroy us and replace us with something better.

The Maya, by the way, were and are certainly not confined to Mexico.  They are indigenous in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as well as the Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo.

I was surprised to find that ceiba trees, specifically Ceiba pentanda, known locally as pochote among other things, are quite common.  One would think such majestic creations, apparently capable of growing as tall as forty meters, would not be.  Fittingly, in Maya areas they often shade marketplaces and other community spots.  Here we often see them standing alone, animals resting under them in the heat of the day, as we have.

Here is a ceiba on our walk through cattle pastures not far from where we live.

And here is a picture of its trunk and the life it supports.                                                

Ceibas have economic value.  From their seeds comes kapok for insulating clothes and making pillows and the like.  The wood can be used for such mundane things as plywood, packaging, light construction and pulp and paper products.  It can also be used for canoes and rafts.  Ceibas are good for reforestation.  And ceibas are important in Cuba, too.  Maybe another post for my growing Cuba section!

May you all some day have the pleasure of resting under a ceiba!

Where are you on the political compass?

Here is an interesting test which broadens considerably perceptions of left and right.  Try it out!

Can't Imagine Bush Talking Like This about Environmental Issues

I translated the following article which appeared June 14 in El Universal de México.

In his address on Mexico Day at ExpoZaragosa 2008 in Spain, President Felipe Calderón beseeched the international community to make more effort in applying policies for the correct use of wáter and for its recycling. He said that his government was bringing to fruition a strategy for extending the laws regarding this scarce resource.

 

Calderón spoke in the Palace of the Congress of Zaragoza at the opening of the National Mexico Day at the Expo which is dedicated to water and sustainable development. The president cited the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayas which told that before the world was created there was only the huge sky and the quiet sea, a proof that for Mexico water is integral to the history of the people.

 

He painted a pessimistic panorama as he enumerated phenomena such as global warming, natural disasters, growing desertification, the melting of the glaciers and the extinction of animal species, pointing out that there even was a risk that human beings would be destroyed.

 

In respect to water, Felipe Calderón emphasized that a billion people lacked potable water and that two billion lacked basic sanitation, that there was little reuse of water, and specifically that the world’s population currently used 54 percent of the rivers and aquifers.

 

At this point he alluded to his own steps to assure that Mexico would bring to fruition efforts to deal with infrastructure and the treatment of waste water. The president said that 104 of the 653 aquifers in his country were over-exploited and that there were ten million citizens without potable water.

 

In his speech, Calderon took the opportunity to make some proposals, to say that he felt that the preservation of forests should be a basic objective of governments and that there be a joining of public and private resources now to solve problems through methods that supported sustainable development.

 

He remembered, too, the writer Octavio Paz who in the past criticized the "reflexive cult of progress" and who considered "suicidal" attempts to control nature. He emphasized that "to defend nature is to defend humankind."

 

With the premise that water is a "symbol of generosity, brotherhood, and the guarantor of life," Calderón said that Mexico wanted to be "part of the solution, not of the problem," in spite of having to deal with the adversity associated with being a country in the process of development.

(My translation)

 

 

About Those Tomatoes...

(Please forgive the strange variety of types and sizes of type.  I cut and pasted a couple of selections which seemed to have minds of their own about how they wanted to appear, and additionally managed to screw up some of the type surrounding them.  I tried but failed to correct this.)

 

Here’s the problem.  Whole hunks of national economies are seriously affected when blaring headlines suddenly appear linking a major crop with a disease outbreak.  This is unfortunate but necessary if the link is correct, but irresponsible in the extreme and in itself harmful to producers and consumers alike if it is not. In any case, the cause of major outbreaks should be located before people are getting sick all over the country in noticeable numbers.   If we had a good FDA, we’d have enough researchers and inspectors to be address problems with the distribution of produce before it reached our tables.  As Paul Krugman points out, we don’t: another calamity of the Bush years.

In the case of tomatoes, it appears that the only reason the FDA has blamed central and southern Florida and Mexico for the outbreaks is because that’s where many of the tomatoes available at this time come from.  I don’t know about Florida, but I do know that here in Mexico we eat the same tomatoes that are sent to the US and there has been no major outbreak of Salmonella associated with tomatoes, or anything else for that matter. I know you can't confirm stuff from just your own experience, but neither Jim nor I nor any of our friends or neighbors, all of whom eat tomatoes, have gotten sick.  And, yes, there are public health agencies which track such things. Significant outbreaks would definitely be noted and acted upon. Furthermore, salmonella saintpaul is a very rare type here as well as in the U.S. so its presence in exported tomatoes is extremely unlikely. Mexico is sending a delegation of experts and government officials to the US to explain to US personnel the scientific and technical factors making it extremely unlikely the outbreak is of Mexican origin.  It would be both considerate and sensible for the FDA to look for areas within and outside of the US that might have had recent outbreaks of salmonella saintpaul and what, if any connection such places might have with the production or transporting or processing of tomatoes.

It almost seems as if the FDA is just casting about in a panic to find something to pin the outbreak on. Here in Mexico of course there is suspicion, articulated in newspaper reports, that the labeling of Mexican tomatoes as a likely source is some kind of retribution, possibly for Mexican reaction to US "offers" of aid in fighting narcotrafico,  or perhaps some sort of anti-immigrant move on the part of the U.S.. Lest this seem paranoid to you, check out this link http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-117908.html for an example of anti-immigrant attitudes about the tomato scare.  According to folks like these, even if it’s not the tomatoes somehow getting soiled in Mexico, it’s Mexicans soiling the tomatoes in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides a good a description of how tomatoes (or other produce) can be contaminated by salmonella:

Salmonella can be found in the feces of many animals (e.g., food animals, reptiles, amphibians, birds) and in some habitats, such as ponds and drainage ditches. Although the exact mechanism by which tomatoes become contaminated is not known, experimental evidence suggests certain possibilities. In experimental studies, the insides of whole tomatoes can be contaminated in at least two ways: (1) if tomatoes are immersed in water that is colder than the tomato, water can enter through the stem scar; if the water is contaminated, Salmonella can be carried in; (2) if contaminated water touches the stem or flower of a tomato plant, the growing tomato can be contaminated. Contamination on the tomato surface also can be transferred to the inside when it is cut. Food handlers infected with Salmonella who have not washed their hands may also contaminate tomatoes during preparation. If a cut tomato that is contaminated with Salmonella is kept out of the refrigerator, the bacteria can multiply to much higher numbers.

Here is some information from an interesting article from the CDC about salmonella and tomatoes, including the history of other outbreaks. What's odd about all this is that while the strain is uncommon, it doesn't seem to be any worse than any other strain, and every year thousands of people get sick from salmonella.  We certainly don't get notified about all of those occurrences.  Here is a clip about salmonella from WebMD:

How does salmonella spread?

Salmonella can pass from human or animal feces to soil, fruits, vegetables, water, or other surfaces. People usually get salmonella by eating contaminated foods. However, salmonella can also spread through contact with pet feces or by handling contaminated pet food.

Reptiles are particularly likely to harbor salmonella bacteria, and chicks and ducklings can carry them too, notes the CDC. The U.S. government bans the sale of small pet turtles because of salmonella risk.

 

How common is salmonella infection?

Salmonella is commonly found in birds, in reptiles, in chickens, and in humans. There are more than 2,000 types of salmonella.

Every year, the CDC gets reports of about 40,000 cases of salmonella illnesses. The actual number of cases may be higher because not all cases get reported to the CDC. In fact, the CDC estimates that for every reported case, 38 cases go unreported.

An estimated 400 people per year die of acute salmonella infection, according to the CDC.

But the St. Paul salmonella strain is rare in humans. Last year, there were 400 reported cases. And last year there were only 25 cases of infection with the specific Saintpaul subtype causing the current outbreak.

Are salmonella cases on the rise?

Not according to the CDC's preliminary food safety data for 2007, which show no significant change from 2004-2007 in the incidence of salmonella infection reported to the CDC. But the salmonella incidence rate is more than twice as high as the government's goal for 2010, so the CDC says "new approaches" are needed to curb salmonella infection.

******

Basically, you all should be following good hygiene practices when you use fresh produce.  This is so even with organically-grown, local crops.  The danger of wide-spread problems increases with industrially raised produce, however, and this all adds to the benefits of small-scale farming.

One state of Mexico, Baja California Norte, has been cleared of blame.  Now why are all these other countries from whom we don't get any tomatoes cleared as suspects in this outbreak while Mexico just has to wait and wait?

 

Here's some wisdom

   and the wise man is much younger than John McCain.

McCain IS Too Old to be President

He wouldn't be if he were wise, but he isn't: he's ambitious.  It strikes me that he is trying to fulfill his younger man dreams and hasn't done much looking around him recently.  He thinks we're supposed to be impressed that he knows all these other old guys and has for thirty years. He thinks we're supposed to be impressed that he's been visiting Israel since forever.  I'm not the least bit impressed. I've been folding fitted sheets for thirty years and still haven't gotten doing it right. 

Maybe a wise older man would make a great president, but not a guy who gets so much of what is true today wrong.  Take a look at this post by Juan Cole on the real state of affairs in Iraq. McCain must be living in the past when he compares Iraq to South Korea.  And a pretty weird past at that.