Last night I ate with my Fijian roommates. Normally the SIT students eat with whoever else is eating in the dining hall, but yesterday I decided to try something new and “packed” my dinner to bring back to the room. Most of them bring plastic containers and carry their food back to the room to eat together. They also bring food for those who are busy but who want to eat later. Let me just say a word about the food system here on campus. Breakfast consists of either tea or Milo, four pieces of toast, two pieces of butter, a piece of fruit, and an item that changes daily. It might be eggs, tuna sandwiches, baked beans, or cereal. Everyone gets the same thing. For lunch we are on our own and can pay for each individual item. Dinner consists of tea or mile, either cooked bananas, taro, or rice along with another hot dish, perhaps a salad of sorts, and dessert of some kind. Everyone gets served the same amount which means that we all get huge portions. I have yet to be able to finish one which means that I always have leftovers that go to waste. Last night I discovered what to do with them. Anything that is not eaten by the girls in the house gets left on the table. Invariably there is someone who missed dinner or who is hungry at 1am and they wander from house to house looking for leftover food. It’s such a communal system. Nothing goes to waste. I have discovered the solution to my problem.
In my blog last night I omitted to mention the lecture we’d had that day on agriculture economics. Being the economics nerd that I am I found it very interesting because we talked about the problems facing developing island nations whose main asset is agriculture. Coming from a capitalistic background where markets are driven by supply and demand I found it very interesting. It tied in very well with what I learned later that day visiting the EPC during my drop-off. In general agricultural based economies face different problems from industrialized nations due to things such as the large time lag, greater exposure to natural disasters, etc. Small island nations are even more vulnerable because the limited land that they have and the terrain normally means that they cannot use the equipment used in more developed countries and farming must be done mainly by hand. They also have a harder time setting up factories because of the economies of scale. So what is the solution? Given the problems they face and their inability to replicate Western processes…what do they do? We were offered several possible solutions. Most importantly was that the islands need to work together to be able to have an impact on the world market. They also need to try to find their own solutions and develop their own equipment that is better suited to their terrain. Finally, due to the fact that many farmers here have never even heard of pesticides or fertilizers they hold in their hands the key to the growing demand for completely organic food. There are some obstacles they have to overcome such as developing a grading system and working out transportation issues etc, but I really appreciated being offered at least some sort of solution instead of just being told there are all these problems but no possible solution.
Finally, I have to say that I went to McDonald’s today to get an ice cream cone. It was so hot outside and we’d already agreed to meet there so it was a no brainer. And I can now say I have been to the most popular restaurant in Samoa.
