When condensed milk from China appeared on my tea table a year or two ago, I was very surprised. The Chinese are very resourceful/productive people. China exporting electronics and machinery, and stuffed pandas, is not hard to understand. China exporting condiments, and soy sauce and other ingredients used in their exotic cuisine are not hard to understand. But, China exporting condensed milk noh mek no sense.
How could a nation of 1.3 or so billion people export milk products? You know how many million cows you need to supply 1.3 billion or so people with milk? And even if there was excess milk in China (maybe a government initiative to increase milk production did not result in increased consumption at home), how could milk and sugar and water in tin travel across the Pacific Ocean and compete over here?
In a light moment I thought that maybe the Chinese government had refitted an old Junk or two, hired a captain or two, contracted prisoners for crew, and sailed those cans of condensed milk halfway across the globe.
In another light moment (kind of), I thought that maybe an entrepreneur from China, to get a toe hold in Belize for their exotic food products, had bought up a supply of condensed milk and changed the label…to Made in China. You know the only thing we do more than talk on telephones…is drink condensed milk.
In a very serious moment, I thought that maybe some businessmen in China had gotten their hands on a supply of suspect powdered milk from Europe. I told you sometime ago that a good friend of mine, a top chemist, had suggested that the powdered milk Belize was getting in the sixties (children in Belize used to get a milk drink at school) could very well be toxic milk products out of Europe.
But, I didn’t think that we were being sold intentionally adulterated condensed milk. Braa, after hearing the news that unscrupulous businessmen in China were “stretching” milk with melamime, like long water beans, I have no doubt that we been had.
Since we can’t trust others to be as honorable as we are about what we sell abroad, we better start growing and producing every damn thing we eat and drink. Fu real.
UDP not so dull
Got to give the devil his due! Bravo to the UDP for not following the ignorance of previous administrations which paid people to hand in their illegal weapons. There will always be an illegal economy, and governments have to keep the lines open. But no government should palli-palli up, go soft with illegal types in public.
Dear Dolores…
…thanks for the piece (Belize Times) on the great Louie Armstrong, a jazz artist even a “rank and filer” like me can adore. In old Belize, in the time when Radio Belize was the only radio station in town, Brother Clifton Hall ruled Thursday nights with his jazz show. Two of my older brothers, Nelson and Michael, loved jazz, so I made a special effort to try and feel the rhythm of the music. I still harbor a little beef with Brother Clifton about that show. Oh boy, the jazz purists raved about Thursday nights, but it was way too deep for lee old me.
Later, when I had grown up a little, I asked the one called Evan X, why a super smooth brother like Lou Donaldson gets absolutely no respect around here from people who call themselves…jazz lovers. Maybe Frankie Rhys knows.
Hey Miss Dolores, there was a little saloon down the street in Belize City, where I spent my first twelve years, that loved Louie Armstrong’s music. Rick’s Bar on Regent Street West ruled weekdays and Saturdays with the latest popular reggae and soca hits, and Rick’s Club competed for air time with Brenda Lee and Jim Reeves. But on Sunday mornings in my neighborhood, the little saloon down the street near Water Lane turned up their jukebox.
Hello, Dolly; on behalf of all lovers of easy, sweet to listen to jazz, Dolly; it was so nice to read all about the fabulous Louis Armstrong.
Leech is my hero, too
Braa, if you are not honorable about your football, you are not honorable about anything.
Whenever I pass the FFB grounds in Belmopan, I hang my head. A few selfish men; and a few ignorant men have brought us down. What the FFB has wrought on Belize football is shame, shame, shame.
People who hate sports now sneer and say: see, I told you that people who play sports are short on intelligence. Some footballers who never heard of Nuremburg pass off the disgrace, saying: we were only following orders. Footballers better get together and take back their football from those crooks.