Alone on the hill

I am visiting my parents in Chile and taking the opportunity to visit some of the tourist sights in the country.


What has struck me most were the stunning views from the various mountains throughout the country: a real feast for the eyes.


Here are some examples taken from dawn to dusk in the Atacama Desert region in the North of the country.


In a rather strange fashion, all the food I have ordered in the restaurants of the touristy village of San Pedro de Atacama were also beautifully ornate. Sadly, I find the taste of most Chilean food to be a bit bland.



The fool on the hill
The Beatles, 1967-1970 (Blue), Apple Records

Requiem aeternam: International Federation of Agricultural Producers

I was shocked to learn yesterday from a former staff member that, after 60 years of existence, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers had been liquidated last November by a French court. The Federation had gone through severe financial problems.

IFAP was a forum of discussion between farmers' organisations. Cooperation between farmers in industrial and developing countries, working comitees on regional and emerging global issues, compiling technical guidebooks for producers, voicing the viewpoint of agricultural producers in international policy-making fora: these were the very useful functions of IFAP.

IFAP's website contains useful material for those interested in the viewpoint of farmers on international agricultural policies. The website is still live for now. How long does it take for a provider to erase all content when its bills are no longer paid?

The lesson I ponder today: the current efforts of some public libraries to save and archive Internet content for future generations is very useful in cases like IFAP's where a knowledge institution disappears.

Requiem aeternam
Chant corse - Manuscrits franciscains, Ensemble Organum - Marcel Pérès, Harmonia mundi

Photo: IFAP

Let it snow!

It snowed hard this morning
Quite unusual for Paris
Perfect for holiday spirits











Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Franck Sinatra, Christmas songs by Sinatra, Strategic marketing

We'll drink and be merry

At its last meeting in Nairobi, UNESCO has just added the gastronomic meal of the French on the Representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The gastronomic meal of the French is a customary social practice bringing people together to enjoy the art of good eating and drinking. There is a certain ritual to follow: drinks as an apéritif, a starter dish, fish or meat with vegetables, cheese and dessert, more drinks as digestive to finish. All this enjoyed in good company on a set table.

Here's an illustration. The Choeur Varenne holds periodic week end rehearsals where we spend time working on our vocal pieces but we also take some time to enjoy a good meal. The latest such week end rehearsal was held last week. After the rehearsal, tables were set: two for the diners, one for the drinks, and one for the food. Each one of us had brought an item: apéritif niblets and biscuits, bread, cheese, a savoury pie or tart, a salad, a sweet cake, or a chocolaty item. We all contributed one euro to buy the drinks for the apéritif and the table wine.

First the apéritif.

Then the dinner.

We all had a great time and delicious food.

Here's a health to the company
The Revels, Homeward bound, Revels records

And we'll have fun fun fun

I believe in the power of fun as a good catalyzer of efficient work. It actually stimulates some of us to work harder, in moderate dose of course. There is more and more management literature on how young professionals in particular, need to be stimulated by a fun working environment.

I have found a perfect illustration of this concept in the French agrifood industry. The whole website of the company Michel et Augustin looks like a big online game for children and the big children that some adults still are: animations, charades, puns, smileys, even opportunities to win a cow at each step! The whole company team looks young and friendly and the whole world is invited to visit them in their headquarters at the Banana plantation to milk a cow. (The French website is more developed than the English language one, unfortunately for non-French speakers.)


Of course, every thing has to be taken with a pinch of salt:
cow = pot or bottle of yoghurt produced by the company;
Banana plantation = office where there happens to be one banana tree;
to milk a cow = consume a pot or bottle of yoghurt.

Still, it all looks like the whole company is having a wonderful time and this can appeal to potential customers and business partners. But how true is this? I am tempted to investigate further as part of my work: has the fun concept become a mainstream food market segment in France? Perhaps an answer in a few months...

In the meantime, I have already milked a banana-and-guava flavoured cow and loved it ;-)
I expect to purchase a box of the little-squares-not-very-square very soon.

Fun, fun, fun
The Beach Boys, Sounds of summer: the very best of, Capitol Music

Photo: Matt Northam

We're the organic anti-beat box band

An organic cooperative supermarket has just opened next door to my appartment on Place de Catalogne.

All the food, detergents, beauty products and essential oils are certified organic.

The lessons I have learned:
1) Some of the products on sale are at a similar price or even cheaper than similar environment-friendly or organic products on sale in normal supermarkets.

2) The organic fresh milk is incomparably tastier than the organic fresh milk from the supermarket: lots of cream.
Must remember to exercise more...

3) Some of the vegetables are very interesting. It was the first time I ever saw a purple cauliflower; likewise, it was the first time I ever drank purple soup...


How do you feel about unusual foods?
A. I want to try it out.
B. I think it is scary.

Organic anti-beat box band
Red Hot Chili Peppers, The uplift mofo party plan, EMI Manhattan

Moon river, wider than a mile

I have been travelling again: I was last week in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China, to facilitate the concluding workshop of the FAO project on food consumer market research, about which I have already blogged. This time, the main purpose of the workshop was to share the conclusions of the research implemented by the four national teams on the consumers of rice, tomato and pork meat.

I noticed that the participants were not that comfortable in speaking in the relatively large multinational group of 24 participants. So I decided to use a knowledge sharing method called the River of Life to depict the main lessons learned by the participants in the project. The River of Life allows people to reflect on the chronology of their own life or of their experiences during a particular project or event. It is a method that involves small group discussion and drawing.

For this particular exercise, I asked all the participants to reflect on the project they had all been involved in together during the previous year. The River of Life that was depicted by the group thus symbolized the lifetime of the project and participants added to the general drawing the different events that had happened during the project. I first asked them to form groups of five or six people and discuss what they were expecting from the project before it had started. After their discussion, the participants started writing down their expectations on the big drawing board but, very quickly, drawings also started appearing.

In the second phase, I asked the workshop participants to reflect on the problems they had faced during the project, how they had solved them, and the lessons they had learned from the project. Here again, lots of drawings were added to the board with many participants trying to add their own element to the River of Life.


Finally, I asked everybody to think about the follow-up activities they would like to implement when the project is over. Here, we had more serious lists of future activities.

Overall, I thought the exercise was very successful as it allowed the participants who were not that talkative in the plenary group to discuss in smaller groups the issues that were important for the project as well as the lessons they had learned. Those elements were then shared with all through the large drawing of the River of Life.

I think participants were quite comfortable in drawing on the board as I had stuck the drawing of the River of Life on the wall so it was quite convenient for many to be drawing or writing at the same time on the board. Furthermore, some of the people involved had been interacting during a whole year and had participated in two previous workshops. They had become accustomed to working closely together.

The lessons I have learned: the creative part of people comes out quite easily when they have grown familiar with each other and they see the fun part of an activity. The River of Life method helps to share lessons learned from a common event when participants feel they are free to express themselves when contributing to the big picture.



Moon River
Frank Sinatra, My way: the best of Frank Sinatra, Reprise

Photos: Yuan Wei and FAO TCP/RAS/3209