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Menachem's Writings
I Love Gush Katif Cherry Tomatoes
As I'm getting into the plane at Ben Gurion airport a couple of days ago, I notice one of the technical ground staff standing around, is drinking water from a plastic bottle. Not unusual, except that the water was from Canada! Fresh mountain water. What's wrong with local, Israeli, water: Neviot, Mei Eden? On the plane, as usual, not long after takeoff, the crew comes around with some drinks and packets of munchy, crunchy snack food. Coke, heavily sugared fruit nectar pretending to be healthy juice and . . . of course water -- Neviot to be exact. The airport water was an aberration. Until half way through the flight. They come around a number of times -- nice service -- offering people a glasses of water. And you guessed it -- Canadian mountain water! Why? Why carry water half way across the world? I'm sure it's no better than Mei Eden! It is just, after all, only water.
I arrive to New York City. Mike and I go out to get some stuff for dinner. Opposite the front door of the supermarket is a barrel of avocados. "From Chile", says the sign. From Chile I say? In Israel the avocado season is now about eight months long and you can buy (if you are willing to pay a premium) local produce that has been refrigerated for the other four months. They taste fine. Not all varieties are available all year around. I like the little bumpy Haas variety best. It seems to have the shortest season of all. That's OK. That's how the Good Lord made little green avocados. And look at the ingredients on this bottle of "Apple & Eve" apple juice. "100% apple juice from concentrate (pure filtered water sufficient to reconstitute apple juice concentrate" -- "contains concentrate from U.S.A, Peru and China"), the orange juice, "Costa Rica, Belize & U.S.A -- no clue as to who actually grew the apples, only where they were evaporated. The Americans, it appears can't produce enough second grade apples and have to import more. Or does a cocktail of apples from distant parts of the globe create a happier, healthier, taste sensation? Followers of macrobiotics only eat produce native to their geography. So, for example, an Israeli macrobiotic does not eat pineapples -- but the Thai do. I've tried to understand from them as to why they have such a habit. I assume it is related to maintaining natural balance. Since you are what you eat, and your geography also directly effects you, it makes sense that local and local provide a superior balance. Makes sense to me. I have two problems with the implementation of their philosophy. One, why won't Israeli macrobiotics eat Israeli grown (cute, miniature and very expensive) pineapples -- so what if they didn't grow here in the 1880's -- and two, how come they eat rice (California if they are originally Americans or otherwise East Asian)? And they don't just eat it -- they almost exist on it? Rice needs lots and lots of water to grow, and a hot climate too. That counts out all of Europe and even northern China, where they grow wheat like the Europeans -- and Israel. Incidentally, there were attempts to grow rice in the Hula Valley before the Israeli government, in the fifties, decided the Hula was a "bad" place. They committed an ecological disaster for the common good and dried it up, to the last drop. Now they are re-swamping it. Migratory birds, fortunately, complained too much about the lack of a en route watering hole.
The philosophy of the global village, strongly espoused by Shimon Peres among others, is that each area of the world produce what it is good at and the people suitable for, and then we all trade. Goods and services continually on the go. Sounds great in theory, but there are a few fundamental flaws in the argument. Israel (and especially Gush Katif which seems not to be one Peres's favourite locations) produced the best tasting cherry tomatoes and capsicums, largely organic, in the world. If you don't believe me just take a look the export quantity that they sent out each year. And the globalist powers stopped them from continuing. Another flaw is the argument is that, while we know from the entire Bible that Israelis were traditionally an agricultural people, and our homeland, with God's blessing, produces abundant, delicious crops, what are we supposed to produce? Peres says our role in today's world is to sit in multi-storied office buildings in greater Tel Aviv and provide accounting services for the borderless country/entity he envisages stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. Our avocados, and baby tomatoes too, can come from Chile. We have a more important mission to fulfill. Much of this international produce is "designed", whether by genetic tampering or other, more "natural" methods, to have a long shelf life. Otherwise long distance shipping would be impossible. I assume that most of these fresh foodstuffs are transported by air, as even with all their manipulations (who knows what damage they may be doing to plant, animal, and ultimately human, biology) fresh only remains fresh for a short time -- and then there's the local distribution chain to consider as well. But these globalists, who think they have the moral authority to tell us what is good for us all, are missing a key element in their diabolic plan to bring humanity under their control. The spiralling cost of transportation. We will run out of oil. Quite soon. Dubai runs out in 2016. Whether the oil companies like it or not, the world will certainly run out of oil. Economists and futurologists predict that this time is not that far off, that we are currently in a temporary trough from which prices will rise steeply. The falling dollar will probably force oil producers to charge for their product in another currency, perhaps Euros, perhaps a new, revalued dollar in an American attempt to maintain economic dominance, or in a currency format which the average man in the street has not yet considered. But all agree on the bottom line -- fuel costs will rise steeply in real terms. And as transport costs are a major factor in the cost of food, this increase in the price of petroleum impacts directly on the price of food to the consumer. I haven't done the arithmetics, and there are perhaps too many factors for a simple calculation, but there is a point where it again will make economic sense to produce locally, around the corner. And not have every vegetable and fruit has to be available all year round. That's how we grew up. We continually looked forward to what each new season would bring. Scenes of huge Mei Eden trucks making their way along the Arava highway, from the Golan Heights in the far north, to Eilat in the south, are in my opinion hideous. (Eilat, incidentally, has the best, cleanest tap water in country.) And returning empty! The water is free (I don't know by what right or agreement this company has privatised a natural water supply -- but that's a separate issue). Bottling costs money -- but the major cost is certainly transportation and distribution. The end seller has a right to charge something for refrigeration, granted, but road transportation is the major expense -- we desperately need a railway line in Israel. How can we transport without using petrol? Ships may go nuclear. I don't believe aeroplanes will. Perhaps we can return to the golden age of the clipper ships, which raced the waters from Britain to Australia around the time of the first steam ships. With today's technology, these could be vastly superior to the sails of old. If my prediction comes to fruition, we may find the macrobiotics' vision being fulfilled, by necessity rather than choice. Each area will consume only what can be grown in the vicinity -- that's what the locals will eat, because that's what will be available to them. Just like in times gone by. The globalists will be forced to return to the village from whence they originated, driven by an unbridled greed which "burnt" our precious fuel into thin (thick?) air.
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