There have been reports that the starving folks in afghanistan that we are aiding are bitching and moaning about some of the food being provided to them. they seem to have a problem with tuna fish and peanut butter (i am sure it’s not teddy’s natural peanut butter, but that’s beside the point)! this food is seen as being undesireable and useless to those whose children are wasting away. you are starving people! don’t bitch…eat!.
besides what’s wrong with tuna fish and peanut butter anyway? many of us on this forum whose goal is to build a strong lean physique live off of this stuff. it’s got protein, carbs and essential fats. everything you need to keep you from assuming ambient temperature. it’s more calorically dense, so you get more units of energy per food drop. sounds logical to me.
send some of that tuna my way if you don’t want to eat it…geez. kevo
I’ve not heard these reports (could you provide a website about this?) and I’d take them with a grain of salt. How many–what percentage–of the Afghans are complaining? Have the Afghans spontaneously complained, or have our muckraking, ratings-driven media–famous for sticking microphones in people’s faces and asking “how does it feel watching your house go up in flames?”–ASKED what the Afghans think? Do the media routinely tell us what percentage of a group is engaging in a behavior, or do the media consider the existence of a given behavior to be most significant and therefore provide un-nuanced accounts? If, say, 10 per cent of Afghans are complaining, would the media make clear that only a small minority is complaining, and should we vilify all Afghans for the behavior of a few? What is the nature of the complaints? Are their complaints subjective (i.e. they dislike the flavor or texture) or objective (ther food gives them diarrhea, constipation or gastric discomfort)? I wonder how many foods in the average Afghans’ diet have the consistency of peanut butter or tuna. I wonder how acclimated the average Afghan’s physiology is to a food that is 50% fat as peanut butter is. Perhaps their gallbladders and intestinal tracts cannot accomodate such a high level of fat.
In defense of complaints of the food, we have no idea how this food must taste to them. Yeah, I suppose if I were starving, I’d eat molots (sp?), you know, those fermented chicken embryos eaten in Southeast Asia, but would I be wrong to acknowledge I dislike it? I don’t necessarily think it ingratitude to acknowledge that some free food tastes or feels strange. I certainly don’t begudge complaints if the food is hard for their bodies to handle. (I’d guess boiled fish is something most Afghans never eaten.) Just because those of us in the West who are physique conscious eat this stuff by the kilogram does not mean it is the ideal food to provide starving refugees in a third world nation. If this food really is undesirable to the Afghans, I hope we make some effort to accomodate their culture-based preferences, but how nutritious and readily provided the food is obviously a much higher priority. Personally, I’m gonna cut the Afghans some slack on this until I read much more about the nature of the complaints. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, though.
I can agree with you about the media, newbie. they do tend to blow stuff out of proportion, A LOT.
But about the ones who do complain- they can suck me sideways. If I were starving, I dont think I would complain if they handed me moldy bread and beans that have been staying warm between their buttcheeks. COME ON! WE ARE SAVING YOUR FRIGGIN LIVES HERE! hows about a little gratitude, maybe a ‘thank you?’ But, no, they whine. To them i say, you dont like it, dont eat it. Starve to death. Its your choice.