Dispatch II: London To Cape Town
HOMOGENEITY AROUND THE WORLD The stay for a half a day in Heathrow was uneventful as was the flight to Cape Town. There was a similarity to be noted, however. In Heathrow, there was this enormous shopping arcade, yet the most telling message is how homogenous retailing has become. For the most part, the stores […]
South African Road Trip
Today’s modern retailers will go to the ends of the earth to make sure consumers have a selection of every fresh produce item on a year-round basis. And I’m going to fly about as far as you can go from Boca Raton, FL, to help make that happen. At the end of next week, I’ll […]
Dispatch IX: Wrong Ways To
Reduce Food Prices
The Cape Times of Wednesday, September 6, 2006, reports that in South Africa a quarterly review of food prices presented before the national assembly’s agricultural affairs committee by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) found that: Rural people still pay more for food than those in urban areas, although most of South Africa’s food products […]
Dispatch VII: Roadblocks To
South Africa’s Future
As I spend more time in South Africa, I confess to starting to feel that the South African government and the broader culture, heavily influenced by European ideas about social welfare, are going to prevent this country from realizing its potential. Although South Africa is partially an advanced western country that produces world-class products and […]
Dispatch VI: Caveat Emptor When It Comes To Tropical Plants
A continuation of our series on one day of reporting in Britain’s newspapers relevant to perishables: The Times featured a report that garden centers regularly sell tropical plants that are certain to die in the climate of the UK: Glorious displays of trendy plants, many of them originally from tropical countries, are too frequently being […]
Dispatch IV: Seeing The Future
From Across The Pond
Cultural Divide In continuation of yesterday’s review of a day in London’s newspapers: Back in The Guardian, a columnist by the name of Simon Hoggart visited America. Those foreigners report the darndest things. For example: “It may be the little things in America that make most of it such an attractive place. Friendly service in […]
Dispatch I: Miami to London
So I sit on the plane preparing to take off and am a little unsettled. While sitting in the lounge, I read that a flight to Manchester in England had been redirected. It had to do with terrorism. I was committed already so decided not to read too much. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. This was […]
Presenting “Pundit Classics”
Between Christmas and New Year’s, we are presenting “Pundit Classics,” pieces that ran previously that deserve a second look. Today we are offering some insights from the Pundit’s recent trip to South Africa.
Pundit’s Mailbag — The WIC Program
Our article on the WIC Program prompted one reader to write: I had an opportunity to speak with Stephen Christianson who manages WIC, and I asked if there is any evidence that this actually increases the consumption of fruits and vegetables. He said that he didn’t know! My point was: let’s say a family has […]
WIC Juggling Act
There is nothing more painful in politics than a zero-sum game. The perishable food industry finds itself creating crossfire over the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC for short. For some time now, the produce industry has lobbied to see fruits and vegetables included in the national program. Now the […]
