Cambodia Calling: Acid n Peppery beef noodles from China

Monday, September 21, 2009

Acid n Peppery beef noodles from China

I buy instant noodles because they are easy to cook and handy when I'm hungry. I know it's bad for health because of all the preservatives and what not but I am lazy and a lousy cook to boot. I love 麻辣火锅 "ma la huo guo" (literally "sesame and chili hotpot") and still drool when I think of 水煮鱼 "shui zhu yu" (literally "water cook fish"), a Sichuan dish I had in Beijing. Don't let the second name fool you, "water cook fish" is a dish with slices of tender fish cooked in chili oil, with a whole lot of chili on top. It is very, very spicy but my mouth is watering as I type this. I am Singaporean and we like our chili! Sadly, you can get "ma la huo guo" in Singapore but not "shui zhu yu"...

So I was excited when I found this at Lucky Supermarket. On the packet of the instant noodles it says The Flavours of Yunnan China- I've never been to Yunnan so was interested. The flavours I chose were "hong shao niu rou" 红烧牛肉 (red braised beef) and "suan la niu rou" 酸辣牛肉 (sour and hot beef). In English, it said "Beef with Brown Sauce" and "Acid and Peppery Beef".

Fortunately I knew what the makers were trying to say with the acid beef but I did wonder if the name hurt sales...

Then today I visited a blog mandevu.net by another foreigner in Cambodia and he had a photo of a flashlight from China which said "powerful, weak, blinker, siren, amplifier, rechargeable, easiness schlep."

The writer was nonplussed, as I must say, I am. He makes a great note:

But I still marvel at how a word from a language spoken mainly by Jews of Eastern European origin (with speakers numbering a little over 3 million people) found its way onto a Chinese-made flashlight, and then into the hands of a police officer in rural Cambodia. No, it is not the first example of nifty global linkages which I have ever seen. But it is indeed one of my favorites.

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Some argue that "Shopping is more important than voting", and that the disposition of money is the most basic role we play in any system of economics. Some theorists believe that it is the clearest way that we express our actual moral choices, i.e., if we say we care about something but continue to buy from parties that have a high probability of risk of harm or destruction of that thing, we really don't care about it; we are practicing a form of simple hypocrisy." - Ethical Consumerism, Wikipedia

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1. We believe in the right of all people to a decent life, free of poverty and with access to education

2. We believe you will be enriched helping the poor

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12. We believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of handbags!

WHAT IS A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?

A social enterprise has as its central objective, a social or environmental purpose, and not the obsession with profits. Yes, of course we want to be profitable, but it is so we can hire even more people in unfortunate circumstances, and offer them a shot at a better life, and not because we want to "increase shareholder value" or for the sake of lining our personal pockets. In fact, the only foreign staff (and founder/funder) does not get a salary from Bloom.

At Bloom, our mission is to alleviate poverty and save the environment at the same time, through our recycled bags.

As a social enterprise in Cambodia, we are competing with many NGOs on the one hand (which get donations) and for want of a better word, capitalistic businesses (which drive down costs in an effort to maximise profits). We recognise and accept the challenges that face all business, but are committed to principles of Fair Play, and will NEVER sacrifice those principles in order to be competitive. This means, for instance, we will never sacrifice workers' pay just so our bags will be cheaper. The average pay at Bloom today is 2.13 times the market rate.

So please, before you ask us to discount our bags, remember that we are not a minimum wage factory; we are a social enterprise. If you want a cheap factory-made bag, Bloom is not what you are looking for. If you agree that workers (where-ever they are--Singapore, Germany, France, the US) should always be paid fairly and are not here to produce goods and services at low wages for the profit of big business, then please consider Bloom. Bloom bags are all hand-made by our small team who spend our working hours dreaming up and making bags.

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Bloom is a social enterprise established in Sept 2006 with the intention of providing fair-paying jobs to abandoned, widowed and divorced Cambodian women. Bloom is not a factory. We are a small workshop of nine people who work closely as a team to produce original, quality handmade bags made from recycled rice and fish feed bags.

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All Bloom Bags are handmade by our team. We do not outsource to other sewers because we want to be in control of the supply chain, to ensure that everyone involved in making a Bloom Bag is paid fairly. There is no middleman taking a cut and passing on the work to another.

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