From the Diaspora…OBSERVATIONS FROM A VACATION, ARE GUYANESE GETTING FATTER?

Jul 01, 2012 News

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 By Ralph Seeram

I was on my way to Berbice from Georgetown when my taxi driver, Raju, said “I just have to make a li’l stop to pick up two bags”. We stopped to pick up the two bags. Our first stop was at Bush Lot village on the West Coast of Berbice to drop off the “two bags”. Curiously I turned to see what were in the bags which were about 30lbs each, and from all indications the contents were imported. I asked Raju what was in the bags to which he replied “carrots”.
“Carrots”? I was in shock. On closer examination I discovered the carrots were imported from Costa Rica. The driver and my fellow passenger, my friend Mara, could not understand why I was so concerned about the carrots being imported, until I explained that I cannot believe that the people of Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice are importing carrots that can be grown in their backyard.
I can excuse the folks in Georgetown, but Bush Lot? The Bush Lot I know was a mainly agricultural community, known not only for rice but also fresh vegetables or as we say in Guyanese parlance “greens”. Greens from Bush Lot used to find their way to the markets in Georgetown and New Amsterdam. It raises a more important question. Why is Guyana importing carrots which can be easily grown in commercial quantities in Guyana?
This crave by Guyanese for things imported is not only unhealthy for the economy, but also leading to an unhealthy lifestyle, and I will explain further. The country has gone from not being able to import flour to importing carrots, not to mention luxury items. Some may argue that this is a sign that the economy is booming, and that may be so, but there are unintended consequences also.
Bad and ill advised as it were, there were some positive aspects of Burnham ban on some imported items. It made people realize that not only were there acceptable substitutes, but that they could have grown quite a few of the items locally. People ate healthier (I know some may disagree) but there was always plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits, meat and fish.
America, known as an obese society, is now trying to move to a healthier lifestyle, the type Guyanese enjoyed before becoming fixated with things “foreign” Restaurants are being forced to disclose the calorie contents of the meals and is offering a wider variety of healthy meals.
New York is now trying to force food outlets to limit the size of sodas they sell, all in an effort to force people into a healthier lifestyle, a lifestyle that I grew up with in Guyana. Meat and fish once or twice a week, for the most part it was vegetables and fruits, with rice or flour as the staple.
On my recent visits to Guyana, I can see the proliferation of fast food establishments, at every corner there is a pizza, burger, or fried chicken outlet carrying American food chain brands. Let me be straight up with some advice to Guyanese. Pizza and burgers are unhealthy for you, fried chicken for fast food joints are a heart attack in the waiting.
Have you ever cleaned a whole chicken removing the fats and skin? You probably would end up with a pound of fat. I have some news for you. Fast food restaurants neither do nor remove any fat, you eat half a chicken you are most likely eating half a pound of fat. Burgers have to have a percentage of fat to make them palatable. Pure beef cannot make a good burger.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is no harm in an occasional treat, just don’t be consistent with it. Guyanese love “sweet drinks”. There is a reason why these are called “sweet drinks”. They are loaded with sugar. Too much sugar makes you obese and invariably leads to diabetes as the Americans are discovering.
I went into a supermarket and was not surprised that 90% of the items were imported. Guyanese have gone import crazy. They complain about “things hard”. Part of the reasons “things hard” is because they are spending too much of their income on imported stuff, worse, I discovered that the imported items cost more that I pay here in Orlando.
I asked my friend Gregory how people could afford these groceries, to which he replied “Money Gram and Western Union” and added, “You see them line up at these places weekend when money come from outside”.
It would seem to me that there is a certain amount of pride when Guyanese use items imported. Poor Burnham, he tried desperately to instill pride in things local and should receive credit for that. There should be renewed interest in encouraging people to manufacture, grow, produce and use local products. Obviously there are things that have to be imported like vehicles. My observation is Guyanese are buying cars as if there is going to be a shortage. I saw a new Nissan Pathfinder with the license plate, PPP xxxx. I was taken aback.
Are they issuing personalized vanity plates? This must be a PPP supporter, I thought, until my friend corrected me that the license plate series is now at PPP and this may end before the year. That’s nearly 10,000 vehicles being sold within a year.
Well depending on which statistics one accepts, it would seem that one in six or seven Guyanese own a vehicle, that is remarkable for a country that is supposed to be poor. Trust me – Guyana is not as poor as some critics would like to make out.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: [email protected]

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