Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Pine nut, pistachio nut, macadamia nut...

So can we talk about Plumpy'nut? No, I'm not joking. Have you heard about this product? I've obviously been in the dark about this one. Anderson Cooper did a spot on it that I saw recently. It's single-serving peanut butter based paste that is curing scores of children who were suffering from malnutrition. Worldwide.

As I watched the special, a doctor from Doctors Without Borders made mention of wasted life. How the deaths of children in developing countries have been nothing more than wasted life. Maybe 8 months lived, then dying from malnutrition before a first birthday. The report's statistics showed that in any given family, 1 child in 5 would die from malnutrition. No memories established, no feeling, no real growth or learning. No chance.

Enter peanut butter. I just searched my blog to see how many times I've mentioned it and when and where. Turns out 5, now anyway. Personally, I've loved the stuff since childhood, so I can understand. I couldn't eat it with jelly on a sandwich because the jelly always made the bread look bruised. But that's just me. Really, it makes sense. All you need is a spoon. But in single-serving packages, not even that. With all the pharmaceutical warnings, food-borne mishaps, hell, toy recalls we are lucky to receive day-to-day, I hope this product works and proves a viable solution.

There were quite a few comments made about Anderson Cooper's report on CBS News that may also be of interest, from personal histories to opinions.

1 comment:

Sockmonkee said...

someone needs to catch up on their blog!!
A month from today this time we'll be close to being at the beach!