FERN’s Friday Feed: Hunger in Gaza
Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
My family’s daily struggle to find food in Gaza
The New Yorker
“In December, a U.N. report said that ninety-three per cent of Gaza residents—more than two million people—were experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity, or worse,” writes Mosab Abu Toha. “On February 9th, Hamza sent me a WhatsApp voice message. He had succeeded in buying three kilograms, or six and a half pounds, of wheat flour on the black market. It had cost him a staggering forty U.S. dollars, he said, and would probably run out quickly. Still, there was a note of triumph in his voice. Three days later, on social media, Hamza posted a photograph of what he was eating that day: a ragged brown morsel, seared black on one side and flecked with grainy bits. ‘This is the wondrous thing we call “bread”—a mixture of rabbit, donkey, and pigeon feed,’ Hamza wrote in Arabic. ‘There is nothing good about it except that it fills our bellies. It is impossible to stuff it with other foods, or even break it except by biting down hard with one’s teeth.’”
An old, sketchy study could sink a proposed ban on chocolate milk in schools
The Guardian
“This spring, the US Department of Agriculture is expected to weigh in on one of the most heated arguments in school nutrition: whether chocolate milk belongs in the cafeteria. The USDA is eyeing a proposal to allow flavored milk only at high schools starting in the 2025-2026 school year; children in grades K-8 would have access to fat-free or low-fat unflavored milk,” writes Jessica Terrell. “The sweetened drink accounts for more than 70% of milk consumed on campuses. It’s so popular that many school nutrition directors fear that, without it on the menu, more kids will ditch school lunch altogether. That worry is, in part, influenced by a single influential two-month pilot study conducted in 2011, led by a once wildly popular researcher who has since resigned from his position over allegations of academic and scientific misconduct. Chocolate milk has long worried some parents who consider it a ‘gateway drug’ to poor eating. Though there’s clear data on the amount of sugar in flavored milk, good research on the long-term effects of serving the beverages in public schools is much harder to come by. In the absence of multiple good scientific studies, milk has become the subject of policy – and political – fights.”
How a solar revolution in farming is depleting groundwater
Yale Environment 360
“Solar pumps are spreading rapidly among rural communities in many water-starved regions across India, Africa, and elsewhere. These devices can tap underground water all day long at no charge, without government scrutiny. For now, they can be great news for farmers, with the potential to transform agriculture and improve food security,” writes Fred Pearce. “The pumps can supply water throughout the daylight hours, extending their croplands into deserts, ending their reliance on unpredictable rains, and sometimes replacing existing costly-to-operate diesel or grid-powered pumps. But this solar-powered hydrological revolution is emptying already-stressed underground water reserves — also known as groundwaters or aquifers.”
Honoring Palestinian foodways, in Arkansas
Longreads
“Amanda effortlessly dices red bell pepper and tomato and adds them to the pan. Cranking up the gas burner, she stirs vigorously. The red mound deepens in color and releases its moisture. This posh setting in Northwest Arkansas feels worlds away from Gaza, from Cairo, from Tennessee, from Utah—places where she has connected with food and family,” writes Jordan P. Hickey. “But these familiar steps and motions stir memories within her. Like how she and her siblings were often roused from their dreams on weekend mornings by the sound of garlic being pummeled in a mortar and pestle, or the whine of chickpeas passing through a meat grinder to become falafel. Or how nestling eggs in the sauce conjures her grandfather chastising his grandchildren ‘gently enough’ for breaking etiquette and eating from the middle of the pan, rather than the sides. Gradually, these other kitchens take shape; the intimacy and warmth of past meals settles over the moment. In tonight’s class, however, there’s no talk about the present, and of all the people Amanda loves who populate her stories.”
How social media helps wildlife trafficking thrive in plain site
Hakai Magazine
“In the summer of 2020, Jennifer Pytka spent three and a half hours a day sleuthing the internet for evidence of wildlife trafficking. She’d type กระเบนท้องน้ำ, a Thai word that loosely translates to stingray, into Google, and her search would immediately yield images of rings, each studded with an ornate white thorn about the size of a thumbnail,” writes Marina Wang. “Pytka, a doctoral candidate at the Università di Padova in Italy, is investigating the previously undocumented trade of bowmouth guitarfish—a critically endangered ray whose spine and brows are adorned with these thorns. In Thailand, the horns are made into amulets, such as rings and bracelets, believed to have protective properties. In a 2023 study, Pytka notes how she pinpointed 977 of these items on online vending platforms, such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and the Alibaba-owned e-commerce site Lazada, over 21 days. Bowmouth guitarfish amulets are just one example of the boundless number of protected wildlife products sold online, where a global Grand Bazaar of seedy vendors hawk their wildlife wares, and anyone with internet access can find products from rhino horns to exotic orchids to tiger claws with just a few clicks.”