food - Haiti Observer Blog

Understanding the vulnerability in which the Haitian population is today in regard to high cost of food, the Haitian government has reacted by creating a price stabilization Commission. In addition, the government has ordered 300,000 bags of rice in order to affect the current price of rice in the market.

The 300,000 bags of rice is expected to be injected immediately into the market in order to reduce the price of rice. The Martelly Lamothe government informed the public that they will continue to follow this policy every time they see an increase on price of rice.

Read more →  

Gourmet gift baskets can be given on many occasions throughout the year. Whether a birthday, anniversary, housewarming, holiday, or to congratulate someone, you can find a gift basket to suit the occasion and person.

For the chocoholic, a chocolate gift basket is appropriate. The basket contains dark chocolate, milk chocolate, Belgium chocolate, white chocolate, and truffles.

For those who are nuts about nuts, the nut gift basket will make them nutty with pleasure. Walnuts, cashews, pecans, pralines, and peanuts fill this basket.

The luxury basket for someone you love shows you care. Bath and body products like scented bath candles, essential bath oils, fluffy scruffs, and bath towels pamper.

Read more →  

President Michel Martelly, as part of his ambitious agenda to engage all sectors of the Haitian population, inaugurated the People Canteen Tet Kale in Créole in Carrefour on July 27, 2012. Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Ronsard St-Cyr joined Martelly. Together they were there to initiate a dialogue of goodwill with the community and demonstrate their commitment to improve the quality of life for the underserved population.

At the People Canteen, located on 4th Avenue Bolosse, President Martelly and Minister St-Cyr stood behind the line and served nutritious meals to school-age children. Then they joined the children at tables and chatted with them about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Later Martelly and St-Cyr handed out soccer balls to screaming and excited children, who asked Martelly if he would play with them. Martelly replied he would do something even better, he would show them a few soccer-ball tricks.

Read more →  

Haiti is home to the most exotic and colorful cuisine in the world. Most of Haiti's cuisine originated from the country's historical settlers like the Africans and the French. One of the country's many delicious foods known worldwide is the Dous Makos.

The Dous Makos was created by Fernand Macos back in 1939, a Belgian entrepreneur who settled and put up his business in the coastal town of Petit-Goave in Haiti. The popular delicacy's recipe was at first a secret but was generally known to be made of milk and was commercialized years after. There are now dozens of producers of the Dous Makos that sell and export their produce to different parts of the world.

Read more →  

The official launch of the "Kafeteria Tet Kale" or "People Canteen" on 4th Avenue Bolosse in Carrefour, a largely populated commune in the capital Port-au-Prince, was led by Haitian President Michel Martelly last July 27. Together with Ronsard St-Cyr, the country's Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, the project is aimed at building better relations with the population and at the same time improving their living conditions. During the launching, President Martelly distributed food and soccer balls to numerous children.

The Martelly administration's Kafeteria Tet Kale is quite popular in Haiti, serving more than 500 customers a day. It is a cafeteria in the form of a truck, and was first introduced in the Carnaval des Fleurs, or the Carnival of flowers, the first carnival in Port-au-Prince since the 2010 earthquake. It immediately attracted carnival goers with its eye-candy color scheme of pink and white. The Haitian Creole term "tet kale" means heart and soul or from head to toe, which is perfect for the President's new movement on serving the country and its people with care and definiteness.

Read more →  

The problem for many to refuse food after it has been offered to you

Holiday parties are about to begin in a couple of weeks. Hosts go all out, putting time and effort into menus for their dinner parties. Sensing this, people, who have dietary requirements, allergies, or are health nuts often feel uncomfortable refusing their host's offering of certain foods.

Here are a few guidelines to refuse food without giving offense.

Put a smile on your face. It's hard to take offense when someone refuses with a big smile. Research has revealed smiling serves as a stress reducer and elevated-mood enhancer. Smiles are also infectious. Hosts will often return the smile and the refusal is graciously accepted.

Read more →  

Concerns are mounting that salami imported from the Dominican Republic (DR) is tainted with unhealthy levels of fecal matter. Deputy Fritz Chery has urged Minister of Commerce and Minister of Health and Population to ban importation of salami from the Dominican Republic.

Chery became alarmed after reading in the DR Listin Diario the Dominican Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (DIPCR) discovered 51% of 258 salami samples revealed fecal coliform at unacceptable levels.

Chery's belief is that dangerously high levels of fecal matter risks developing cancer in consumers, who ingest the contaminated meat. From a lay-person's perspective, with no training in microbiology, it's not necessarily the fecal matter itself, which may cause cancer, but the occurrence of sodium nitrate, a known carcinogen. Very high levels of fecal particulate may turn into a deadly form of ecoli, an intestinal illness, but not lead to cancer.

Read more →  

One's health depends on what one eats. That is why the Haitian government have been taking measures in ensuring that the food Haitians eat are not contaminated with any kind of harmful components and that food processing companies follow the rules and regulations on proper hygiene and cleanliness standards.

Health authorities in the Dominican Republic have discovered fecal coliform contamination in samples of salami produce. It caused quite a scandal which caused the Haitian government to ban its import of salami from its neighbor. The Dominican Republic's Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas has recently announced that the results and studies that will be conducted as soon as possible on the infected salami produce will be disclosed to the public. He assured that the analyses to be taken will be of global health standards. Rojas also mentioned that the government has assigned a committee to be in charge of ensuring each of the product's quality, as well as guaranteeing the ongoing support and assistance of the Pan American Health and Nutrition Institute.

Read more →  

Bahon is a town located in the Nord Department of Haiti in the Grande-Rivière-du-Nord Arrondissement and on the popular river named Grand Rivière du Nord. It was located formerly on the rail road towards the south of Cap Haitien in the year 1915.

Places To Access From Bohan

Around 17,000 people inhabit this place as per estimates. It is located at an elevation of 171 meters above the level of the sea. To the northwest of Bahon is located, Cap Haitien at a distance of 21 miles. Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti is located at 66 miles away to the south of Bahon.

Read more →  

Anyone, who has hosted Thanksgiving dinner, knows it is a mammoth undertaking.

To reduce the strain of preparing and cleaning up your Thanksgiving meal, here are guidelines to help you.

Delegate responsibilities. Defrosting, washing, stuffing, roasting, and carving the turkey is a large task. Ask invitees to bring side dishes. This could include mashed potatoes, yams, home-made cranberry sauce, and green-bean casserole (yuck!). Assign someone the task of making and baking holiday pies. Ask someone else to bring a few pre-meal snacks.

Organize a cleaning brigade. Get people scraping down dishes and discarding scraps into the green recycle bin. Instruct them to put all plastic, glass, aluminum, and paper packaging into the blue bin. Have each person perform a task in handling the dishwashing duties. Assign roles of washer, rinser, wiper, and storer.

Read more →