Deliberately, one suspects, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, in Guyana Khadija Musa last week took what some might see as an indelicate tilt at a section of the local fast food sector. Indeed, it is likely that what she had to say was intended for a decidedly wider audience than the schoolchildren in attendance at a relatively low key Secondary Schools Home Economics Competition, though that did not take away one iota from the significance of the message.
With somewhat surprising bluntness, the UN diplomat cautioned about patronising a fast food facility at the corner of Albert and Lamaha streets.
There are those of course who may argue that coming from a UN official based in Guyana such a remark may have been somewhat indiscreet though Ambassador Musa might argue that healthy eating as a possible barrier to chronic, diet-related diseases is an important item on the UN’s agenda and that her presentation was consistent with the theme of the event that she had been asked to address.
Fast food restaurants are legitimate investments that appear to be no more encouraged than discouraged by the Government of Guyana. This, despite the fact that there is an increasingly vigorous global lobby to raise awareness of the high cholesterol agents, among others, contained in fast food menus. On the other hand the proliferation of imported fast food franchises appears to have engendered a growing appetite for what the restaurants have to offer.
Another interesting point made by the UN diplomat was what she suggested was a discernable shift amongst sections of the population in the Caribbean to imported foods instead of what she says are healthier local options, the current political focus on regional food security notwithstanding. It is a point that had earlier been made here in Guyana and elsewhere in the region in recent years and it sought to draw attention to a regional food bill which, at the time, stood in the vicinity of around US$4 billion.
By alluding so pointedly to the importance of health conscious Guyanese steering clear of foreign fast food franchises, Ms Musa has raised an important issue. On the one hand the government of Guyana may well be reluctant to derail its foreign investment train particularly since diet-consciousness is yet to mushroom into any kind of aggressive lobby against foreign fast food establishments.
It may have occurred to the authorities here too that despite the growing global lobby for healthier eating many tourists continue to frown on destinations where there is no evidence of their favourite (usually American) fast food joints.
What is not in question is the UN’s focused and growing attention on healthy eating as a corollary to healthy living as reflected in the work of its specialised agencies so that it is entirely reasonable to assume that the UN Resident Representative’s comment was intended to send as clear a message as possible to the local audience about the seriousness with which the UN takes the issue.
Certainly, she made no bones about the view that Guyana and the rest of the region are beginning to fall victim to diet-related obesity (not as bad as the USA, she says, though that in itself is far from reassuring) which is not something that we Guyanese are used to being told.
The reference in the UN diplomat’s remarks for Guyanese to return to the virtues of a predominantly local diet is important not only from the standpoint of healthy eating but also from the standpoint of nurturing the resurgence of backyard gardening culture being promoted by shadehouse proponents. However, we may well have become so deeply rooted in the fast food culture that the local health authorities will have to significantly step up their public awareness efforts if we are to see the desired attitudinal change.
If, therefore, what Ambassador Musa had to say, ruffled a few feathers in the fast food industry, the UN can claim a considerable measure of credibility from being on the front line as far as witnessing and giving to help deal with the effects of diet-related diseases are concerned. From that standpoint the UN Resident might well claim the right to make this particular message as clear as possible.
