Urban Asia: Secrets and Stereotypes... Revealed! (Part 1)

If there were ever a chance to pretend I was running a segment of Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown," this would be it, as I reveal the lesser known features of bustling cities on the other side of the Pacific. I had the opportunity this past summer to travel for two full months around Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan.

In some places, the Southeast Asian stereotype of motorized rickshaw drivers almost running over pedestrians came alive. In Jakarta, I witnessed first hand what I heard of many times before: a city overwhelmed with congestion, a thick blanket of smog covering the city removing any visibility of the horizon. The megalopolis, a term used to categorize this massively sprawling cluster of metropolitan regions, exhibited signs of widening inequality. Neighborhoods harboring extravagant designer malls offering valet service bordered towering public housing projects in poor condition and  slums. Known as kampungs, these areas consisted of substandard shack style housing and narrow roads covered in potholes.


It's difficult to believe that if you fly one hour by plane away from the series of areas that comprise the Jakarta supercity, you land in a small city inhabited by university students engaging in creative urbanism projects: Yoygakarta. In tourism books, it is oft-described as the gem of Java, a cultural and culinary paradise. Beyond the wonderful street shopping, street art in all alleys and under every overpass, and food carts offering the most delectable morsels of Central Javan cuisine, I came across this late night urbanism intervention in the Southern City Square (Jalan Alun Alun Kidul). The concept is simple, but phenomenal: for 10,000 IDR (roughly 0.70 USD) you rent an old VW beetle and ride it around a track. The vehicles are revamped with bicycle pedals, padded seats, neon lights, and a music system offering a list of popular pop and hip hop tunes. As part of a local custom, you take on the tree challenge, in which you are blindfolded and pedal the car between two trees. The myth is that those who can manage will have good fortune. This creative entertainment caters to all ages and backgrounds- tourists (though there were very few), families, and college students.

To be continued.... Urban Asia: Secrets and Stereotypes... Revealed! (Part 2)

Finding our Niche in the Urban Food System

This blog post is inspired by a conservation my classmate, a food science student, and I just had about finding our niche in the city food system. After having spent the morning volunteering for an urban farm in Vancouver, she wrote me: "From all I've seen, small scale organic farming is labour intensive and unprofitable." This has led me to wonder why we learn in the classroom that we should somehow contribute to the regional food system's transformation when we are simultaneously told by those experienced in the field that our ideas about becoming entrepreneurs of farm to table industries and urban farmers are risky and often unrealistic.

Moreover, organic regulations are too difficult to keep up with for many business owners, especially as land prices in Vancouver are so high to begin with. So my friend and I brainstormed further. I recently sat through a presentation by a graduate of my undergraduate program who began his enterprise by working East Africa with coffee farmers. He eventually started the non-governmental organization, Agrodev, to expose coffee farmers to niche markets by helping them become certified Organic. He late opened a coffee shop in Vancouver, where demand for such products is high. Years later, he now is a successful wholesale coffee roaster who also educates local coffee entrepreneurs about FairTrade and other sustainability and social equity related added value practices.

I also thought of Zak the Baker, a family acquaintance in South Florida, who completed his undergraduate degree, took up a baking apprenticeship in Sweden, and returned to South Florida to become a sourdough bread connoisseur whose local claim to fame began at my neighborhood farmers market in Miami. Just last year, he moved up the urban food system ladder by becoming a bread wholesaler and business owner of a warehouse bakery in the city's budding arts district. His business is on the rise, though he intends to keep it at a local scale. His secret was simply having taken advantage of a locally rare product, fresh bread topped with condiments from all sorts of regions (a sort of creative toast concoction, really). His bread business along with another Miami local FairTrade coffee business, Panther Coffee, add to the urban fabric of the neighborhood.

My friend and I have moved on to discussing the concept of high-value commodities desired in our food. An aspiring business owner, she wants a "sustainable" business economically and environmentally in order to keep our products locally-sourced, but also generate income. Where is our niche? Looks like we have some exploring to do.



Photo taken from: mitchandmeltakemiami.com