Bourdain Treats Obama To Bun Cha in Vietnam

Enjoyed it? Now find out why you shouldn't order fish in a restaurant on Monday nights.

World On Display in Milan, For Six Months

Beginning May 1st for the Universal Exposition. Over 130 countries are going to showcase their answer to the expo's theme of "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life". It's a hell of a great opportunity to brand a country -- or to get inspired how to do it.

Many Africans countries will be there -- including the Seychelles, Rwanda and Ziwbabwe -- but I didn't see Mauritius in the list. Too busy with the Mo Ibrahim index? Or is it the Doing Business index?

If you're not heading to Milan you might want to get busy trying one of these 123,506 recipes.

STC Offering Lower Basmati Prices

According to a report on national TV yesterday, it had already imported some 200 tons of two types of the popular rice and is making them available at prices that are 23% cheaper. The Industry Minister was also heard saying that some importers mixed Basmati with lower quality rice.

We apparently import some 50,000 tons of the tasty stuff and the Government is standing ready to supply the entire demand at more reasonable prices.

Good move. There is plenty of scope for many more interventions like this. Because there are simply way too many goods and services that are of poor quality and yet they are sold at prices that are totally out of sync with international prices.

When will the STC import sugar?

Charming Natasha St-Pier on Mauritius

Food Crops and Fish Production Down Significantly From Their 2001 Levels

That's right. In 2001 we produced a little over 129,000 metric tonnes of food crops and almost 8,800 metric tonnes of fish. The corresponding numbers for 2007 are lower by a whopping 27% and 33% respectively. In fact the fish production numbers hovered within a narrow range of 8,800 and 9,400 tonnes between 2000 and 2006 before free-falling to less than 6,000 tonnes last year.

Shouldn't that be a cause for alarm in these times of agriflation and given that the eating habits of Mauritians are not exactly world-beaters? I am sure we can do a lot better with the world's 14th largest exclusive economic zone than to include it once in a while in a dumb speech usually appreciated while ingesting some oily gato pima.