As we all know, things are hyped in the media. Remember the avian flu? We aren’t hearing too much about it these days, but it is still a huge concern. Climate change? Al Gore was everywhere a few months ago but was trumped by the food crisis (rising prices of grain and oils, compounded by demand in Asia, biofuels in US, and fuel prices). The food crisis has a bit gone quiet these days in the developed world and has been replaced with distress of the economies of America and Europe – rising fuel prices, high unemployment, political unrest… Will the food crisis keep getting press long after the elections in the US? There is no end in sight right now for food prices to decrease, and this really impacts the poor the most.

I was talking to a colleague the other day, a Kenyan who has lived here her whole life. She told me 20 years ago, it would be unheard of for a Kenyan to NOT consume meat every day. Same with milk. Now, in the land of “Carnivore” and heavy African meat diets, Kenyans are lucky if they get meat three times a week. At the grocery store in Nairobi the other day, I noticed that a half chicken (enough to feed a family of four) cost about 15 US dollars. Wowsa.

On the local Nairobi news, meat consumption is the headline news. Closing of meat markets, decreased importing and of course cost is substantial and real and not going away here. Let’s hope this news stays front and center – because hunger should never be a hyped media news piece…