Today I watched Food, Inc. and that triggered this post. Coming from India I see food in a different perspective, a nation where poverty is the main problem and almost half of the population struggles to get both meals a day. A country which has the highest malnutrition (215+ million people) in world, food to all seems to be the biggest challenge.  Then we have another set of problems related to food – adulteration and excessive usage of chemicals in farming.

When I came to US, the first thing I noticed was the prosperity and then in few days I was introduced to Wal Mart. This gave me an impression that at least this country doesn’t have problems in this area. Then I met few friends who introduced me to different set of issues that most people are unaware of. They gave me a comprehensive idea of how most of the food is prepared. At first I did not see it as problem, I thought of it as efficient use of technology. When they explained all the aspects I was surprised to find out about cruelty to animals and other ways in which food was prepared. This was not end of story, this form of preparation promoted unhealthy eating practices. Then the question was why still people don’t change? Answer was simple – lack of awareness and low cost. And here it comes back to similar problem as India- to prepare food at lower costs.  In India the problem magnifies as enforcement of food related laws is not proper.

This movie provides the same insight in terms of how technology advancement has solved some temporary issues but can lead to tragic issues later. It talks about how chicken and cow are bred, kind of environment they live in, how they are used in assembly line, how genetic engineering has changed the life cycle of animals and how animals are grown specific to human taste. They further extend this approach to corn, soybean and other agriculture products and its impact on humans. Basic idea of the movie is to show how food is engineered to human needs with maximum efficiency and at lowest cost. Movie also talks about law reform needed to improve conditions and what we can do to help not only ourselves but environment as well. It’s a terrifying expose of food industry but sends a deeper message – how our habits as a consumers have degraded the way we live and that message is more important to me.

This movie is an eye opener for normal people like us who have no idea what goes behind the food counter. This should also be a lesson to developing countries on how to tackle food problems. More than 50% of world population has food related issues, we need to come up with better ways to resolve the problem rather than taking the same approach. I do not know what that approach will be but I like what one of the message from the movie – “Eat at home instead of eating out.” and “Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS.” I would recommend this movie to everyone, because awareness is the first step and always helps.

On the same topic I have another recommendation, in the form of book this time – Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health.

Update: I received many queries about me being still vegetarian and if yes, how does it impact me? I am still a vegetarian. It impacts me because I look this from perspective of consumer. How our behavior as consumer has changed over years and how that drives the corporations to change their policies. My perspective was to increase awareness among all, to understand what corporate social responsibility is and how organizations we deal with fare in it.

Disclaimer: This post is just about observations, not to judge any person, place or country. Its just my curious nature that is making me write the post, no other intention. These are personal observations, your experience may vary.

When I moved to US for my MBA, I could feel a lot of difference in every way I could think of. I saw a lot of improvement over what I have seen back in India and  few times other way around too, but this post is not about those. Its about small observations that I found interesting, human behaviors mostly from cultural perspective.

Biggest difference was regarding ‘assignments’. The emphasis given on assignments was overwhelming, in India this kind of emphasis is given on exams only.  Practical nature of assignments combined with team work helps you to learn a lot and reduce pressure from exams. May be practical nature of MBA has a part to play in it. This should be part of ‘education system analysis’ post that I would be publishing soon. Here my point was to drive towards issue of plagiarism. In most of Indian colleges plagiarism is not as strictly monitored as it is in US because of that some Indian students take time to understand the implications. Many learn in first month and few people take few semesters to get used to this idea. This leads to a lot of differences while working in teams and lead to rework.

Second difference I found was in newspapers. As I love reading I would go to library and check newspapers, the famous ones that I had only heard about and seen only electronic versions. It was a surprise for me that I did not find much international news. Many a times I noticed 8 page newspaper with 5 pages of sports and 1/4 page of international news. But thankfully in today’s Internet world I get all the news I wanted.

Socializing was another big difference. Classmates usually know about each other, form friends circles before or after class. Here I noticed that very less communication takes place after class, most of socialization happen in bar over drinks. For a teetotaler like me it was hard to adjust to but other form of socializing takes place at sports events. Here my knowledge and appreciation of sports came in handy.

Then there are smaller differences. For example a small help such as sharing book for few hours is considered ‘nothing’ in India, but I learned here its a ‘favor’. Now this changes a lot of things for me, even when it was considered ‘nothing’, I would ask for help rarely but when a big word like ‘favor’ is put in front of it, this shuts down the path for me to ask for any help.

Another example would be the way people say NO. In India we are not used to here ‘no’ if we ask for help, the other person will say ‘no’ in different way, the British way. I remember once I asked a friend for something small and when I got a blunt ‘no’ it came as shock to me. On the other hand Indian ‘Yes’ is different too. I learned this while working with US clients. Indian ‘yes’ refers to ‘honest effort in completing task’ not a commitment to complete.

Similarly, I do not understand the difference between definition of ‘inconvenience’ in these two countries – In India coming 10 minutes late is not inconvenience while here it is, walking 200 feet extra has different meaning too, privacy level in two countries vary tremendously. In India we rarely address people (other than friends and in Infy) by their first name where here it is considered must.

There are a lot of small observation that I have experienced and learned a lot from it. Always trying to gather best of both worlds and that’s why I am here (one of the many reasons). No book or any amount of reading would give me such a rich experience. In this globalized economy this kind of understanding is must for success.

Hofstede quotes – “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster”. I agree with him completely, few times I had disagreement with a friend over small things because of these differences. But this is the way to learn and I am glad I am here.