Business

Fusion Chips, Anyone?

Photo from Nuts Online (http://www.nutsonline.com)DAVAO CITY (davaotoday.com) — Some may think it was bound to happen: banana chips that taste like durian. The Davao provinces, after all, are known for their bananas and their durian. Wouldn?t it be nice to fuse — fusion chips! — the flavors of the two fruits?

It gets better ? or worse, depending on your taste.

There are 11 other flavors aside from banana chips ?caf? with durian jam?: cheese, barbecue, glazed bits with sesame seeds, chocolate, strawberry, caf? espresso, twin berries, glazed banana fries with sesame seeds, sweet and spicy, chocolate strawberry half dip, and what the trade department calls the ?Davao trail mix? made of banana chips, dried mango, green peas, peanuts, and coconut flakes.

(more…)

Continue ReadingFusion Chips, Anyone?

carlo.jpg

Sixteen years ago, Carlo Perez, then an 11-year-old boy, got hooked on kites. Today, he has turned his passion into a booming business. And while more and more kids are turning to computer games for amusement, Carlo remains devoted to his kites. The day he lets go of the string, he says, is the day he lets go of his dreams.

By Jeffrey B. Javier
davaotoday.com

Photos by Barry Ohaylan

DAVAO CITY ? Carlito ?Carlo? Perez kicks up some dust as he brushes past the children toward the center of the oval field of the Davao City National High School (DCNHS).

“It is good,” he remarks as he looks up at the clear, blue, afternoon sky and feels the strong summer breeze. It is the first time Carlo’s Kite, the kite shop Carlo owns on V. Mapa Street, to hold a seminar workshop on kite-making. He is afraid that it will end with dark clouds hanging over us, literally. The weather has not been good for the past days. Even if the weather forecasts promised sunny days, the climate here in Davao has been unpredictable.

As Carlo fixes the contraption he carries, the children gather around him with wide eyes and eager curiosity. The workshop participants are children of Baranggay 10-A, the barangay (village) in which the shop is located. They have been waiting for Carlo to build his great kite. As Carlo finishes assembling the kite, he points out its different parts: the skeleton made of carbon fiber plastic, the leaf or the body made of taffeta, and the nylon string that, as if telling the kids, lets you hold on to your dreams.

Carlo, 27, considers every kite he makes a dream.

(more…)

Continue Reading

Hunger Still Highest in Mindanao ? SWS Survey

davaotoday.com photo by Erwin FallerMedco?s Dureza says the SWS survey on hunger highlights the urgency of the government?s anti-poverty program. But Kadamay counters that unless the government stopped prioritizing foreign investments and business over the welfare of ordinary Filipinos, unless it stopped displacing families from their lands and unless it increased wages, rolled back oil prices and junked the E-VAT, poverty and hunger will persist.

Related item

Rise in hunger incident blamed on denial of wage relief

DAVAO CITY (mindanaotoday.com) ? Mindanao, the most abundant region in the country, which accounts for a third of the country?s food products and which produces key crops for export, has registered the highest incidence of hunger in the Philippines, according to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, which also showed that hunger in the whole country registered a record increase, says 21 percent of respondent households in Mindanao experienced hunger, a slight decrease from the 21.7 percent registered in December 2005. The survey was done in the first quarter of this year and was released on Friday.

(more…)

Continue ReadingHunger Still Highest in Mindanao ? SWS Survey