Mr. Lincoln Rose

 

Why, How and What Not

 Why is is that Yum Cha is never served like on a sushi train, with diners sitting around a carousel and picking up the moving  tapa sized plates?

Why are not more different culinary dishes served in small snack sizes late at night to accompany laughter, the party mood and small shots of alcohol after midnight?

Why are not more non Japanese restaurants using the useful Bento boxes to showcase samples of their food?

Why are serves of food still sticking to rather large bowls or plates - and diners wanting small serves are not catered for?

Why does the asking price for simple street food dramatically rise in price with the addition of a piece of seafood?

Why do we appreciate knowing the source and origin of ingredients used in our restaurant serves?

Do we welcome complimentary serves of appetisers like Korean Banchan - or hot piping soups and free fruit platters at the start and end of Cantonese banquets?

Must hot curries be accompanied by cooling yoghurts or pickled vegetable slices?

Must fries accompany battered or deep fried seafood?

Is sitting around a simmering hot pot or grill adding to the sharing of eaten food?

Why are dumplings found across Russia, Austria, Poland, Italy, China, Korea, Mongolia and south-east Asia?

Why do Thais traditionally use forks and spoons instead of chopsticks?

The Middle East, Mexico, Ethopia, Indian subcontinent and south east Asia encourage the use of hands to help down food at meals.

Why are Italian pasta hardly used in Chinese cooking - and Chinese noodles not used in Mediterranean cooking?

Why are diners forced to agree to 90 minute sessions of meals, hurried up especially in crowded suburban and city locations?

Why is the cooking fire and heat preserved endlessly through so many years in several traditional restaurants?

Why do most restaurant operators not own their venues?

Most eating places in Australia no longer open for the whole day.

Why is it mostly so difficult to find reasonably good eats near transport hubs?

#yongkevthoughts

Comparing Between Two Nations

 

What a contrast, or more of the same?

Nation I left behind: Malaysia with a population of around 33 million, turns 65 on 31 August 2022, given independence by Britain that long ago.

1.  Political leadership encouraging
looking inwards.
2.   Society becoming more divisive over plural and religious diversity.
3.    Getting less competitive than its neighbours.
4.     Falling ranking significantly in corruption management and occurence, according to Transparency International.
5.     Rewriting and recognising history according to the view of the powers that are.
6.     De-emphasising the language of her past colonisers.
7. A federation that is showing cracks on its structure, although still with strong central control based on a sort of Westminster system.
8.   Rampant misuse of public monies, third party commissions from projects and socio-political enrichment of a few kleptocratic individuals.
9.    Increased empowerment of royalty in the governance, economic and cultural landscape.
10.  Reduced social cohesion, due to long term strong discrimination practices in official government policies and mainstream media manipulation.
11.  Unceasing exploitation of her natural resources, high need for foreign investment levels and belittling of its Indigenous population.
12.   Joyous diversity and heritage in culinary offerings.
13.   One of the highest vehicle accident rates on her public roads and highways.
14.   Increasing commercialisation of personal health care.
15.   Aging society risks are not that high, due to larger family sizes in her majority population.
16.   Nothing like understanding the Malaysian, of whatever racial background, on the street like in a coffee shop.
17.   Heavily reliant on migrant labour, while at least 2 million of its citizens have emigrated and settled overseas in past 10 years. Largest group of immigrants are from Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Phillippines.
18.   Many of her students are studying in universities overseas.
19.    Equatorial climate assures almost the same timing of sunrise and sunset, with only monsoon and dry seasons.
20.   Strategic location in terms of geopolitics, shipping and air flight routes, natural resources and possible manipulation by powerful nations.

Nation I embraced: Australia marked its 234 years since it was colonised and 122 years as a Federation in 2022. Population of around 26 million in its Great Southern Land.

1. Political leadership unduly follows the Government of the USA and the political landscape is divided strongly on labels and party thinking.
2.   Society getting more divisive due to less equality in incomes, social interaction, less shared cultural values, mainstream media
manipulation, political structures and more emphasis on disagreement than on common values.
3.   Getting less competitive than its OECD nations.
4.   Greater incidence of public and commercial rorts, corruption and misuse of public monies, especially relating to infrastructure projects, bringing down Australia's Transparency International ranking to below the top ten in the world.
5.  Greater recognition and acknowledgent of the history of the peoples and Country before 1788.
6.  Aussie speak continues to evolve and grow, despite the presence of minorities who came from around 200 nations and a growing cohort who cannot speak
English well.
7.  The Federation is relatively still strong, although the wider independent powers of the separate States were highlighted during Covid management in 2020 and 2021.   The shrinked actions, role and responsibilities of the Federal Government in  Canberra also came to the fore.
8.    Increasing divide between consumers, workers and the public on one hand and the well funded, strongly networked with strong political connections on the other.
9.     The love affair with British royalty continues, the Republican movement gets some attention every few years and Australia participates in the annual landmark Eurovision singing contest.
10.    High level of political correctness demands exist in official government policies, but there can be a different reality at ground level.
11.    Continued exploitation of its natural resources with little value add, a wider extent of foreign ownership and increasing awakening for more recognition of its Indigenous First Nations.
12.   Joyous diversity and heritage in culinary offerings.
13.   Vehicle and driver safety has dropped with more aggressive behaviour on the roads, laden with more and larger vehicles, less civility and more traffic in capital city areas.
14.   Increasing commercialisation of personal health care, although the Medicare public health system is still better than in the UK or USA, though behind Canada's.
15.   An aging society, with birth rates higher amongst immigrant demographics.  Refer to Point 17.
16.    Nothing like understanding the Aussie on the street like in a footy or cricket game, a cafe, a private exclusive club or a RSL joint.
17.    Heavily reliant on migrant labour for many services - and also on permanent migration to ensure economic growth. The current biggest contributors to immigration are Brits, New Zealanders and Indians.
18.    Many young people still make the trek overseas for work, fun and adventure, even if for a short while.
19.   A unique range of climate zones from monsoonal to temperate, with daylight savings practised in the more populous states and a transposition of the British seasons over a rather different climate pattern in Australia.
20.   Location of the Antipodes, which should be safely tucked away with clean environments, umcontaminated produce and far away from the troubles of the rest of the world.

#yongkevthoughts

Interdependencies!

 

When I had an unexpected electrical supply cut:

I did not have wifi to phone the related electricity wholesale supplier for help.

It was single digit temperatures outside during a winter night, so I learnt to appreciate when I could easily keep warm inside by the flick of a switch.

I could not boil kettle water to make a hot drink for comfort - nor cook on the stove top.

I had to depend on battery powered devices to shine a light in the dark.

I had to just read a good book beside a solar garden light, as my electronic interface devices had run out of power - and there was no electricity to recharge the power banks.

I had to take a cold shower and could not do the laundry.

I could not open automatically operated doors, windows or gates.

What do they always say, "Never put all your eggs in one place".

You can still rely on your separate and independent sources of power, away from the commercial grid, if you have them.  As the population grows, as supply chains get disrupted, as the number of suppliers are fewer and more events outside our influence and control arise,  it is more important than ever to update our personal and collective risks.

Do we have a back up choice if petrol prices hit the roof at the bowser?  EVs still require us to use electrical power, the critical question is from.which source do we generate the electric power for such vehicles.

Gas may cause breathing health issues indoors if not used properly, but can be a back up to electricity for hot water and cooking requirements. 

Looking further beyond to diversify your business or personal needs, do you depend on only a single provider for most of your needs? Remember several retail providers, whether in insurance, tourism, telecommunications, food supply, construction or utilities, can be owned by the same parent company - and if the latter collapses, we can find ourselves with the carpet being pulled under.

Large businesses around the world tend to be vertically integrated, owning different parts of the chain of sourcing, production, logistics and sales - so if your business is dependent on such scenarios, do prepare for back ups, not just in supply, transport and parts, but also in the higher risks of being pressured in pricing dynamics.

Review your dependencies, whether in over relying on a small range of markets, customers, suppliers, revenue options, sales channels or only a few large players that can make or break your choices.

#yongkevthoughts

Calling for a Rethink

 

Since Covid management began, with all its downstream implications for labour availability, logistics supply and customer service, everyone has come across disruptions in accessibility.

The rise of contactless transactions has encouraged scenarios where and when we receive no or little explanations for problems and poor service - and the frequent feeling that we just have to take it on the chin.

In Australia, the  occurence of confronting climate disasters has coincided with the downside of Covid management since 2020.  As a nation, we over depend on manufactured stuff mostly from overseas.
Although we have sufficient food production security, the society has only a few weeks of fuel supplies.  Over reliance on visitor and migrant labour for harvests also meant a  crisis when borders were shut down for months on end to minimise the spread of the Covid in 2020 and 2021 - but in 2022 most Covid infections spread like wildfire within domestic confines.

Lettuce is now down to one dollar from 12 dollars each in my local fresh produce markets, while bananas have risen in price per kilo.  The swings in supply and pricing seem to jump from one basic product to another.  They just amplify the vulnerabilities already existing in the way basic necessities are produced, acquired and brought to the ultimate consumer - and some of the causes and effects have nothing to do with Covid.

Many of the things we utilise and take for granted are distributed and controlled by duopolies - the serious lack of competition in business will undermine the quality and standard of life and economy for Australia in the years to come.

We also have too few big players in the banking, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, food retail, insurance, power utility, transport, infrastructure, media and airline sectors.  That virtually covers many requirements in our daily lives.

These really big players are becoming too big to fail and more of society's taxpayer monies are being fed to them.  The extent of choice for consumers continue to narrow. 

Federal government in Canberra has significantly outsourced services to commercial providers, consulting groups and grant recipients in aged care, education, national strategic processes and vital areas previously handled by a supposedly more benign hand of elected governance.

How the best interests of Australian individuals, communities and society are best handled by profit seeking market players give rise to serious questions.

So when society and her denizens continue to be fed and addicted to obvious negatives, it gets even harder to break the cause and effect cycle. Reflect on the push for opiods in the intricate web experienced by the USA.   Think of the continuing promotion of excess consumption of sugar, gambling, wifi and other dependencies.

The continuing Covid years on the other hand have awakened a level of personal and group consciousness as to how our society, economy and personal reflection can be better.

#yongkevthoughts