Quilon celebrates 100 years of Indian cashew nut export

Rock Victoria, a Sri Lankan national, set up a cashew factory in Quilon (Kollam), South India in 1920 for processing of cashew nuts, with Swaminathan as a worker who later became a prominent cashew businessman. The first batch of cashews exported from India was from Kollam to USA in 1920 by Indian Nut Company, established…

Arconic refuses to release documents to Grenfell Tower public enquiry

Arconic, a $13bn US metals group has refused to release documents about the flammable cladding on Grenfell Tower to the public enquiry into the fire  and a US lawsuit brought by survivors and victims’ families, citing a French law limiting disclosures. The company formerly known as Alcoa, has invoked the 1968 “ French blocking Statute”…

GPs can now prescribe cannabis on the NHS

Two cannabis-based medicines have been recommended for use on the NHS for the first time. Epidyolex has been approved for two rare types of epilepsy, Lennox Gastaut and Dravet syndromes  while Sativex has been recommended for muscle spasms in multiple scierosis. The drug will not be used to treat chronic pain under new guidance from…

HIV rates go up five folds among older women

Several women aged between 45 and 56 being treated for HIV has increased five-fold in the UK over the past ten years – due to them not practising safe sex. According to a worldwide study of HIV and ageing in the female population , it is partly because women are living longer with the infection…

Cheesemonger’s odyssey

The Great universal connects agriculture and climate to trade and exchange to traditions and cultures to identity and politics. Ned Palmer’s A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles, is a canon of food-centric histories begun with Mark Kurlansky’s Cod (1997). How we feed ourselves can tell us as much about who we are and where…

World Vegan Day 2019

World Vegan day is on November 1st. The Vegan Society says half of all vegans are now aged between 15 and 34 and more adults have switched to a plant-based diet in the last three years. Veganism actually existed more than two hundred years ago in1874. Towards the end of World War II, Donald Watson…

International Stress Day

The first Wednesday in November each year is International stress awareness day. Stress can be a real killer both in the workplace and in our day to day lives. Stress is excessive pressure which is not good for us. Focus and appreciate what is happening today. One person may not sleep at night, so know…

Fitbit snapped up by Google for $2.1bn

Google snaps up Fitbit for $2.1bn ( £1.6bn) “ Google is an ideal partner to advance our mission. With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables, scale faster and make health even more accessible to everyone” James Park co-founder and CEO who founded Fitbit 12 years ago.…

Pumpkin soup for Halloween

PENNY’S PUMPKIN SOUP for HALLOWEEN TWENTY NINETEEN. The ingredients are oh so simple for this warming soup and it is up to you if you choose to include finely chopped onions or leave them completely out. What you do need is preferably a hand held electric soup wizzer, a good mashing implement or a liquidiser.…