Awekening to the pain of Caffeine

It was on a Sunday and you might as well call it the day of false prophecy.

  I had spent the previous night at my late aunt Emily's house. For those who knew my aunt, they most likely know her for her exemplary work as a coffee farmer. She was a recipient of all types of awards. That made her extremely proud and she patiently give any guest a tour of her small farm. My aunt is no more and the same can be said of the glory of an industry she was so proud of. I was sure to take three photos of some the coffee tree she planted in the mid seventies.  This year the same coffee trees earned one of her son $130 a year from the back breaking work. The only reprieve is that the cost of chemicals fertilizers and herbicides have already been deducted.  

Let us just look at the chemicals aspect of my cousi's "business". Since labour is quite expensive, he opts to go the cheaper way and use  Round Up at the cost of $3 every time he sprays. The person spraying churches $5 a day. The recommended number times to control weeds is 8 timee. That comes to $64 dollars a year.  

The next stage is the application of fertiliser to the coffee trees. My cousin uses $70 on this leg of the long journey .

Coffee has to be pruned twice a year at  a cost of $60 each time. That gives a cost of $120 dollars a year. 

At this stage all that is left is to picking the " beans of Burden". My cousin reports that he spends about $100 on the labour of picking the beans. 

Doing the math for you is almost an abuse of your intelligence.  Instead, allow me to interject with the story of a  phone charger to put things into context.

After leaving my cousin's small coffee farm we realised that there was no power in the house.  Our infinite wisdom guided us to the nearby shopping centre to buy a car charger. You can see a photo of it too. You will be forgiven for wondering what a phone charger has to do with coffee farming.

The honest truth is the this post is about the phone and not coffee farming.  The story of coffee only gives context to story of the charger. 

The charger on the photo costs me $2.00. The charger is made in China, transported here and retails for the above price.

If the Chinese can produce chargers for Kenyans at that cost while we farm at a hefty loss and no government subsidies.  You are kidding yourself if you think that with such a gap you can avoid one of three things: Revolution, Death or Dictatorship. 

There is something you can afford for good measure. Please skip praying for the coffee the next time you drink a cup of coffee that contains Kenyan or African beans. If you do, please send my cousin or any coffee farmer $ 1 for every cup you drink. That would make the false prophecy real and may even delay Death,Revolution or  Dictatorship!

Ours is a false prophecy!

Chef Kabui

The Hex Kitchen is a collaboration between Chef Kabui and the Hex community in a bid to promote food literacy, mindful eating and wealth creation. There is a natural connection between those who are fighting against fiat currency and those engaged in the struggle against fiat food. The two social ills of fiat currency and fiat food are at the heart of the tyrannic global world system we are now living in. That tyranny is directly connected to the climate crisis we face and there is no way we can solve one part of the problem without being mindful of the whole system, For a start, the Hex Kitchen is keen on addressing the issues of real money and real food as a basis on regaining our sovereign power. It is no accident that the struggle for food justice would find allies in cryptography and more specifically cryptocurrency. It is not a usual collaboration but yet it is one that makes sense on many levels. Chef Kabui has been studying and applying the power of food literacy, mindful eating and food justice in the struggle against oppression in general and specifically to people of African descent.

Chef Kabui has studied the disciplines of politics, anthropology and culinary arts and has designed a cuisine or rather an approach to food that is informed by the above experience and the indigenous knowledge that he gained from his Kenyan family’s history as sustainable farmers for generations. The combined experience and education resulted in the creation of a cuisine called Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine. It is a combination of the most sustainable practices in the growing, preparation of food with the goal of causing the least damage to the environment and maximizing the health benefits of the food. Those two conditions are necessary for a mindful community that ensures that justice thrives.

Chef Kabui has been pushing organic food and healthy eating based on his research and his own experience. The idea of healthy food and justice is not something that chef Kabui got into but was born in it. His family operated a farm and his father ran a restaurant in the capital city of Nairobi. Kabui grew up in the village with his mother where they grew almost all the food they consumed. It was at his family farm that he Kabui developed a love for fresh food and the art of consuming food following the natural cycles of seasons.

The collaboration aims to share the skills for healthy food to the Hex community and beyond. No community can survive without food and the Hex community is no different. The Hex Kitchen is another assembly point for the community to be nourished both physically and socially. While wealth is private, food is social and having a kitchen for the community to assemble is a great option for a community that is causing ripples across the world.

What to Expect

The Kitchen will have virtual classes, content on Youtube and other social media presence for a start. The goal is that the Kitchen will have a physical place that will have a kitchen in a farm that will grown food and have space that guest can visit. The farm will have a demonstration farm for the vegetables, fruits and herbs,

For the schedule of upcoming classes please visit our events section and find a class that is fit for your schedule.