GMO As A Virus

On Monday, Kenya's newly elected president lifted the ban on all GMOs. That means it's now legal to grow or import GMO seeds and food into the country. Quite a number of people have reached out asking for my feedback.

The irony of it is that I have been speaking out about the politics of food for more than 20 years. I have utilized every possible platform I could access.

I have been pushing organic and heirloom seeds as the only viable option for a planet that is on it's deathbed.

I have kept relatively mum on the issue as there are many others who are more qualified to offer their opinions too. I have had the opportunity to make mine. To what degree I have succeeded in an open question. But I have to appreciate the fact that in my lifetime, I have seen the issue of food move from obscurity to the center of national discussion.

Beyond just talking, I have been writing about food as intelleIctual propaganda, meaning that I take simple ideas about food and situate them in centers of power where they haven't typically featured. In so doing, food issues gain more prominence. I am acutely aware of the negative connotations that the word propaganda bears in the minds of many, but the etymology of the word propaganda simply means to spread or make known.

When I am not writing, reading or speaking about food matters, I am practicing farming and cultural regeneration with a small team of progressives across various continets in what I call the coalition of the disgruntled and restless.. The team is a whole story for another day. In my language, there is a popular saying that says “wa maì nì wa maì na wangù nì wangù". That translated means the day of fetching water is only for water and the day for “firewood” is for firewood. More on the firewood later, today's discussion is on “water".

That means that I don't speak or write from a theoretical perspective. I haven't made a dime from my farming endeavors but profit has never been my motive. My farming is for practical research and survival. Thanks to the support of friends that value and share my ideas, we have come a long way.

My latest project is in my village where I am setting up a model farm that I am calling the Shrine Farm. Fella built his shrine and we are better because of it. I am building the farm that will awaken our consciousness through food.

Here is a group of women I am supporting learn the art of making traditional baskets that is disappearing. These baskets were quite common in my young days, I watched my grandmother almost magically turn the inner bark of a shrub popularly known as Mìgio, a favorite goat food, into fibre after first carefully chewing that thin sliver of bark that looked like a petticoat. She would then roll in on her thigh, periodically spitting on it to keep down the friction. She would then proceed to make the most beautiful basket with the fibre. Let clearly state that all this events took place without funfare. There were no big rituals around the whole process because, looking back, life itself was a ritual to my grandmother. So every day was marked by ritually engaging in the business of life.

Then a virus came upon the next generation and they lost the rhythm of the ritual of life. In fact the virus caused a sort of cultural rheumatism where my people became averse to the ritual of life. That generation started worshiping synthetic rituals of greed and efficiency.

The baskets that were living repository of the microbiome of each generation started disappearing as the community opted for cheaper baskets from who knows where.

Luckily, I am in possession of one of those baskets from my village that is over 60 years old as a testament to the power of the ritual of life.

Just like the virus of efficiency and convenience killed a whole ritual of life, GMO will contaminate the very body we possess and turn the ecology of the body into a biological ghetto: a creation of a ritual desert at the behest of corporate greed. Such a body will be useful for the service of corporate profits.

Funny enough, while the topic of GMO was raging amongst Kenyans everywhere, the Icelandic nation TV featured my interview talking about food literacy.

If anyone wore a mask during Covid or even got vaccinated against Covid, you may want to consider doing the same against GMO. The consequences of the GMO is far worse everything being equal. I do the work I do because I treat anything that damages our health as a virus. You too may want to consider making a similar move.

Check the interview below

https://www.ruv.is/sjonvarp/spila/kastljos/32276/9jpre8

(last 6 minutes)

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.