Tag: fight

Italian restaurants help fight hunger in the world. Help them – Italian Cuisine

The 2019 edition of restaurants against hunger, the organization's Action Against Hunger initiative, which aims to raise funds to combat child malnutrition, officially kicks off

Even the restaurants and pizzerias of Italy take to the field to help fight the food crisis which still today harshly affects millions and millions of people around the world. The humanitarian organization Action against Hunger has decided to rekindle the spotlight on this still dramatically concrete and current emergency, presenting the fifth edition of Restaurants against Hunger: a wonderful initiative that actively involves fundraising in some of the most virtuous brands in our country; and their customers, that until December 31st they will have the opportunity to support the project not only with small private donations, but also by choosing from the menu a series of special solidarity dishes.

Hunger, an extremely dangerous enemy

In 2018, the problem of the food crisis at international level concerned the appalling figure of 113 million people. Of these, 74 million still live today in 21 nations plagued by war: especially in Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Afghanistan, where the need for food resources remains incredibly urgent. Yes, because the violence it is in effect the main cause of global problems linked to hunger: mass displacements due to conflicts lead to crop losses, destruction of markets, roads and water infrastructure; not to mention that at the same time, in those realities already shaken by the war, the control of food, productive and natural resources can in turn become a source of further clashes.

The numbers of Restaurants against Hunger

The Action against Hunger initiative involves not only Italy, but also Spain and the United Kingdom, where to date the greatest successes have been recorded, and again France, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Guatemala. As for the national territory, over 600 restaurants have joined these five editions over the years, for a total of around 350 thousand euros collected and 12 thousand children who were able to benefit from the life-saving treatments that the project intends to finance. Important milestones that push the organization – 40 years after its foundation – to want to do even more, in an increasingly incisive way, as you recall Simone Garroni, director general of Action against Hunger Italy: "We are excited that in all of our country so many great restaurants and chefs are mobilizing for a common goal. Together we can really contribute to putting an end to the unacceptable scourge of child malnutrition ".

The 2019 edition

I am currently 170 the locals who throughout Italy have decided to join the initiative, which will continue until the end of the year. There are basically two ways to participate in the fundraising campaign: restaurants can decide to offer special customers solidarity dishes or menus, ordering which it will be possible to allocate 2 euros per Action against Hunger; alternatively the customer can decide to request the meal at the end of the meal chocolate of happiness created ad hoc by the chocolate maker The Pearl of Turin, always against a donation of 2 euros. The complete list of activities participating in the project is available on the official portal of Restaurants against Hunger. Among these, for example, is the Terrazza Triennale – Osteria con Vista in Milan, where the chef Stefano Cerveni has transformed its Spaghetti di Gragnano, San Marzano tomato … with a view on the solidarity dish in favor of the initiative. But also the prestigious Antica Osteria Cera, two Michelin stars: here, in that of Lughetto di Campagna Lupia, in the province of Venice, the chef Lionello Cera has decided to tie the fundraiser to its famous plate of raw colors of the sea. To combine haute cuisine, excellent raw materials and a tasty pinch of solidarity.

How to fight sweat – Salt & Pepper – Italian Cuisine

There are about 3 million. We talk about the sweat glands scattered on the skin surface of our body, which reach maximum concentration on the soles of the feet, the palms of the hands and the armpits. They perform a very important, fundamental function: they lower body temperature. When we breathe, the water contained in the sweat evaporates and keeps our temperature at acceptable levels, even during periods of great heat.

However, sweat does not only contain water, but also sodium and potassium ions, cholesterol, urea and lactic acids. There are many anti-heat dishes, simple recipes rich in liquids and nutrients that help us replenish. And then there are the foods to avoid, especially to sleep well even when the temperatures are soaring.

Returning to sweat: not everyone sweat the same way, with the same intensity. It is a personal physiological question, also determined by anxiety, stress or one bad diet.
Who suffers from excessive sweating it loses so many liquids, so it must restore water and mineral salts.

The most common mistake is to gulp down cold drinks. The pleasure is immediate, but illusory. Frozen water and iced drinks lower the internal temperature of our body too abruptly, which rebels … sweating even more. It's like filling a sink with the drain open, water is inevitably lost. We continue to sweat and get thirsty: it is the torture of Tantalus.

What to do then? Drink water a room temperature or at most fresh, little at a time and often, so that the kidneys can hold it, filter it and then distribute it to our body. It would be even better to eat often fruit and vegetables which, in addition to the water supply, supply us with vitamins and mineral salts lost during transpiration.

What others mistakes to avoid? If we eat foods that are too spicy, spicy or salty, our body requires more water to counterbalance the excessive flavors we have eaten.
When we digest fried, red meats, too elaborate dishes, fat and alcohol, our body temperature rises and sweating rears up.

Anyone suffering from excessive sweating should also avoid eating garlic and onion. The odors of the two vegetables are spread by perspiration with unpleasant effects.

So how should we feed ourselves? It is easy to say: drink little and often, eat lots of fruit and vegetables (except the "scented" one), fish or white meats, whole grains and … wait for milder temperatures.

Mauro Cominelli
28 July 2015
updated to July 2019
from Aurora Quinto

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Foods that help us fight mosquitoes – Italian Cuisine

Like every year, as soon as time makes us want to enjoy nature and the open air, they return inexorably mosquitoes to ruin our party. And like every year we rush to find effective but natural remedies. There are hundreds of tips on the internet, some quite unlikely. To be sure of using remedies that have a scientific basis it is worthwhile to go to the CNR website, where some researchers have collected them on Infozarmi.it.

We can use it as a repellent vinegar, lemon or one onion cut in half sprinkled with cloves, placed in large-based containers, or a decoction of mint and basil to be sprayed on the body.

Or you can try to supplement our normal diet with ingredients that by changing the smell of our sweat make us less appealing to evil insects.

THE'garlic, first, it contains a substance (the alumina) that gives our body an odor that makes the mosquitoes unable to recognize us. But it should be eaten raw, therefore it is useless to use it in preparations in which at the end the segments are thrown away. The advice is to eat often tomato bruschette well rubbed with garlic, and we will thus obtain two results, satisfy the palate and avoid annoying bites.

The peperoncino, as garlic alters our odor but through other substances. It contains both B vitamins and vitamin C. These mosquito repellents are contained in abundance and together in this food but we also find them in citrus fruits (vitamin C) and in yeast (vitamins B).

Finally, in summer, it is advisable to season the food as much as possible with such spices basil, mint, thyme, lavender, nutmeg.
These foods spread repellent scents for insects and thus help in the perennial struggle without having to resort to chemicals that, although effective against mosquitoes, are harmful both to us and to other animals.

Cristina Papi
12 May 2014