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Banana snack industry goes stale

Not so long ago, the Central Java town of Majenang was famous for being the home of sale pisang, a unique snack made with bananas, but recently the market changed and the local snack industry faded to a fraction of its former success. Majenang, one of 23 districts in Cilacap regency in the far west of the province - bordering with Banjar and Ciamis regencies in West Java - has about 30 small factories producing the snack. Before the 1998 economic crisis, there were around 100 such producers, leading Cilacap administration to come up with the idea of making the snack the icon of Majenang. But with the crisis, the plan hit snags and many cottage industries were forced out of business. More than a decade later, the situation has yet to improve. "Before the crisis I could sell 2 or 3 tons of fried banana sweets to Jakarta. But things are difficult now," Yayat, a 61-year-old sale pisang business owner, told The Jakarta Post in Majenang. Today, Yayat produces only about 200 kilograms of sale pisang a month, and 99 percent of this is sold in Majenang. The snacks are sold in 250-gram packages, each costing around Rp 25,000 (US$2). Another snack producer, Juremi, said that before the crisis she could send 2 tons of sale pisang to Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya each month. "Now we only sell sale pisang for the local market," the 60-year-old said. Juremi said most of the snack producers were struggling to survive. "What's important is that business survives. If there are buyers in the city, that's enough. Sometimes we get an order from outside the city, but this is unreliable," she said. "Once, a distributor from outside the city wanted to place an order, but the price he offered was too low to cover our production costs. Rather than suffering losses, we preferred not to take it." Making sale pisang does not take long. Ripe bananas are cut into slices and dried in the sun. "If the sun is bright, the bananas will dry out in two days. But in a rainy season like this, it takes about four days," Juremi said. The dried bananas are then smeared with flour and deep-fried. After being drained, the banana chips are ready to be packaged and sold. The sale pisang business has supported many, including farmers and traders who sell raw bananas to cottage industries in Majenang, as well as banana snack makers such as Juremi and Yayat, and the vendors. Majenang district head, Heru Susedyo, said he was aware of the stagnant business situation. "Sale pisang was once so popular that the Cilacap administration planned to make it the icon of Majenang city, but the plan could not be realized because sales keep decreasing." http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/06/

Monday 1 December 2008

homemade banana pudding

with people, leads to loss of muscle mass, less health, with a higher percentage of body fat. Now before you start screaming at me... there are exceptions. Many vegetarians are extremely careful in their food consumption. They are also in tune with their body probably more than most people. This is a good thing. But understand, these individuals didn't just decide overnight not to eat meat. They not only researched the possibilities, they also read, listened to others and once they were sure becoming vegetarian was for them, they did it. Others, like my sister, became a vegetarian because she didn't like hot dogs. I'm not kidding. I don't care for hot dogs either, but I'm not a vegetarian. My sister is always ill. Always. From severe depression to sore throat, colds, allergies, yeast infections, lethargy. You name it, she has it. Her complexion, which was once stunning, is now sallow and pale. Her blond hair, which was once the color of honey is now a grey almost beige color. And she's only 27 years old. And her daughter? She convinced her that she doesn't like hot dogs either. Now, at age 5, her daughter has allergies, asthma and is anemic. She's also had pneumonia three times, and is allergic to everything known to mankind. Her skin looks as if she's never seen sunlight. The reason it's not healthy for SOME people to just stop eating meat, is because in order to obtain adequate protein, which we need for building and rebuilding muscles, a vegetarian often has to consume foods higher in calories to get the same amount of protein that someone who eats lean meats and fish can get in far fewer calories. Tofu, beans, high protein grains must be eaten in large quantities to get adequate protein. In addition, proteins from plant sources are incomplete proteins. This means they need a second form of plant protein to compliment each other. Yep, more calories. Protein from animals are complete proteins that are easier to digest and can be used by the body right away. But again, this does not mean that vegetarians aren't
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