Humanitarian aid water, brought to you by Danon

Humanitarian aid, brought to you by Danon
Originally uploaded by tmonkey.

The thought that entered my mind when I saw this was quite evil actually, even though the whole relief effort no doubt has an undeniably altruistic component. I couldn't help but imagine the heads of Coca-Cola and Nestle and Proctor and Gamble sitting in their air-conditioned boardrooms, rubbing their soft, moisturized hands together when they realize what an enormous marketing opportunity they have on their hands, to introduce their brands into untapped markets of millions (especially after reading about the Long Tail, micropayments, and C.K. Prahalad's new book).

I suppose, after all is said and done, water is water, except when the only thing you have to drink is sewage. As long as they don't airlift potato chips and Coke to the poor starving people who have developed such vibrant and resourceful cuisines to sustain themselves. Cuisine, in this respect, is like an ancient language, spoken by fewer and fewer people, and increasingly vulnerable to the tides and the power of the global monoculture.