International Food Receipes

Alisha Dhamani asked:


To begin with, cooking is the act of preparing food for eating by the application of heat. It encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to alter the flavor or digestibility of food.

It is the general preparation process of selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result. Factors affecting the final outcome include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the individual doing the actual cooking.

The diversity of cooking worldwide is a reflection of the myriad nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural, economic, cultural, social and religious considerations that impact upon it.

Asian food has an incredible range of flavors and styles. Asian food has become familiar in the Western world, with Asian restaurants on virtually every corner. Now it’s easier than ever to bring that Asian flavor into your own kitchen, even if it’s 9000 miles away from China.

Also, the Mediterranean is a world unto its own when it comes to cuisine. From the oils, sauces and pastas of the Italians to the olives and complicated masterpieces of the Greeks to the exotic grains and intense flavors of the Moroccans, this region of the world covers a lot of ground. No pun intended. So let’s begin our whirlwind tour of the tastes of the Mediterranean.

On the other hand, no ethnic cuisine has penetrated American culture like Mexican food has.

From fast food joints to truly authentic Mexican restaurants, it’s everywhere. But few stop to think how Mexican cuisine originated from the blending of two cultures. During the Spanish conquests in the Americas, typical European food (rice, olive oil, beef and garlic) combined with native Aztec ingredients and became today’s Mexican cuisine that we all know and love.

However, Suddenly food has become too expensive. The shadow of “a new hunger” that has made food too expensive for millions is the result of a sudden and dramatic surge in food prices around the world.

Rising prices for the world’s crucial cereal crops and growing fears of scarcity are careening through international markets, creating turmoil.

Rice is a staple food for half the world’s population. But the sudden surge in prices and restrictions on exports come at a time when stockpiles of rice are at their lowest level in decades.

Egypt decided to suspend rice exports for six months to meet domestic demand and to try to limit price increases.

Egypt’s move was matched by Vietnam, the world’s second largest rice exporter after Thailand, which cut exports by 25 percent and ordered officials not to sign any more export contracts this year.

In the Philippines, officials are raiding warehouses in Manila looking for unscrupulous traders hoarding rice, while in South Korea, panicked housewives recently stripped grocery-store shelves of food when the cost of ramen, an instant noodle made from wheat, suddenly rose.

India and Cambodia also rushed to curb their exports in order to have enough supplies to feed their own people.

At the moment, world rice inventories are said to stand at a mere 72 million metric tonnes about 17 percent of what the world consumes annually.

Additionally, with crude oil soaring above US$100 a barrel, higher fuel prices have driven up the cost of production and increased transportation costs for all foods.

All together, millions of people in China and India have suddenly become relatively wealthy and are changing their eating habits, consuming more meat and chicken, which places a huge demand on cereal stocks.

In China, per-capita meat consumption has increased 150% since the 1980s. But producing more meat requires more feed to raise more animals.

Also influencing the food crisis is the move in North America and Europe to biofuel in an effort to ease global warming and reduce reliance on imported energy.

Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. It is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels.

Agricultural products specifically grown for use as biofuels include corn and soybeans, primarily in the United States, as well as flaxseed and rapeseed, primarily in Europe. Waste from industry, agriculture, forestry, and households can also be used to produce bioenergy; examples include straw, lumber, manure, sewage, garbage and food leftovers.

Most biofuel is burned to release its stored chemical energy. The largest advantage of biofuel in comparison to most other fuel types is that the energy within the biomass can be stored for an indefinite time-period and without any danger.

A surge in demand for biofuel has resulted in a sharp decline in agricultural land planted for food crops. About 16% of U.S. agricultural land formerly planted with soybeans and wheat is now growing corn for biofuel.

Experts predict world food markets will be locked into an inflationary spiral for at least four years, but some say the crisis could linger for a decade or more.

Rachel Yoshida asked:


What can be done when a country that has possession of one of the most important natural resources in the world are destroying that resource to better their country? This is exactly what is occurring in Brazil and in other countries that have valuable rain forests. These rainforest are essential to the well being of our planet and they are being destroyed at an alarming rate for things like more farmland.

Brazil is clearing acres and acres of rain forests everyday to make room for more crops. They say that this is a necessary step to keep up with the demand for food sources in their country and in others. Brazil already produces more soy bean that any where else and they say it is not enough. They are setting fires to the beautiful rain forests to clear the land. The fires themselves are bad for our environment, but even worse for the overall health of the planet.

When a country owns the lands that they are destroying for the supposed better good of their country, what if anything can other countries do to stop them? China is building new coal plants every week that sends tons and tons of pollution into the air to keep up with their energy needs. Does anyone have the right to tell them that their country must not pollute when other countries are trying to clean up their act?

It is very understandable that Brazil needs more farmland and that China needs more energy sources in order for their people to have better lives, but is it right when it is at the expense of the rest of the world? These are some serious questions that the world politicians must begin to ask and find solutions to or we will all eventually suffer the consequences when our planet is not longer fit to inhabit. We must help find solutions for countries like Brazil and China who believe they have no choice but to do what they are doing. It might not really be our responsibility, but if we want to protect our planet it has to become the responsibility of someone.

We already know that there are no easy solutions to be found and in the end we all are going to have to make whatever sacrifices that are necessary to stop destroying our planet. This includes protecting our rain forests, keeping our air and water clean, preserving our wildlife, and making sure that we leave a fit place for our children and grandchildren to live. If we do not begin to make the changes now and take this huge problem seriously, it might be too late in another twenty years or even less to make a difference at all.

Zeeshan Khan asked:


Lately I have been researching over the Internet reading different books and magazine issues. I smelled a sudden change, more precisely a U turn of an opinion or I would rather say “The Verdict”. Forgive me for being Melodramatic. It all started with the development of Biomass to Biofeul and it added to my knowledge that What is “The Holy Grail”, “The Future of Energy”, “No need to fight a war over it”, “Fueling the future”,“The Green Fuel”, “The Eco-Friendly Fuel”

Recent Findings of Dr. Paul Kortzen the Nobel winner and colleagues have calculated that some of the commonly used biofuels releases twice the amount of No2 green house gas emission as previously estimated. Even a critical reception of the Paul Kortzen’s working considered “probably wrong” by Donner.

“What we are saying is that growing biofuels is probably of no benefit and in fact is actually making the climate issue worse”

- Keith Smith

Biofuel on its commercial triumph telling success stories, still won’t be able to fulfill the need of not more than 20% of the vehicles of United States even if they consume full corn and soybean yields of their country to produce biofuel. Keeping in mind the direct emissions adding more to green house gas emission. Two other major blows what our world receives while biofooling ourselves.

1. Inflation in the FOOD prices

2. Destruction of Forest and Peat lands.

Soaring prices of Corn resulting in riots in Mexico City to record high price of flour in Pakistan, Punjab which was once known as Grain Pocket of the world. Conversion of Rain Forest in to fields to plant soybean and corn to produce Alternative Fuels is resulting in the sudden climate change disturbing the ECO system.

According to staff scientist William Laurence at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, “American taxpayers are spending $11 billion a year to subsidize corn producers—and this is having some surprising global consequences”

The Fuel Ethanol Distilleries in production in United States are consuming 53.29 million tons of Corn which capacitate these distilleries to produce 5,455 million Gallons of Ethanol fuel the Data is of Dec 2006, a report compiled by Earth Policy institute.

The under construction Distilleries to produce Ethanol in the same report shows anticipated production of 5,628 Million Gallons consuming 51.05 million tons of corn. In addition some of the distilleries are under Expansion mode. Under the data compiled as of Dec 2006 The Projection in this report shows that by 2008, in which we are right now the share of Corn harvest for Ethanol fuel would be around 48.5 percent which in 2000 was 6 percent and in 2006 was 20 percent. It seems to me that by 2010 it Corn consumption for Ethanol would reach 160 million tons or may be more.The Subsidies provided by the US Govt is attracting the US Farmer to grow more and more Corn just to produce Ethanol. This Policy has largely effected the production of Soy which has fallen by more than 15 percent and it’s adding more to the global price hike. Now the situation gets more worsen when the Second largest producer of soy Brazil is pushing towards more and more production resulting in conversion of Amazon in to soy fields and even converting cattle ranches in to soy farm which facilitate soaring beef prices.

Some head banging, nail biting and toe crushing figures.

· 365 days a person could be fed on the corn needed to ethanol fueled SUV. TIME Magazine April 08

· $ 100 billion Estimated size of 2010 biofuel Market. TIME Magazine April 08

· 300000 Hectors of Brazilian rain forest in the last six months of 2007. TIME Magazine April 08

Let’s put this thing to an end.(My Way or the High Way)

The Sugar Cravings has in the US are setting new records every year. According to National Diabetes Statistics Prevalence of Diagnosed and Undiagnosed Diabetes among People Aged 20 Years or Older, United States, 2007 is gone 23.5 million adults. What Better one can expect when an Average American Consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar per week. This does not account in a healthy Diet at all in fact it ruins the immune system of the body “An open invitation to almost every Disease”

Well this calls for a National health Emergency. National Policies should be made to cut down the sugar consumption at every level. If this happens what is going to happen to the sugar suppliers and sugar cane producers wait a second why we need to stand in a loose and loose situation when we have such a clear winner.

“Sugar Based Ethanol” with a Healthier American Nation.

Daniel Yergin asked:


When it comes to energy, Brazil is on its way to becoming a “global brand.” Although the United States recently outpaced Brazil in ethanol production, Brazil is by far the leader in sugar-based ethanol. Its exports are growing, and it could become a major energy supplier to the world. But what Brazil is particularly known for is its grand conversion-moving almost 40 percent of its automotive fuel from gasoline to ethanol.

Ethanol in Brazil is used in two ways: either blended, in a mix of 75 percent gasoline and 25 percent ethanol, or as pure ethanol pumped directly into a car’s fuel tank. On any given day, motorists across Brazil can stand in front of a pump and decide, based on price, whether they want to put ethanol or gasoline into their “flex fuel” car engine or whether they want to blend them.

Brazil has now achieved energy self-sufficiency. Ethanol is a part of the explanation, but it would be an error to think that it is the only one. There has been great success from drilling in Brazil’s offshore waters, and domestic oil output has increased by 40 percent since 2000-from 1.2 million barrels per day (mbd) to 1.7 mbd in 2006. This 500,000 barrel per day increase compares to 240,000 barrels per day of ethanol consumption.

How did ethanol achieve its prominent role in Brazil? It has been made possible by a series of factors: strong government support, especially after the 1973 oil shock; continual adoption of new technologies over more than a quarter century; and the cheapest production costs in the world.

The Brazilian government made a strong commitment to ethanol in the mid-1970s, in response to the first oil crisis. At that time, Brazil was importing more than 80 percent of its oil. The first oil shock had a highly detrimental effect on Brazil’s economy, influencing a significant drop in the country’s GDP growth, from almost 14 percent in 1973 to five percent in 1975. A program to stimulate domestic production of ethanol as a transport fuel was embraced as the way to reduce the country’s exposure to the world oil market.

This Brazilian effort began in 1975. It was championed as the Pro-Alcohol Program, since ethanol is known as alcohol in Brazil. The program consisted of both public and heavily subsidized private investment in ethanol production, together with governmental mandates to blend the fuel with gasoline and incentives to stimulate the sales of cars that ran on pure ethanol.

With government incentives, pure ethanol vehicles comprised 95 percent per cent of domestic auto production in 1984. By 1988, Brazil was consuming 1.7 gallons of ethanol for each gallon of gasoline.

In the mid-1980s, however, ethanol got caught in a vise. Oil prices fell sharply and, at the same time, international sugar prices rose. Ethanol was no longer as attractive as it had been for Brazilian producers and motorists.

By the end of the 1980s, a sharp fall in ethanol production, together with a prevalence of pure ethanol vehicles, led to a shortage, enraging motorists and damaging the credibility of Brazil’s ethanol industry. As consequence, ethanol cars fell from 92 percent of total vehicle sales in 1985 to less than 20 percent in 1990. At the end of the 1990s, ethanol production was back to same level that it had been in the mid-1980s. Today, almost no pure alcohol vehicles are being produced, in large part because of an innovation that has recently helped ethanol enjoy a new boom in Brazil. This is the “flex-fuel vehicle.”

The flexible fuel vehicle is a simple technological innovation that has dramatically enhanced the attractiveness of ethanol in Brazil by giving consumers choice of the fuel they can use in their cars.

After 2000, stimulated by rising oil prices and a new initiative by the government to encourage consumption of renewable fuels, the Brazilian automotive industry began to produce vehicles that could run on either ethanol or gasoline in any proportion. The previous experience with the Pro-Alcohol Program had left behind a strongly developed ethanol infrastructure, with more than 90 percent of the country’s filling stations capable of offering the fuel in its pure form.

Thanks to competitive pricing for the vehicles and for ethanol, flex-fuel vehicles have been widely adopted in Brazil. They represented 80 percent of all light cars sales in 2006, a number even more impressive considering that they only started to be marketed by the end of 2003.

Today, many Brazilian motorists make their fuel choice based on the relative price of gasoline and ethanol. And ethanol is able to compete without any subsidies against gasoline. This partly is because the government taxes gasoline at a higher rate-the gasoline tax burden is 45 percent of the final price, while the tax on ethanol is only 28 percent. But the main reason behind ethanol’s competitiveness is that Brazil’s sugar-based ethanol has the lowest production costs in the world-estimated at $1.10 per gallon.

Good weather and high land quality are certainly important factors in keeping down the costs of ethanol in Brazil, but they are not the only ones. Sugarcane has been grown in the country since the Portuguese colonization in the early 16th century, and industrial production of ethanol as a fuel goes back to the 1930s.

The 70-year old ethanol industry has invested heavily in new technologies and processes, and biotechnology is now employed to improve the quality and productivity of the sugarcane species. Integration of ethanol production with sugarcane processing has led to significant gains in efficiency and scale. For example, the cane fiber (called bagasse) is burned to generate electricity, which powers the sugar and ethanol production plant, with surplus power sold to the central grid.

The oil input in Brazilian’s ethanol production is minimal, restricted to the transporting of the sugarcane to the processing plant and moving ethanol from there to filling stations. The combination of these advantages provides Brazilian ethanol with a comfortable competitive position against oil.

The success of Brazil’s domestic industry poses an important question: Can Brazil go global with its ethanol? Brazil is already the largest ethanol exporter in the world, shipping 20 percent of it annual production abroad.

International demand for ethanol is expected to keep growing in the years to come. The main ethanol consumers outside Brazil are the United States and Europe, which are seeking to increase their domestic sources of ethanol supply. But, at least with current technology, their prospects are constrained.

High volume ethanol exports from Brazil to both the U.S. and Europe are also currently impeded by import duties, though some believe that growing demand for bio-fuels could lead to loosening of these barriers. But what happens to those barriers will be highly political, both in terms of domestic politics and trade negotiations.

If trade barriers fall, Brazil’s industry has much room to grow. Even excluding the rain forest and other protected areas, Brazil still has large areas that could be used to grow cane. Only two percent of the country’s total endowment of arable land-and ten percent of currently cultivated land-are now under sugarcane cultivation with half of that dedicated to ethanol production.

Advances in bio-technology have substantially enhanced plant types, improving their ability to thrive in a wider range of soils and climates. All this means that there is potential to expand Brazil’s ethanol production substantially and make it a major global energy supplier.

Furthermore, expansion of ethanol production in Brazil is unlikely to create the kind of food versus fuel conflicts that can be expected in other developing countries with agricultural potential.

How large a role Brazil will play in global markets will depend on many factors-the ability of the Brazilian industry to expand; the nature of fuel mandates and domestic industries of the large industrial countries; and international trade rules. Brazil’s ethanol industry will continue to play a large role in meeting Brazil’s domestic energy needs. It also has the potential to grow beyond the domestic market and to create large scale exports-and definitely make Brazil an energy brand around the world.

Ernie Fitzpatrick asked:


Thirty years ago there wasn’t what I’ll call a “2012 Consciousness”. No one had heard of the Mayan long count calendar, let alone know anything about the Mayans. However, in the past 20 years particularly, wildly held beliefs about December 21, 2012 have flourished. And with the advent of the computer to assist, the 2012 consciousness has flourished and spawned new communities of thought from surviving the catastrophic events coming our way to enjoying the fruits of an ecstatic coming awareness. 

Of course, I and this web site, are just one of the many ingredients mixed into the 2012 receipe.

While I would say that a case could be made for either extreme, and scenarios in between, I have to come down on the ecstatic side while not dismissing the physical catastrophic events as well: though they only will enhance the former. I embrace this pardigm for the simple reason that my faith is founded on the premise that the One who created us is benevolent and symbolizes unconditional love.

Therefore nothing about 2012 has to do with punishment, retribution, evil, or a balancing of the moral scales of justice. While most religions go there and make this dualistic pradigm a basis for controlling people, it’s just not the God I envision, nor the one Jesus who became the Christ described. So how is it that the entity that says that they are following Jesus (the church) get so wrapped around the axel?

Ego!

It’s obvious from just a brief review that many who “peddle 2012 wares” are doing so for financial gain. You can buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, and a plethora of items that have nothing to do with increasing your understanding of 2012, but only adding revenue to the purveyor of fear and sensationalism. And of course, if the traffic is sufficient, you can buy one of the popular 2012 web sites for a few hundred thousand. 

All of that aside, there is a “2012 Energy Thought” that’s increasing exponentially as we move close to being only 48 months away from the date. There will be some self-fulfilling prophecies arising out of the march to that infamous date though I dont know exactly what they are; however, I am sure for some that catastrophe and fear will consume them, while for others, hope and ecstasy will be realized.

It’s one of those And-Also concepts.  

Zeeshan Khan asked:


Lately I have been researching over the Internet reading different books and magazine issues. I smelled a sudden change, more precisely a U turn of an opinion or I would rather say “The Verdict”. Forgive me for being Melodramatic. It all started with the development of Biomass to Biofeul and it added to my knowledge that What is “The Holy Grail”, “The Future of Energy”, “No need to fight a war over it”, “Fueling the future”,“The Green Fuel”, “The Eco-Friendly Fuel”

Recent Findings of Dr. Paul Kortzen the Nobel winner and colleagues have calculated that some of the commonly used biofuels releases twice the amount of No2 green house gas emission as previously estimated. Even a critical reception of the Paul Kortzen’s working considered “probably wrong” by Donner.

“What we are saying is that growing biofuels is probably of no benefit and in fact is actually making the climate issue worse”

- Keith Smith

Biofuel on its commercial triumph telling success stories, still won’t be able to fulfill the need of not more than 20% of the vehicles of United States even if they consume full corn and soybean yields of their country to produce biofuel. Keeping in mind the direct emissions adding more to green house gas emission. Two other major blows what our world receives while biofooling ourselves.

1. Inflation in the FOOD prices

2. Destruction of Forest and Peat lands.

Soaring prices of Corn resulting in riots in Mexico City to record high price of flour in Pakistan, Punjab which was once known as Grain Pocket of the world. Conversion of Rain Forest in to fields to plant soybean and corn to produce Alternative Fuels is resulting in the sudden climate change disturbing the ECO system.

According to staff scientist William Laurence at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, “American taxpayers are spending $11 billion a year to subsidize corn producers—and this is having some surprising global consequences”

The Fuel Ethanol Distilleries in production in United States are consuming 53.29 million tons of Corn which capacitate these distilleries to produce 5,455 million Gallons of Ethanol fuel the Data is of Dec 2006, a report compiled by Earth Policy institute.

The under construction Distilleries to produce Ethanol in the same report shows anticipated production of 5,628 Million Gallons consuming 51.05 million tons of corn. In addition some of the distilleries are under Expansion mode. Under the data compiled as of Dec 2006 The Projection in this report shows that by 2008, in which we are right now the share of Corn harvest for Ethanol fuel would be around 48.5 percent which in 2000 was 6 percent and in 2006 was 20 percent. It seems to me that by 2010 it Corn consumption for Ethanol would reach 160 million tons or may be more.The Subsidies provided by the US Govt is attracting the US Farmer to grow more and more Corn just to produce Ethanol. This Policy has largely effected the production of Soy which has fallen by more than 15 percent and it’s adding more to the global price hike. Now the situation gets more worsen when the Second largest producer of soy Brazil is pushing towards more and more production resulting in conversion of Amazon in to soy fields and even converting cattle ranches in to soy farm which facilitate soaring beef prices.

Some head banging, nail biting and toe crushing figures.

· 365 days a person could be fed on the corn needed to ethanol fueled SUV. TIME Magazine April 08

· $ 100 billion Estimated size of 2010 biofuel Market. TIME Magazine April 08

· 300000 Hectors of Brazilian rain forest in the last six months of 2007. TIME Magazine April 08

Let’s put this thing to an end.(My Way or the High Way)

The Sugar Cravings has in the US are setting new records every year. According to National Diabetes Statistics Prevalence of Diagnosed and Undiagnosed Diabetes among People Aged 20 Years or Older, United States, 2007 is gone 23.5 million adults. What Better one can expect when an Average American Consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar per week. This does not account in a healthy Diet at all in fact it ruins the immune system of the body “An open invitation to almost every Disease”

Well this calls for a National health Emergency. National Policies should be made to cut down the sugar consumption at every level. If this happens what is going to happen to the sugar suppliers and sugar cane producers wait a second why we need to stand in a loose and loose situation when we have such a clear winner.

“Sugar Based Ethanol” with a Healthier American Nation.

Ernie Fitzpatrick asked:


Thirty years ago there wasn’t what I’ll call a “2012 Consciousness”. No one had heard of the Mayan long count calendar, let alone know anything about the Mayans. However, in the past 20 years particularly, wildly held beliefs about December 21, 2012 have flourished. And with the advent of the computer to assist, the 2012 consciousness has flourished and spawned new communities of thought from surviving the catastrophic events coming our way to enjoying the fruits of an ecstatic coming awareness. 

Of course, I and this web site, are just one of the many ingredients mixed into the 2012 receipe.

While I would say that a case could be made for either extreme, and scenarios in between, I have to come down on the ecstatic side while not dismissing the physical catastrophic events as well: though they only will enhance the former. I embrace this pardigm for the simple reason that my faith is founded on the premise that the One who created us is benevolent and symbolizes unconditional love.

Therefore nothing about 2012 has to do with punishment, retribution, evil, or a balancing of the moral scales of justice. While most religions go there and make this dualistic pradigm a basis for controlling people, it’s just not the God I envision, nor the one Jesus who became the Christ described. So how is it that the entity that says that they are following Jesus (the church) get so wrapped around the axel?

Ego!

It’s obvious from just a brief review that many who “peddle 2012 wares” are doing so for financial gain. You can buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, and a plethora of items that have nothing to do with increasing your understanding of 2012, but only adding revenue to the purveyor of fear and sensationalism. And of course, if the traffic is sufficient, you can buy one of the popular 2012 web sites for a few hundred thousand. 

All of that aside, there is a “2012 Energy Thought” that’s increasing exponentially as we move close to being only 48 months away from the date. There will be some self-fulfilling prophecies arising out of the march to that infamous date though I dont know exactly what they are; however, I am sure for some that catastrophe and fear will consume them, while for others, hope and ecstasy will be realized.

It’s one of those And-Also concepts.  

Daniel Yergin asked:


When it comes to energy, Brazil is on its way to becoming a “global brand.” Although the United States recently outpaced Brazil in ethanol production, Brazil is by far the leader in sugar-based ethanol. Its exports are growing, and it could become a major energy supplier to the world. But what Brazil is particularly known for is its grand conversion-moving almost 40 percent of its automotive fuel from gasoline to ethanol.

Ethanol in Brazil is used in two ways: either blended, in a mix of 75 percent gasoline and 25 percent ethanol, or as pure ethanol pumped directly into a car’s fuel tank. On any given day, motorists across Brazil can stand in front of a pump and decide, based on price, whether they want to put ethanol or gasoline into their “flex fuel” car engine or whether they want to blend them.

Brazil has now achieved energy self-sufficiency. Ethanol is a part of the explanation, but it would be an error to think that it is the only one. There has been great success from drilling in Brazil’s offshore waters, and domestic oil output has increased by 40 percent since 2000-from 1.2 million barrels per day (mbd) to 1.7 mbd in 2006. This 500,000 barrel per day increase compares to 240,000 barrels per day of ethanol consumption.

How did ethanol achieve its prominent role in Brazil? It has been made possible by a series of factors: strong government support, especially after the 1973 oil shock; continual adoption of new technologies over more than a quarter century; and the cheapest production costs in the world.

The Brazilian government made a strong commitment to ethanol in the mid-1970s, in response to the first oil crisis. At that time, Brazil was importing more than 80 percent of its oil. The first oil shock had a highly detrimental effect on Brazil’s economy, influencing a significant drop in the country’s GDP growth, from almost 14 percent in 1973 to five percent in 1975. A program to stimulate domestic production of ethanol as a transport fuel was embraced as the way to reduce the country’s exposure to the world oil market.

This Brazilian effort began in 1975. It was championed as the Pro-Alcohol Program, since ethanol is known as alcohol in Brazil. The program consisted of both public and heavily subsidized private investment in ethanol production, together with governmental mandates to blend the fuel with gasoline and incentives to stimulate the sales of cars that ran on pure ethanol.

With government incentives, pure ethanol vehicles comprised 95 percent per cent of domestic auto production in 1984. By 1988, Brazil was consuming 1.7 gallons of ethanol for each gallon of gasoline.

In the mid-1980s, however, ethanol got caught in a vise. Oil prices fell sharply and, at the same time, international sugar prices rose. Ethanol was no longer as attractive as it had been for Brazilian producers and motorists.

By the end of the 1980s, a sharp fall in ethanol production, together with a prevalence of pure ethanol vehicles, led to a shortage, enraging motorists and damaging the credibility of Brazil’s ethanol industry. As consequence, ethanol cars fell from 92 percent of total vehicle sales in 1985 to less than 20 percent in 1990. At the end of the 1990s, ethanol production was back to same level that it had been in the mid-1980s. Today, almost no pure alcohol vehicles are being produced, in large part because of an innovation that has recently helped ethanol enjoy a new boom in Brazil. This is the “flex-fuel vehicle.”

The flexible fuel vehicle is a simple technological innovation that has dramatically enhanced the attractiveness of ethanol in Brazil by giving consumers choice of the fuel they can use in their cars.

After 2000, stimulated by rising oil prices and a new initiative by the government to encourage consumption of renewable fuels, the Brazilian automotive industry began to produce vehicles that could run on either ethanol or gasoline in any proportion. The previous experience with the Pro-Alcohol Program had left behind a strongly developed ethanol infrastructure, with more than 90 percent of the country’s filling stations capable of offering the fuel in its pure form.

Thanks to competitive pricing for the vehicles and for ethanol, flex-fuel vehicles have been widely adopted in Brazil. They represented 80 percent of all light cars sales in 2006, a number even more impressive considering that they only started to be marketed by the end of 2003.

Today, many Brazilian motorists make their fuel choice based on the relative price of gasoline and ethanol. And ethanol is able to compete without any subsidies against gasoline. This partly is because the government taxes gasoline at a higher rate-the gasoline tax burden is 45 percent of the final price, while the tax on ethanol is only 28 percent. But the main reason behind ethanol’s competitiveness is that Brazil’s sugar-based ethanol has the lowest production costs in the world-estimated at $1.10 per gallon.

Good weather and high land quality are certainly important factors in keeping down the costs of ethanol in Brazil, but they are not the only ones. Sugarcane has been grown in the country since the Portuguese colonization in the early 16th century, and industrial production of ethanol as a fuel goes back to the 1930s.

The 70-year old ethanol industry has invested heavily in new technologies and processes, and biotechnology is now employed to improve the quality and productivity of the sugarcane species. Integration of ethanol production with sugarcane processing has led to significant gains in efficiency and scale. For example, the cane fiber (called bagasse) is burned to generate electricity, which powers the sugar and ethanol production plant, with surplus power sold to the central grid.

The oil input in Brazilian’s ethanol production is minimal, restricted to the transporting of the sugarcane to the processing plant and moving ethanol from there to filling stations. The combination of these advantages provides Brazilian ethanol with a comfortable competitive position against oil.

The success of Brazil’s domestic industry poses an important question: Can Brazil go global with its ethanol? Brazil is already the largest ethanol exporter in the world, shipping 20 percent of it annual production abroad.

International demand for ethanol is expected to keep growing in the years to come. The main ethanol consumers outside Brazil are the United States and Europe, which are seeking to increase their domestic sources of ethanol supply. But, at least with current technology, their prospects are constrained.

High volume ethanol exports from Brazil to both the U.S. and Europe are also currently impeded by import duties, though some believe that growing demand for bio-fuels could lead to loosening of these barriers. But what happens to those barriers will be highly political, both in terms of domestic politics and trade negotiations.

If trade barriers fall, Brazil’s industry has much room to grow. Even excluding the rain forest and other protected areas, Brazil still has large areas that could be used to grow cane. Only two percent of the country’s total endowment of arable land-and ten percent of currently cultivated land-are now under sugarcane cultivation with half of that dedicated to ethanol production.

Advances in bio-technology have substantially enhanced plant types, improving their ability to thrive in a wider range of soils and climates. All this means that there is potential to expand Brazil’s ethanol production substantially and make it a major global energy supplier.

Furthermore, expansion of ethanol production in Brazil is unlikely to create the kind of food versus fuel conflicts that can be expected in other developing countries with agricultural potential.

How large a role Brazil will play in global markets will depend on many factors-the ability of the Brazilian industry to expand; the nature of fuel mandates and domestic industries of the large industrial countries; and international trade rules. Brazil’s ethanol industry will continue to play a large role in meeting Brazil’s domestic energy needs. It also has the potential to grow beyond the domestic market and to create large scale exports-and definitely make Brazil an energy brand around the world.