Blood Sweat And Takeaways

[OxfordWill]

I strongly recommend finding this series- 4 or 5 parts currently on the 4th episode, here's the summary:

Episode 1 and 2 is Indonesian based, the second two are Thai based.

Blood, Sweat and Takeaways ep01 Tuna.WnA

Wed 20 May 2009 00:45 BBC Three When it comes to food, we are spoilt for choice. From top class restaurants to low cost

supermarkets, we take it for granted that we can buy whatever food we want, whenever we

want it. But would we feel the same if we knew the human cost of food production? Six typical young British food consumers go to live and work alongside the millions of

people in south east Asia's food production industries. They must catch, harvest and

process food products that we eat every day, seeing behind the scenes of the tuna,

prawns, rice and chicken industries for the very first time. They eat, sleep and live with food workers in the poorest regions of Indonesia and

Thailand, surviving on the same wages. The average wage for food workers here is around

3 pounds a day. To begin with, the Brits tackle Indonesia's tuna industry in Bitung on the island of

Sulawesi. In the UK, we consume over a billion tins of tuna a year and Bitung's

canneries supply to many British supermarkets and sandwich chains. The Brits live with tuna workers in basic communities, endure 90-degree heat in the

canneries and struggle with the harsh realities of life on a traditional wooden tuna

boat in the western Pacific. The extreme conditions affect them all in many different

[Insight]

Think it's only 4 parts. Part 3 last week was excellent, but haven't seen parts 1 and 2. Very much looking forward to watching the last part tonight.

[Daffy D]

I saw the one about rice growing in Issan.

Did I get this right? There are six of them earning 100bt each per day. They rent a house for 450bt per day and so have 150bt left per day between the six of them for food

I thought the house rent was per month but the girl came round every evening for the rent so it seems like it was 450bt per day. Sounds awfully expensive for that shack of a house with the cows and chickens living underneath.

[OxfordWill]

Yea.. thats a little suspect, I suppose it was part of the deal with the landlord- i.e. yes gouge them as part of your compensation .

[roamer]

I saw the one about rice growing in Issan.

Did I get this right? There are six of them earning 100bt each per day. They rent a house for 450bt per day and so have 150bt left per day between the six of them for food

I thought the house rent was per month but the girl came round every evening for the rent so it seems like it was 450bt per day. Sounds awfully expensive for that shack of a house with the cows and chickens living underneath.

No question that the rent was inflated, lets face it if the rent had been set at a more realistic level they would have had enough money to buy food and the program makers would have lost the drama they were trying to create. I note also that last nights prog which I havn't watched yet was set in Klong Toey, they do seem quite happy to paint the worst possible picture.

[anothertorres]

where are you guys watching this documentary? of course, BBC blocks us here in Thailand...

[Daffy D]

I can understand about dramatizing a program but if the rent had been realistic or even say they had no rent at all to budget for it would still have been a tough way to scratch an existence.

The story told its self and by overdoing the drama I think the credibility of the program suffered.

[OxfordWill]

It is a production necessity if you ask me. This program is not aimed at people like you and me who have some experience in, for example, Thailand. Although we can certainly do with reminding. I think the inflated drama is a necessary lie.

[duceahearts]

watched it last night in the UK, this week they were gutting fish in Khlong Toey and working in a chicken factory somewhere in Bkk, also they went out to see some night life looked like Nana.

[hughben]

13,500 Baht a month for a house like that in Isaan is a load of ballony I think.

I haven't watched the one from Bangkok, but I read this:

"They then discover an even more shocking, darker side to the city, meeting women who work in Bangkok's sex industry."

What I want to know is, what the hel_l has that got to do with the premise of the show - working in food production.

Why didn't they do that in Indonesia?

[sanmiguellight]

Sounds like the usual liberal sh7te the Beeb knocks out these days to make us greedy selfish blued eyed devils in England feel guilty about our very existance.

You can bet the people who made this reality TV sh7te are the very same fcukwits who went to some school in Esher or similar location and have had the privellege of a wealthy upbringing and this is just their way of exploiting the poor to make some easy money.

I havent seen it but can you let me know if the people they put on the show were ex uni student types along with a couple of folk having a midlife crisis, and they go on about how we in Britain are so so lucky and dont know we're born, with arguments and lots of tears along the way.

Besides if these jobs were more mechanised and easier to do these people would be out of work and then would really have something to complain about.

Edited June 10, 2009 by sanmiguellight

[Oberkommando]

13,500 Baht a month for a house like that in Isaan is a load of ballony I think.

I haven't watched the one from Bangkok, but I read this:

"They then discover an even more shocking, darker side to the city, meeting women who work in Bangkok's sex industry."

What I want to know is, what the hel_l has that got to do with the premise of the show - working in food production.

Why didn't they do that in Indonesia?

Probably because Indonesia doesn't have as recognised a sex-industry as Thailand nor is it the World's most popular sex-tourism destination, nor indeed does Indo have the World's highest amount of sex workers per capita as Thailand does.

[The Philosopher]

The series ended last night. In the nana Plaza there was an English girl from a BKK based charity trying to rescue all the BG's with the programme kids from the UK all spouting off about the injustice of it all and how the low food prices in the UK were the cause of all of Issans woes. Then some pissed up Yank intervened telling them they were all phonies and they did not know what they were on about. Then there was a shouting match between on of the young girls from the UK and the Yank. Really entertaining but very false

[Insight]

Not surprised by the yank guy to be honest. Can imagine a few young adults and a camera in that area would make people apprehensive.

The girls in the show may have come across somewhat patronising but, speaking as somebody who can pretty much give or take the go-go bar scene, the attitude that your presence there is doing all the workers there a massive favour, like the yank seemed have, really does make me cringe.

[sanmiguellight]

Not surprised by the yank guy to be honest. Can imagine a few young adults and a camera in that area would make people apprehensive.

The girls in the show may have come across somewhat patronising but, speaking as somebody who can pretty much give or take the go-go bar scene, the attitude that your presence there is doing all the workers there a massive favour, like the yank seemed have, really does make me cringe.

His presence there is giving these girls well paid work, if these presumably do as i say and live as i live English girls got their way and this area was closed down you'd have many angry girls with no money to feed the family.

Edited June 10, 2009 by sanmiguellight

[Insight]

Not surprised by the yank guy to be honest. Can imagine a few young adults and a camera in that area would make people apprehensive.

The girls in the show may have come across somewhat patronising but, speaking as somebody who can pretty much give or take the go-go bar scene, the attitude that your presence there is doing all the workers there a massive favour, like the yank seemed have, really does make me cringe.

His presence there is giving these girls well paid work, if these presumably do as i say and live as i live English girls got their way and this area was closed down you'd have many angry girls with no money to feed the family.

Doesn't really make it any more commendable though does it?

The simple fact is that, in the eyes of many, he should be thankful his face was blurred out.

[sanmiguellight]

Not surprised by the yank guy to be honest. Can imagine a few young adults and a camera in that area would make people apprehensive.

The girls in the show may have come across somewhat patronising but, speaking as somebody who can pretty much give or take the go-go bar scene, the attitude that your presence there is doing all the workers there a massive favour, like the yank seemed have, really does make me cringe.

His presence there is giving these girls well paid work, if these presumably do as i say and live as i live English girls got their way and this area was closed down you'd have many angry girls with no money to feed the family.

Doesn't really make it any more commendable though does it?

The simple fact is that, in the eyes of many, he should be thankful his face was blurred out.

No one really thinks it is commendable, but it is a fact that this man is paying these consenting women a very good days wage in LOS for her services. And he could sue the TV company for using his face on British TV without consent .... and why the <deleted> should he consent to people who may dubiously edit his words.

Just the fact that these spoilt little brats that im presuming they are think they can stop the oldest profession, or think its somehow related to the price of food in the West, shows this program is a waste of time to watch and that UK universities ought to start teaching more Physics/ Chemistry/ Biology/ Engineering instead of wasting the time teaching them Sociology or Pyschology or some other <deleted> that leads them to believe theyve got a worthy point of view that needs to be shared and know what happens outside their comfy middle class sterile lives.

Edited June 10, 2009 by sanmiguellight

[bonobo]

I wouldn't mind having been able to see it, but the series lost some credibility with me when they moved from tuna plants in Indonesia, rice growing in Issan, and chicken and fish processing in Bangkok, which fits the premise of the show as I understand it, to Nana Plaza, which seems more like a ratings ploy.  If food doesn't get the ratings, then sex sure does!

[tigerboy]

where are you guys watching this documentary? of course, BBC blocks us here in Thailand...

Well, hopefully it'll get ripped to an .avi file and be available for downloading sometime soon. Cannot find it ob any of the usual websites...

A heads up if anybody spots it, ay?

[hughben]

where are you guys watching this documentary? of course, BBC blocks us here in Thailand...

Well, hopefully it'll get ripped to an .avi file and be available for downloading sometime soon. Cannot find it ob any of the usual websites...

A heads up if anybody spots it, ay?

thebox.bz

[anothertorres]

(.)(.)

[hughben]

Just watched this.

To say some of these are naive would be an understatement.

The girl Stacy basically said it's the wests fault migrant workers head down to Bangkok, and work in chicken factories because there's not enough money in rice up in Issan.

Then after the Yank called them 'phonies', she basically said it's the food industry that makes the girls work bars.

She's now on a mission, writing to newspaper editors explaining how food forces women to work in the sex industry.

[tuky]

Just watched this.

To say some of these are naive would be an understatement.

The girl Stacy basically said it's the wests fault migrant workers head down to Bangkok, and work in chicken factories because there's not enough money in rice up in Issan.

Then after the Yank called them 'phonies', she basically said it's the food industry that makes the girls work bars.

She's now on a mission, writing to newspaper editors explaining how food forces women to work in the sex industry.

In that case let's ban food.

Food is of the devil

I call upon all to boycot food and save an Issan bargirl.

[imaneggspurt]

Lets park a bus outside the nana with a sign " jobs in a chicken factory 8000 baht a month " and see how many girls leave the bar and get on the bus,.8000 baht a month would be a good wage in issan, but the bus will leave empty i bet,

[JoeThePoster]

The reality is quite simple - TV programs can distort it all they want but the equation remains the same.

Why spend 10 hours exposing your back in a rice field when one can earn 10 times as much in 1 hour lying on your back in an air-conditioned room? Or at least a room with a fan.

[anothertorres]

first off, thanks to those who helped guide me in the ability to view this doc. and second off, holy shit, i died laughing when they tried to barter down 110baht to 100baht and the seller came back with 114baht. and they paid it!

hahaha, awesome. i will say, it did break my heart when the isaan girl began to cry

[longstebe]

Interesting Tv.

Its goverment controlled. Pinch of salt.

[Daffy D]

In that case let's ban food.

Food is of the devil

I call upon all to boycot food and save an Issan bargirl.

This should be moved to the "I'm too fat" forum

[OxfordWill]

Instead of just saying its wrong that the food industry is the cause of the poverty which causes some girls to enter the sex industry, would you gents mind refuting it with either an argument or some sort of alternative explanation. The way I see it, if rice seasons provided enough money to mean typical villagers were not poor, the only girls entering the sex industry would be those who really want to be "rich at any cost" rather than provide a slightly better than poor life for their families. I'm currently confident, and was of this opinion before watching this show, that the number of girls entering the sex industry in Bangkok is largely due to the poor income from farming. Note im not saying "western" this that or anything. It is worth remembering the fact that the majority of poor girls who come to bangkok due to poverty in esarn do not become sex workers and do choose to go for 5000-8000 a month jobs over the potential riches of prostitution.

Edited June 11, 2009 by OxfordWill

[tuky]

Will, I was just talking to my exwife who owns 3 houses.

1 house worth 17 million, the other two worth between 5 and 7 million.

At the moment 1 house is rented out at 35,000 per month.

We have two kids whom I send 100k per month to.

My ex is now in HongKong selling herself.

Why?

After reading your post I was intrigued so I called her to ask why. As it is obviously not for the money.

Anyway she told me she is doing it because her Mum told her this is how she will find herself a new man, this time a good man as quite obviously I was a bad one ( ).

I am at a loss for words.

I asked her if she could tell our girls to go sell themselves when they are of age and she couldn't answer me.

What the hel_l is wrong with this world when a Mum tells her daughter to sell themselves in order to find a new husband?

This is why I am no longer living in Thailand and I have a total negative view of what goes on there.

(BTW, regarding my kids, I am fighting for custody of them. However the 'Mum' wont give them up easily as she views them as a source of income.)

Shame on Thais and their morals.