The Foreign Service Journal, May 2019

12 MAY 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Rapid-Response Chefs I appreciated your spotlight on culinary diplomacy in the March FSJ . As the articles make clear, culinary diplo- macy is a powerful tool for building relationships and engaging new audiences. To this, I would simply add that culinary diplomacy does not have to be as complicated as developing a reality show or as formal as a fine dining expe- rience. In fact, like most forms of public diplomacy, the low-key approach is often the best one. American chefs are equally well suited to small, intimate programs as they are for big-splash events. With that in mind, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Programs Division started a pilot program this year to make chefs available through our rapid-response Arts Envoy exchange, which sends U.S. artists overseas for targeted short-term engagements. We work closely with leading food organizations to identify chefs who can help us advance specific policy goals, such as food security and economic empowerment. Since Arts Envoy covers most of the costs, culinary diplomacy will be accessible to more posts than ever before. Our first chef envoy, Tiffany Derry, traveled to Mumbai earlier this year, and we have several additional programs scheduled for the coming months in Mexico and North Africa. Jay R. Raman FSO Director, Cultural Programs Division Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Washington, D.C. LETTERS I Wanted to Sell Pork Tania Teschke’s March article “Ancestral Food Traditions for Modern Foreign Service Life” too k me back. I am a retired Foreign Service U.S. Informa- tion Agency wife. My husband served in USIA from 1956 to 1983, mainly in South Asia. Not allowed to work, I did what the superior officer’s wife toldme to do, or what I wanted to do. While serving in Madras from 1968 to 1971, I realized expats and diplomats’ wives in India missed pork. A Christian man I met at the riding club raised pigs, and I wanted to sell pork. A young Hindu man I knew wanted to become a vet. Between the two of them I learned how to market pork, an experi- ence that would later help me when run- ning my Spruce Mountain Blueberries business selling chutney and jam. The Christian man had the pigs killed and the Hindu man—never touching the pigs—showed me how to cut the meat. And yet one more friend—a Hindu Indian airline pilot—arranged for the pork to be flown to New Delhi and other places by Christian pilots. A far cry from today. Molly Sholes Spruce Mountain Blueberries West Rockport, Maine Looking Back Recent exchanges with former Foreign Service colleagues frommy retirement perch in the Midwest led to a few reflec- tions on how much things have changed since my active-duty days. In 1970, people smoked in our embassy offices. There were government- issued ashtrays, including large free- standing ones. In 1970, virtually every embassy sec- tion had an American secretary, always a woman. There were no administrative assistants. In 1970, there were far fewer repre- sentatives at U.S. embassies from outside the foreign affairs agencies of the Foreign Service. And we didn’t have State Depart- ment security officers at all posts. Administrative (now called manage- ment) officers were tasked with the care and feeding of the Marine Security Guard detachments. In 1970, homosexuality was grounds for removal of a security clearance, trans- fer and probable dismissal. In 1970, you had to be between 20 and 31 to take the Foreign Service exam. If you had served in the Peace Corps or mil- itary, you could add those years served to extend the upper limit. In 1970, the Foreign Service was still very much a male preserve. My A-100 ori- entation class included just one female officer in a cohort of about 45. Since then, the Foreign Service has changed along with our broader society. John Treacy FSO, retired Evanston, Ill. CORRECTION In the April Reflections column, “The Achille Lauro Affair, 1985” by Tom Longo , an error was inadvertently introduced in the second sentence of the print edition. The passage in question reads: “Essential was Italy’s commitment to deploy some INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force) missiles on her soil for NATO to counter the Soviets’ installation of SS-20 missiles in Western Europe.” Of course, the last two words should have read “ Eastern Europe.” We regret the error. n