[Foundation-l] Report to the Board of Trustees June 2009-

[Philippe Beaudette]

On Sep 11, 2009, at 9:13 AM, Thomas Dalton wrote:

> We're not talking about culture, we are talking about lunch. They are
> human beings, the same as we are, they have the same needs when it
> comes to food.


This, in fact, is one of the great fallacies of international  
organizations.  Failure to notice and work within the context of  
cultural norms condemns an organization very quickly.  In Italy, I was  
far more likely to take business partners to long elaborate meals than  
I would be in California.  Please, can we at least acknowledge that  
it's not as simplistic as you present it here?

Philippe