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Distribución en planta
La oficina correspondiente para el cheque de la aseguranza

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

batea de víveres de primera necesidad

English translation:

food (aid) basket

Added to glossary by Jenni Lukac (X)
Jan 14, 2012 09:03
12 yrs ago
6 viewers *
Spanish term

batea de víveres de primera necesidad

Spanish to English Social Sciences Nutrition
From a press release from a Foundation who have just built an extension to a school in Peru

It goes on to say that presents were also given to the children. Then...

"Además, obsequiaron más de 70 bateas de víveres de primera necesidad a los alumnos de educación inicial y primaria, en presencia de las autoridades del plantel y sus profesoras tutoras."

Literally speaking, I understand "bateas de víveres de primera necesidad" to mean "boxes/trays of basic/survival food". however, this strikes me as odd - if 70 children are attending school its safe to assume they are already receiving basic nutrition, I doubt an NGO would make a big deal about giving them what they were receiving already (what I mean is, imagine a child is surviving on a bowl of rice a day. A prestigious western Foundation isnt going to demonstrate its generosity by giving that child another bowl of rice)

Not sure if I'm making sense :o)
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 food (aid) basket
3 +3 buckets of staple food
4 bags of food staples
3 +1 carton containing essential foods
3 tray of staple rations
2 bowl with basic food supplies/provisions
Change log

Jan 19, 2012 09:42: Jenni Lukac (X) Created KOG entry

Discussion

Charles Davis Jan 17, 2012:
@Deborah Well done indeed! I would say that these are, functionally speaking, food hampers. In concrete terms, they are large red plastic bowls containing food. They look just like the kind of thing you'd use to wash clothes in, so "batea" is being used in its Peruvian sense (you'd never call these things "bateas" in Spain). Now it's up to William to decide what he wants to call them.
Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 17, 2012:
@Deborah Well done!!
Bubo Coroman (X) Jan 17, 2012:
I found photos of the actual presentation ceremony in this photo gallery in the third row down of photos, on the right there is a girl pupil accepting a batea and to the left of it there is a photo of all the bateas arranged in the school hall waiting to be presented to the pupils. I would call these "food hampers", anyone got other suggestions?
http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com.pe/voluntarios/galeria.a...

I found these thanks to your Discussion entry of just now Lu, thanks so much. The standard of research by everyone on this question is extremely high, congratulations to you all.
Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 16, 2012:
I found something! On the Linguee website showing paired translations (http://www.linguee.es/ingles-espanol/traduccion/staple food....
I found the following:
"The receiver pan has a staple food capacity of 200 kg and it is built in AISI 304 stainless steel with electro polishing.
"La batea receptora tiene capacidad para 200 kg de materia prima y está construida en acero inoxidable calidad AISI [...]
chiacchiera.com.ar"
Since the llink is from Argentina, the English is probably a translation, but in any case we know that they hold 200 kg and are made of stainless steel (galvanized?) - not something you would hand out to children.
Maybe 'steel tubs'? That's what I've changed my answer to.
jacana54 (X) Jan 16, 2012:
Hi Muriel and Deb: While I understand that William has to protect client confidentiality, if you google the sentence you can have a good idea of the context.
I understand what you mean about containers, Muriel, thanks for that input.
When I was a child, "bateas" was used fairly often by older people or people from the provinces in much the same sense as Charles has described.
And what I read in that link I copied is that instead of giving the gifts of food in bags or baskets, the food was packed in these plastic tubs.
Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 15, 2012:
@Deborah That's exactly what I'm thinking - because 70 gifts to individuals is a low number to be writing a press release about in the food aid business. What about all the other kids in the schools? I hesitated to say 'containers' because that could be construed to mean shipping containers, which are enormous. I'm imagining that the package is the size of a standard food aid carton, and that 70 of them were split up and given to a much larger number of kids to take home.
Bubo Coroman (X) Jan 15, 2012:
Muriel, the penny has just dropped about your first comment -- are you thinking the bateas are standard packs and the food supplies in them were broken up and repackaged as enough gifts to go around all the children? Perhaps "batea-type containers" would be an option that covers that possibility
Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 15, 2012:
Better to be vague While I still stand by my reading of the text, in which it may not have been individual students who received the gift, in any case, even though "bateas" has special significance, I think it's better to go with 'baskets' or 'gifts'. Baskets can be any size, and the word is also used metaphorically in connection with food aid.
jacana54 (X) Jan 15, 2012:
How about calling them "plastic containers filled with staple food items"?
William Pairman (asker) Jan 15, 2012:
Its just that "tubs" of food sounds wrong "Food baskets" maybe but we run the same risk of a (predantic or otherwise) criticism that "they're not really baskets"
The container seems to be of secondary importance - imagine a flood or some such disaster in Europe. The Red Cross or whoever airdrop tupperware containers with essential food and water and so on. Yes, those containers would be useful at a later point but...
If this NGO had given a load of empty buckets or tubs or whatever to these kids I'm sure they would have been received with confux¡sed expressions :o)
Charles Davis Jan 15, 2012:
I'm inclined to agree with Lucía. Tempting though it is to sidestep the problem of what the "bateas" actually are, I think something significant would be lost. "Batea" is such a standard and traditional term in Peru that I think they must be the kind of tubs or bowls (traditionally made of wood but nowadays of plastic) that Peruvians use for a variety of purposes, mainly washing, as illustrated in Lucía's references. They would be practical containers, and, as I have suggested, would remain useful to the families after the food had been eaten.
jacana54 (X) Jan 15, 2012:
I agree with Deborah and Charles, and if you read one of the links I provided in this discussion, the person says that traditional end-of-the-year baskets have been substituted (for the group of people he's talking about) by gifts packed into the kind of tubs people use to wash clothes or their feet.
William Pairman (asker) Jan 15, 2012:
Deborah - I've been thing in exactly the same way Your suggestion is better than my ideas however - post "gifts of staple rations" as an answer please!
Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 15, 2012:
Size of contribution For all the reasons that you mention, william, and since there were only 70 of them, and they were shipped, it doesn't make sense to me that they would be small. The text doesn't imply that each child was given a little tray or basket of food - that doesn't make sense to me.
Bubo Coroman (X) Jan 15, 2012:
that does seem sensible Charles, especially since an NGO will necessarily have an environmental policy on the reduction, recycling and reuse of packaging materials; in this case you are suggesting the gift container is made of durable materials and designed to be reused, so it does make sense
Charles Davis Jan 15, 2012:
If these were Peruvian "bateas", which are useful household items, maybe they were part of the gift!
Bubo Coroman (X) Jan 15, 2012:
please bear in mind that the NGO may have selected and packaged the contents itself to look like a gift, so they wouldn't necessarily be in standard containers. They may have been quite small to suit the age of the children and the perhaps symbolic nature of the gift. Can we get around this problem altogether not specifying the containers and putting "they made 70 gifts of staple rations to the pupils"?
Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 14, 2012:
There are 70 of these So they must be fairly large - bigger than a bowl or tray. I looked for images under "food aid" and the only alternative to sacks is cardboard cartons. I can't think of another practical way to ship food.
jacana54 (X) Jan 14, 2012:
Hi, William: I suggest you search for images... I just tried a Google search>images
batea site:.pe
and I get this kind of image:
http://blogs.elcomercio.pe/santalima/2007/12/la-canasta-esta...
http://www.unomasuno.pe/bateas-tinas/391-batea-25-ola-ola.ht...
Charles Davis Jan 14, 2012:
Hi Willliam Many different views here on what "bateas" are, and I must admit I'm confused. I don't know whether the word is being used in its specifically Peruvian sense, but if it is, the following may be of interest. It suggests something like a tub to me, and seems to indicate that in Peru "batea" doesn't really mean a tray:

http://academiaperuanadelalengua.org/peruanismos/batea

Proposed translations

+1
1 hr
Selected

food (aid) basket

This is normally the term used in humanitarian aid. Although I am more familiar with meals distributed in schools, it's possible that some groups have experimented with family food packages to give families an incentive to keep their children in school.
Peer comment(s):
agree Muriel Vasconcellos : I think this is the best option after all - even though I proposed something different.
1 day 11 hrs
Thanks, Muriel. I meant "basket" metaphorically. One could always query the client to ask if the word fit the context.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Incredible debate! Many thanks to all who took part. The client never got back to me but I think this sounds best - as I said in the discussion, I felt it was best to move the focus away from the container, however useful. Thanks again to everyone! "
28 mins

bowl with basic food supplies/provisions

Whether its a tray, box, bowl or basket is not clear - all seem to be used for batea. But the latter two would be more useful, so maybe the Foundation appreciated this?
Something went wrong...
1 hr

bags of food staples

.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hora (2012-01-14 10:31:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Batea means bag

http://canastastranscafu.es.tl/CANASTA-EN-BATEA-_-ECON�MICA.h...
Something went wrong...
+3
1 hr

buckets of staple food

Only medium confidence level since I'm not a native speaker and this may be a bit far-fetched.

I've translated and read materials from US-based aid organizations, and they speak in terms of "buckets" of food.
What I'm imagining is that in Perú a bucket might be called "batea", or that the organization might have picked up that way of translating "buckets".

[PDF]
Leader's Guide - US Partners - Catholic Relief Services
uspartners.crs.org/.../accompanyi... - Estados Unidos - Traducir esta página
Formato de archivo: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Vista rápida
checks. Contributions will be used for CRS' relief efforts in Haiti but may not go towards providing buckets of food. CRS will use contributions to provide the most ...
America Magazine CRS in Haiti
www.americamagazine.org/.../entry.cfm?blog... - Traducir esta página
19 Jan 2010 – Since we suggested donations to Catholic Relief Services, we ... registering residents and delivering buckets of food, sanitation items and water ...

Local churches gather buckets of food to help ... - MyWestTexas.com
www.mywesttexas.com/.../article_... - Estados Unidos - Traducir esta página
12 Mar 2010 –
On the last Sunday in February, the Permian Basin Baptist Network encouraged local Baptist churches to pray for Haiti and supply their members with 5-pound buckets in which to pack specific food items. The items included in the bucket cost $30 and participants were asked to include an additional $10 for shipping costs.
“The whole purpose is one Bucket of Hope provides food to feed one family of four for a week,” said Gary Redwine, senior pastor at Alamo Heights Baptist Church. “For what really is a small amount of money, we have the opportunity of providing a great help for a family that’s going through a tragic situation.”
Local churches gathered more than 600 buckets to help families in Haiti.

(Includes photo of the buckets)
Read more: Local churches gather buckets of food to help families in Haiti - Mywesttexas.com: Faith http://www.mywesttexas.com/life/faith/article_10937cd4-8bce-...

STAPLE FOOD - Amarillo Globe-News
search.amarillo.com/fast-elements... - Estados Unidos - Traducir esta página
Area Baptists gathered the 30-pound buckets of staple food items for shipment to Florida, where they will be distributed through contacts established before the ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2012-01-14 10:55:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Please see that if you follow my link to that organization in West Texas you can see a photo of the buckets. Maybe you can compare that with any pictures on your Foundation's page.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2012-01-15 13:24:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

William, I've been reading your comments. How about calling them "plastic containers filled with food staple items"?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2012-01-15 13:25:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry, staple food items, obviously.
Peer comment(s):
agree franglish : after googling some this seems to me the best suggestion
5 hrs
Thanks for your confirmation franglish.
agree Charles Davis : Or perhaps tubs, as we've been suggesting, but I think this is the closest. You could use the plural here: "staple foods", or "staple food items", as in a couple of your references.
1 day 42 mins
Third attempt at leaving a reply: you're right, great suggestions, as usual. Saludos.
agree Bubo Coroman (X) : as per my Discussion entry of just now
2 days 21 hrs
Those are great photos, Deb! Saludos :-)
Something went wrong...
+1
14 hrs

carton containing essential foods

I searched images for food aid, and the only form of container I could see other than sacks is cardboard cartons.

Examples:
http://www.celsias.co.nz/article/how-earth-can-we-feed-8-bil...
http://www.topnews.in/us-resume-food-aid-north-korea-242195
http://blog.bread.org/2009/06/foreign-aid-reform-making-real...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days1 hr (2012-01-16 10:20:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I'm changing my answer to 'steel tub' based on the link I posted in the Discussion above, *plus* I searched images for "batea" and they included large steel tubs.
Peer comment(s):
agree Bubo Coroman (X) : please see my discussion comment about the penny dropping!
22 hrs
Thanks, Deborah - we don't really know, do we?
Something went wrong...
9 mins

tray of staple rations

not quite odd because it was a one-off action, not a periodic one, it was a symbolic gesture of the children never going hungry, it was a meaningful gift, more even than educational toys would have been, and the children would share the gift with their pre-school brothers and sisters who may not be so well nourished

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Note added at 1 día12 horas (2012-01-15 22:00:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

hi William, as per the Discussion, I suggest "gifts of staple rations"

Is there also a way you could include "bateas" as a Spanish word since it is difficult for you to specify what they are in English? For instance:

gifts of staple rations packaged in "bateas"

- that would give a clue to the English reader that a batea is a kind of container.

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Note added at 1 día13 horas (2012-01-15 22:41:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I have only just understood what Muriel has pointed out, please see my discussion entry "the penny has just dropped" -- in which case my suggestion of gifts of staple rations packaged in "bateas" is not right... in my comment I suggested "batea-type containers" instead

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 días23 horas (2012-01-17 08:18:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

hello again William, as per my Discussion entry of just now I'm changing my answer to "hampers of staple food items". Kind regards.
Something went wrong...
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