Text 4810, 48 rader
Skriven 2008-04-02 23:30:56 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av CAROL BRYANT
Ärende: Today's NYT
===================
> Logic would dictate that arguing against cheap food would be the wrong 
> move when the Consumer Price Index puts food costs at about 4.5 
> percent more this year than last. But for locavores, small growers,
> activist chefs and others, higher grocery bills might be just the 
> thing to bring about the change they desire.

The problem is that without a fundamental change to the economy and
the way the federal government tinkers with the agricultural sector,
the only thing that will happen is more and more people in shitty
low-income jobs will have to start choosing whether to buy fuel or
food.

I don't give a damn what happens to McDonalds or whether Coke will
start using sugar again.  I care about wheat selling for $23 a bushel
instead of $8, driving the price of a bag of flour to double what
it was a year ago.  That makes it a lot harder for a single working
mother bringing home $8 an hour to feed her kids.  People like that
don't eat boutique food.  They eat what they can get. Making cheap
food unaffordable for people like that will do nothing but cause
more pain because the price of "boutique" food isn't going to fall.

Assholes like Michael Pollan with their grass-fed beef and twee
lifestyles have no idea what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck,
happy to be able to afford a chicken on Monday because they can
stretch it into four or five meals if they're careful.  How many 
poor families will still be able to do that if they have to spend
$3.00 a pound for a free-range "happy" chicken instead of a 79c-a-
pound battery chicken that might not be full-flavored or live a
comfortable life, but is the product of an economically efficient
operation that allows their kids not to go to bed hungry?

The only silver lining that I can see is if small family farms and
small local industries become prevalent like they were in the US
before the mid-1960's.  But a roll back to that kind of system is
going to be damn painful and take years - even decades - and 
buttsniffers like Pollan aren't going to have anything to do with
it.  The people like us, who are actually living the transition,
are going to drive it.


---
http://davescupboard.blogspot.com/ - Dave's Cupboard - Food and 
Restaurant Reviews; If I post it here in NCE, you'll find it 
blogged with photos at Dave's Cupboard.

http://bacon-labels.blogspot.com/ - A gallery of bacon package labels.
(The extra shelf in Dave's Cupboard.
 * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140)