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April 15, 2008
Our Food Prices Aren't Going Up...
"It's feeding time for the big pink pigs," went the intriguing headline on NPR this morning. It was a story about the rising price of pork in China. Apparently, pork is the main meat eaten in China. With the global oil crisis, much corn was being used to make ethanol, and now there's not enough corn for the pigs to eat. There was also an epidemic of some kind of pig disease, but the point being, those who eat a lot of pork are seeing their food prices rise.
This was one of many NPR stories about rising food prices around the world, including right here at home. Between oil becoming so expensive, making transport of food more expensive, plus global increase in corn use for making ethanol, making grains and grain-fed meat more expensive, food prices are rising for most.
MR observed on Sunday that our food prices don't seem to be going up. He watches our food bills like a hawk, and he knows what costs what. After listening to yet another of these NPR stories about rising food costs, he observed that the things we eat don't seem to be as affected by the crisis. We eat very little meat, so we're not hit by grain-fed meat prices going up. We eat almost no grains. We eat very few processed foods that have to be flown around, produced in factories, etc. (Quorn being the major exception, which MR eats several times a week, and I eat about once a month.) Even our consumption of eggwhites has gone way down since MR became moderately concerned about methionine. We try to eat as locally as possible, though on some foods we choose organic instead of local. We're lucky to live so near the mushroom capital of the world in PA, and the home of the wonderful Jersey tomato.
The big ticket items in my diet are my organic dairy. Nancy's Organic Cottage Cheese and Butterworks Farms plain nonfat yogurt are staples that I eat almost daily. Those are pretty expensive, but well worth it for me since they are a) among my favorite foods b) great sources of calcium and protein c) I eat so much dairy that I insist on organic to avoid the creepy chemicals they put in non-organic fed cows.
But we don't eat bread, chips, beef, pork, or gasoline. We don't seem to be seeing an increase in our food bills. Which is great, cause I'd rather spend the money on wine. Or on paying off the mortgage earlier. Right... ;)
Posted by april at April 15, 2008 5:32 AM
Comments
Out of curiosity, have megamuffins fallen out of favor? I haven't heard anyone mention them in a while.
Posted by: Anon at April 15, 2008 7:10 PM
Stories like this beg the question: life extension for what? Look at what's happening - the worldwide financial Ponzi scheme is imploding, the world economy is tanking (and just wait until China goes south), we're on the verge of going to war with Iran, social security is being starved by Republicans hell bent on killing it, our medical benefits will soon be a thing of the past, there are food riots worldwide, and Bush has set this country so far back and in debt that there will be no digging out of it.
Think there will be any future worth extending your life for?
Posted by: Lynne at April 15, 2008 7:18 PM
I'm glad life is going good for you, and yet, I am still enjoying pork, as well. (I don't eat gasoline, either, btw).
Posted by: FM at April 16, 2008 8:58 AM
I once heard that if you ingest only nonfat dairy you needn't worry about it being organic, because the nasty stuff is stored in the fat. Is this not true?
Posted by: skhutch at April 16, 2008 11:32 AM
there is a lot about food prices going up here in media too and unfortunately it mostly concerns the lowest income people of the world, those who are already living on the verge of starvation. Their staple foods like rice, potato, beans and grains seem to be the most affected by the food price increase. It doesn't affect me either (especially since I eliminated gasoline from my diet a year ago!) but those who are affected (mostly 3rd and 4th world countries and the poorest of the poor of the 1st and 2nd world) have it even worse than ever.
Posted by: zeynep at April 16, 2008 12:58 PM
Everything that I buy in the supermarket near me has gone up in price :(
I was just about to blog about this last night... I think I'm going to have to have no choice at all to be CR'd if it continues to rise!
Posted by: matt - uk at April 16, 2008 2:25 PM
You're right, Lynn. In fact, things are so bad I think I'll just kill myself right now.
(sarcasm, in case anyone's worried!)
Posted by: Erin at April 16, 2008 6:26 PM
I hate to comment on comments but I think this one deserves it: Shouldn't everyone be worried more that Erin takes his/her virtual being here more seriously (by inserting that he/she won't commit suicide, it's a joke) than very worldy, serious and real concerns Lynn mentions?
Posted by: zeynep at April 17, 2008 6:16 PM
The idea that we shouldn't try to extend our lives because quality of life will be so low in the future is ridiculous. There are serious problems in the world, no doubt, but I fail to see how that justifies a shorter life.
Shouldn't we want to live longer so that we can contribute to the resolution of these problems?
Posted by: Erin at April 20, 2008 8:32 AM