[Sca-cooks] buying meat was vegetarian

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

>     Something I REALLY don't understand is that if meat production is so
> gawd-awful inefficient, why does meat cost less per pound than just about
> any fruit or vegetable I can find?

Depends on what veggies you are looking for, and what cut of meat you are
looking for. At this time of year, in my area at least, 'harvest' veggies
are the cheapest-- ie. keeping vegetables: squash, onions, other root
veggies (turnips, carrots, potatoes, etc.).

Besides, compare the price of meat to the price of grain-- that's what the
meat gets fed.

It's past broccoli season around (and brocolli is pretty expensive at the
best of times-- good thing it's hard to document!

Green beans have gone up, and leeks around here are always pricey, I think
it's a fashion thing; same with parsnips.

Mushrooms, for some reason, are pricey here.. 1.49 is the best I can do,
but I can get better prices down near Westchester if I'm willing to
travel.

> Right now (and this is supposed to be
> harvest season, right?),

It is? for most veggies, the season of plenty is june-july-august round
here. I don't know when harvest season is in Florida.

>corn is going for 50/ear, out of season...  broccoli & cauliflower
> for 1.49/lb, artichokes just make me gulp when I see them trying to get 2.49
> each, red and yellow peppers are going for 2.49 each as well, and this is in
> SW florida, which is a major producer of truck vegetables.

Truck veggies for export, if I recall. All the veggies you are talking
about are speciality items around here. Red and Yellow peppers are always
about twice the price of green. Artichokes are a specialty item and
consumers up north will shell out the big bucks for 'em.

_Is_ there a good sweet corn on the cob season in florida?

What are carrots, green beans, cabbage, beets, spinach, onions, leeks,
lettus, celery, parsnips, okra, radishes, turnips, green peppers,
cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, etc. going for?

>     If the market is a true reflector of cost / value, why is meat (an
> extremely labor intensive food) less expensive than something that comes out
> of the ground, gets picked, put in a box, then sold?

But the market isn't a reflector of cost/value. Corn and potato producers,
for instance, barely get paid what it costs them to pay their loans and
pesticide bills for the products, while the cost of the end product keeps
going up to the consumer.

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"I used to be one of them. Now I rather think I'm one of me." -- Terry
Prachett, _Thief of Time_