[Sca-cooks] on the rising cost of food OOP

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Apr 26, 2008, at 6:31 PM, Georgia Foster wrote:

> Admanatius wants to know what I find about the article that is  
> biased.  I sent along the link because the 70% increase in food  
> costs (nation wide) has altered or will alter the way we do feast.

No argument there. Or elsewhere, AFAIK. I was just curious; I had my  
own ideas on that, but was curious as to what you meant about bias.

> pretty much everything I have ever read from "Slate" is negetive or  
> inflamitory, and is designed to get a rise out of someone.  As  
> example:
>
>
> Finally, there's a political element to the food press' shyness  
> about pricing—most of us followers of the food revolution believe  
> that industrially produced cheap food is not actually cheap. It  
> might not cost much at the checkout line, but it hides a raft of  
> government food subsidies and externalities like pesticide and  
> methane pollution, not to mention the inhumane mass production of  
> animals. So it can be hard to get to the bottom of the bottom dollar.
>
>
> the above quote from the article strikes out at pretty much  
> everything ... federal subsidies, pestacide use, "inhumane mass  
> production of animals" ... etc.

Well, is it true? And if it is, is it bad to say so? And if it's  
intended to be negative and get a rise out of someone, how does that  
differ from, say, Ann Coulter? Could it simply be construed as  
somebody's idea of show business? Are we outlawing it or even allowing  
it to strangle in its own obscurity?

> Still, I like agree with several points made. I own a few of the  
> books listed for 'frugal' food preparation.  I am definitely going  
> to look into "How to Cook a Wolf" and see what it has to offer.


One subtext that I felt was being poked at with a stick was the  
question of whether the food media emphasis on frugality is really  
intended for people who really need to practice such restraint. The  
reference to a recent New York Times article about buying food from a  
99-cent discount outlet store doesn't seem to really discuss the fact  
that it was something of a game for the author, who put on a dinner  
party using foods purchased there, for the benefit of the jaded  
palates of her guests. Part of it was the novelty of it, and another a  
comment on the rather randomly peculiar nature of the stock carried at  
such stores: sure, I definitely want several cans of smoked oysters  
for $.99 because their crate was damaged in transit, or they're a day  
past their sell-by date. This is whimsy, not frugality, but how many  
people who really need to know how to get the absolute most out of  
their food dollar are getting their information from FoodTV, the New  
York or LA Times food sections, or Bon Appetit?

Doesn't everybody just listen to their Depression-survivor relatives?

Adamantius




"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter