You are what you eat - Charity, The Global Food Crisis and The Environment

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Ridgerunner said:
Aparently there are ways to store dry food and ensure that it won’t rot or acquire fungus or whatever. Some years back there were a lot of Mormons coming into this area (interesting story but not the topic). They had a belief that there would be a tribulation period and were “required” by their version of Mormonism anyway, to keep a year’s supply of food on hand. They got a lot of it, I understood, from manufacturers who prepare specially packaged and prepared foods. One of them told me that one of their own practices was to get these very large containers, fill them with wheat, rice, beans or things of that nature, then put some kind of inert gas in the container. I don’t recall what it was; helium or nitrogen or something perhaps.

It absolutely amazes me that N.Z. can export apples or lamb or any other food commodity all the way to the U.S. without transportation costs being prohibitive. Worldwide transportation must be a good deal more efficient than some of us suppose.
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Mormons are required to store one years’ worth of food. They do use wheat and other grains; however they need do use air tight containers (such as a five gallon Dunkin’ Donuts sugary filling pail, available at minimal cost from Dunkin’ Donuts stores) and the inert gas is Carbon Dioxide, which is generated by dry ice. You put in the dry ice, fill the bucket with the grain and then seal the bucket.

You will, however, need a grain mill to convert the wheat to flour. Retsel makes one that is electric but you can purchase an optional hand crank … just in case you need to make flour and there is no electricity. [For example, if one day some hostile nation launches an EMP attack on the United States … which would fry all the electrical distribution and electrical appliances and devices for a thousand miles around. It would take a year or more to restore power.] [But that’s a separate issue.]

They also use freeze dried foods and dehydrated foods, but they are very expensive.
 
A friend sent me this Newsweek article.

It states that world poverty is at an all-time low and getting better. The global food crisis is possibly overstated.

Interesting read. But the best bits are interlaced throughout the whole article.

newsweek.com/id/135380/page/1
 
Just as a little anecdote, one thing I did notice when I was in America was that the price of food militates against eating healthily or sustainably for the environment.

For example, I was making dinner for my ex, and went to the supermarket (OK, it was one of the more expensive supermarkets) to buy an avocado because I’d forgotten it earlier. It cost $1.90, which is about the same as it would have cost me in the UK (except of course that it’s probably grown in the US, whereas a UK one would be imported) and then I walk outside and opposite the supermarket is a Wendy’s where you can buy a quarter-pounder with cheese meal for £1.99 - for 9 cents more than a little green vegetable I could buy a bucket of coke, fries and a burger!

As someone from the UK, where the avocado would probably cost about 75p and the cheeseburger meal about £3.00, (4x as much) that really shocked me.

By all means, have cheap food, I think it’s great that food is so cheap, but why can’t healthy food be even cheaper? It’s simpler, no preparation time has gone into it, most of it can be grown inside the country, so why the high prices?
 
DL82 said:
Just as a little anecdote, one thing I did notice when I was in America was that the price of food militates against eating healthily or sustainably for the environment.

For example, I was making dinner for my ex, and went to the supermarket (OK, it was one of the more expensive supermarkets) to buy an avocado because I’d forgotten it earlier. It cost $1.90, which is about the same as it would have cost me in the UK (except of course that it’s probably grown in the US, whereas a UK one would be imported) and then I walk outside and opposite the supermarket is a Wendy’s where you can buy a quarter-pounder with cheese meal for £1.99 - for 9 cents more than a little green vegetable I could buy a bucket of coke, fries and a burger!

As someone from the UK, where the avocado would probably cost about 75p and the cheeseburger meal about £3.00, (4x as much) that really shocked me.

By all means, have cheap food, I think it’s great that food is so cheap, but why can’t healthy food be even cheaper? It’s simpler, no preparation time has gone into it, most of it can be grown inside the country, so why the high prices?
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You’re not accounting for the exchange rate when you compare $1.90 avocado and the 3 pound cheesburger meal. That and the fact that a $1.90 avocado is ridiculous.😉
 
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal says the “rice bubble” has burst.

The price of rice has started to come down from its “panic high”.
 
Ridgerunner said:
It absolutely amazes me that N.Z. can export apples or lamb or any other food commodity all the way to the U.S. without transportation costs being prohibitive. Worldwide transportation must be a good deal more efficient than some of us suppose.
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You are right about this. We have a very modest income… yet I have bananas from Guatemala in my kitchen right now. In the winter, when our own navel oranges are not available, I can get Australian ones the whole time. DH and I had Australian lamb for Valentine’s Day, and I made lo mein with wild-caught Indonesian shrimp last week. (I know to avoid the farmed stuff for health concerns. Fish is tricky when you are a nursing mother and have small children. 😦 One environmental concern I DO have and wish we could solve.) So world transportation must be extremely efficient, which is just another reason that if there is a food crisis anywhere, it is artificially created, usually for political reasons.
 
duskyjewel said:
You are right about this. We have a very modest income… yet I have bananas from Guatemala in my kitchen right now. In the winter, when our own navel oranges are not available, I can get Australian ones the whole time. DH and I had Australian lamb for Valentine’s Day, and I made lo mein with wild-caught Indonesian shrimp last week. (I know to avoid the farmed stuff for health concerns. Fish is tricky when you are a nursing mother and have small children. 😦 One environmental concern I DO have and wish we could solve.) So world transportation must be extremely efficient, which is just another reason that if there is a food crisis anywhere, it is artificially created, usually for political reasons.
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True. I shop frequently at Trader Joe’s, and even though I live in California, I notice that the tomatoes are frequently from Spain or Holland. Then if you go and look in the frozen food section, the frozen pizza is from Italy, the frozen ratatouille is from France…and it is all very inexpensive.
 
iamrefreshed said:
You’re not accounting for the exchange rate when you compare $1.90 avocado and the 3 pound cheesburger meal. That and the fact that a $1.90 avocado is ridiculous.😉
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What I’m saying is that the 1 veg in America was the same price as a Cheeseburger meal in America, while in the UK, the veg would be cheaper and the Cheeseburger would be about 4x the price of the vegetable.
 
One thing I’ve often wondered:

I like buying local. I’m lucky enough to live in Wisconsin where we have lots of farmer’s markets, fresh cheese, dairy, bread, meat, etc.

I like doing it because I enjoy supporting the local economy, knowing that the food hasn’t travelled far, it’s generally higher quality/fresher and in general it seems more sustainable. (The farmer’s markets are often organic as well, so I don’t have to choose between organic vs. local)

However, I know that a lot of foreign countries do export things as part of their economy…so what is a more ‘moral’ choice? To buy local and support the ‘little guy’ and our own economy, as well as reduce the carbon footprint and money spent on transportation? Or to also support other economies? I also have concerns that buying a lot of foreign things may damage our economy, and can also hurt the country of origin because the food isn’t going where it’s needed, or I’m supporting unfair trade practices.

I remember when the whole ‘Buy America’ thing was a big deal. Is that necessarily the most ethical choice?

It’s something I’m interested in - being moral in my monetary choices - but since I have no training in economics, politcs, etc, I’m not sure what the right choice always is.
 
dulcissima said:
True. I shop frequently at Trader Joe’s, and even though I live in California, I notice that the tomatoes are frequently from Spain or Holland. Then if you go and look in the frozen food section, the frozen pizza is from Italy, the frozen ratatouille is from France…and it is all very inexpensive.
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We have been to Trader Joe’s and not bought there because the prices are too high for me. Can do better at the usual supermarkets.
 
Al_Masetti said:
We have been to Trader Joe’s and not bought there because the prices are too high for me. Can do better at the usual supermarkets.
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The only thing that I find to be more expensive there is the meat. For me the basics like bread, milk, eggs, butter, olive oil, rice, etc., Trader Joe’s is about 30% less than the grocery store.
 
DL brings up a good point…
Do you realise that all the world’s cows produce as much greenhouse gas as all the world’s cars?
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If this were true, shouldn’t we all eat the cows to reduce greenhouse gasses?

[SIGN]LET THEM EAT STEAK!!![/SIGN]

That’s a diet I would have no objection to.
 
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