How the World is Eating, as Eating Gets More Expensive
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03.12.08
It seems like the cost of food is all over the news these days, and it keeps making a regular appearance on TreeHugger too. Only last week we reported on a speech made by the UK’s Chief Scientist about how the food crisis will bite well before climate change does, not to mention the calls from pig farmers to Stand By Your Ham. But how are rising costs effecting ordinary consumers? We’ve already heard that Italians are worried about the pasta vs biofuels debate, while Germans are concerned about the threat to their gummy bears. Now the BBC has an interesting feature, talking to six different families, from Kenya to Guatemala to the UK to China, about how the rise in food prices has impacted their daily lives. For a few choice quotes, click below the fold.
The Rodas family in Guatemala say they’ve certainly noticed the rise in costs, and have changed their buying habits somewhat, but they spare a thought for poorer families who are hit even harder by rising costs:
“The rise in the prices of all the basic food products here is alarming, and it is even worse for the families who live in extreme poverty, because they don't have enough food to live with dignity.
I have noticed the rise as well. We used to eat meat five times a week, and we can only do it twice now. The children don't drink milk three times a day but once for breakfast, and we don't buy some fruits that get too expensive depending on the season.”
Unsurprisingly, for those who advocate that a low meat or no meat diet is more efficient, meat and dairy have been the first commodities to cut back on for many families. The Wang Jun family in China, for example, now “only eat chopped-up pork two or three times a week, but with vegetables”, and the Abdulwahab family in Egypt now “eat meat just once a week instead of every day”. Meanwhile the Wang Jun family has also found itself returning to locally grown produce, because it’s cheaper, and the Mbiru family in Kenya have also abandoned the supermarket in favour of the local shops. All of which raises an important question - the rise in consumption from increasingly affluent developing countries is seen as inevitably driving up demand, and therefore prices, but how will that rise in prices effect consumer behaviour, and therefore demand?
Interesting times at the end of the era of cheap food. As with our post on the UK Chief Scientist’s comments, we’d like to point out that there are many innovative and exciting ways to work towards food security, from the low to the high tech approach, including vertical farming; underground agriculture; aquaponics; permaculture; food not lawns; DIY hydroponics; and community gardens. We’re not helpless yet…
::The BBC::via site visit::
This is interesting. I myself have planted some herbs in our window-box garden, and I pilfer from my mom's backyard garden whenever we go over there.
I've found a local butcher and that saves there...it also has educated me about the meat process and I have less guilt about the welfare/safety of my food. We've also cut down on the meat portions in our meals.
Lastly - I found a local (40 miles) farm that we'll be frequenting as soon as I get the OK that they're ready for customers.
localharvest.org
Fascinating stuff. It is such a conflict, isn't it, trying to eat right but not blow the budget on food. We make choices about what we eat, and try to make them smart ones. We don't always succeed, but we succeed more now than we did a year ago, but less (I hope!) than we will do a year from now.
It's all a learning curve.
Cheers!
I definitely feel for the families who are giving up staple ingredients or "don't have enough food to live with dignity" (which I find to be a beautiful phrase to describe such an awful state to be in), but I heard a lady on TV today whining that she couldn't afford fresh blueberries anymore. My first thought was "Too bad!" they're not in season, why should someone feel that they have a right to eat whatever they want anytime they want. I wish I could say that this would be good to drive people toward eating more seasonally, but unfortunately, it's never the wealthy and extravegant who are hit hard, it's the folks barely scraping by.
The minute I'm able and the market is decent I'm buying a house so I can grow my own food and raise chickens. Plus, it's Florida, so no one bats an eye if you have chickens running around wild in your backyard.
Yep, as soon as I bought my house I tore up a good chunk of my back yard. I grew a lot but was still hitting the farmers market a lot. This year the wife agreeed to let me tear up all of the lawn. I don't know if I'll get it all planted but I hope to grow a lot more this year!. My goal is 25% of my food this summer.
Economies like India and China have more income to upgrade their diets. Grain and meat prices are up as the result. Very poor countries are going to starve. Famine will expand throughout the developing world. Over population and over consumption is the culprit. Economies are all predicated on growth so reducing consumption and/or consumers is not something the markets want. It will take a real effort at the grass roots level to curtail what's happening but I fear it maybe too late for a good many people on this planet. Where's a good plague when you need one?
Economies like India and China have more income to upgrade their diets. Grain and meat prices are up as the result. Very poor countries are going to starve. Famine will expand throughout the developing world. Over population and over consumption is the culprit. Economies are all predicated on growth so reducing consumption and/or consumers is not something the markets want. It will take a real effort at the grass roots level to curtail what's happening but I fear it maybe too late for a good many people on this planet. Where's a good plague when you need one?
Was discussing this very thing the other day. Sadly things like Pepsi and Coke are cheaper that real food like milk. Also fried pies and baked goods are cheaper than fresh fish,meat and eggs. I don't know what that does in other countries, but here that means that people that don't have a decent income to spend on food, feed thier children 'trash' food. It is very unhealthy even in small doses, and i believe every bit as addictive as drugs, alchohol and tobacco. I have a large garden and enjoy it personally. They tomatoes from my garden are way better that I can buy at the store, And with tomatoes at almost $2.00 a lb., that saves me a lot. Families used to grow almost everything they needed in the garden 100 yrs ago. What happened?