Food for Thought

One way I try to stay ahead of the gathering economic storm is to cast a net far and wide in a search for intelligence and useful information. Invariably, such efforts lead me to news reports about interesting developments overseas, which might not yet be on the mainstream media radar here in the United States. Today, I came across this article from NEWS.com.au, "Frugal Food Recession's Best-Seller," which details a trend that could become quite popular in the land of plenty in the immediate years ahead.

As the world struggles to come to terms with the financial crisis, the corner bookseller in London is witnessing an interesting sales phenomenon.

Retail sales figures are at their lowest levels in a decade, but one book type that is flying off the shelves is the cooking genre - specifically, cook books with step-by-step guides for cash-strapped families on how to rustle up a meal on a budget.

Savvy salesman Jamie Oliver was one of the first to see what was coming and introduced his Ministry of Food cook book and DVD series. Based on the bureaucratic department set up during World War II to deal with the food crisis, the book goes over the basics of food - from mince and onion pies to beef and carrot stews - and is now set to become a best-seller.

Then TV cook Delia Smith relaunched her Frugal Food recipe book - first published 32 years ago to help feed recession-hit Britain in the 1970s.

The 170 starters, mains and desserts also heavily feature stews and bean dishes.

"It is my hope that a new generation, faced with rising costs, will also find the book helpful," Smith said.

Embattled PM Gordon Brown may be too worried about the bigger picture to have noticed the books, but they are being embraced in the UK as an entire population starts to suffer from the steepest food price rises in almost a generation.

In the past 12 months alone, the price of a loaf of bread rose 47 per cent, butter 41 per cent, potatoes 57 per cent, eggs 37 per cent and fuel 30 per cent.

Such is the impact of the fuel rise, UK car sales figures are the worst since the introduction of the Mini in the 1960s. Such is the panic on the streets that two major supermarket chains have introduced clothing-style electronic security tags on their quality export meat trays, from places like Australia and New Zealand, after a noticeable increase in theft in recent months. There's no sign things will get better in the short term.

Costs for food staples are expected to increase again this month, with a washout of a British summer wiping out grain crops and prompting moves to significantly increase exports of foodstuffs like wheat from Australia.

Redundancies, too, have skyrocketed, particularly in the financial sector, which is expected to lose another 110,000 people in the next 12 months.

"Millions of public sector workers face a 2 per cent pay cap and will be forced to make tough choices between heating or eating this winter," said Dave prentice, head of Unison, one of Britain's large unions. Britain is set to suffer what its Treasurer Alistair Darling says is the worst turbulence in 60 years and analysts say Australia could no longer consider itself immune.

For Australians in Britain, there is equal panic, with the Australian dollar dropping to a low of $1.80 to the British pound, down from around $2.50 last year.

According to recruitment firm Link, this has seen Australians deserting London in droves - up to 34,000 a year - for more secure employment at home.

Meanwhile, Penguin has confirmed that Oliver's Ministry of Food book is due to go on sale on Australian shelves by the end of the year - it may know something the government fears, but won't predict.

Comments

[roger]

Going way back in time.....I can remember when there was no electronic
security tag,,,when mother did not need a frugal cook book, I remember
traveling the back roads of Morocco with a bicycle & camping with no
fear of the local Arabs,quiet the contrary they where very hospitable
and yet there was also hard economic times.To day we expect riots in
the streets,stealing on a grand scale and corruption in the highest places.
I expect the next cook books to have a recipe on how to boil water.
(hope I don't bore you with my ranting)

[H.Spencer]

Roger says it just right in the first post. Today you would get your head crushed over your place in line for gasoline, and you would get shot over the last loaf of bread on the shelf. At least in the last Depression, people still had a bit of civil orientation. Today they have none. As to Roger's statement on stealing on a grand scale, and corruption in the highest places, that is why we find ourselves in this condition to begin with. In these terrible times, I offer this: Nothing in this world compares with the AWESOME, PEACEFUL, and STRONG Personal position of being 1000 % Debt Free. Nothing you can buy on credit can compare in anyway in making you feel the same power and high, as being DEBT FREE.

[PDamian]

Now this is a trend I sincerely hope will continue for a bit -- like, say, for the next millenium or two. Last spring, I made empanadas de queso and empanadas de queso con carne for my students (I teach at a small Midwestern university) as an end-of-semester treat. Quite a few of my students asked me where I bought my empanadas, and when I told them that I made them from scratch, using my abuelita's recipe, they were astonished. Turned out most of them can't cook anything that doesn't come out of some sort of box or plastic wrapper. One of them thought my empanadas were some sort of Hot Pocket (TM) that he'd missed on his last trip to 7-Eleven. Quite a few of them are spending a considerable amount of money on eating out - not because they want to, but because they have no idea of how to prepare a simple, inexpensive meal. Uh-oh ...

[Don Parker]

e have lost our country. It has been stolen from us by the politicians, the banksters and the judicial system.The Constitution has been obfuscated to the point that we the people have no power left to govern ourselves.I think it is time for "We the People" to enlist our military to take back our country from our so called "representatives". Maybe someone will take us seriously if they knew they had the backing of the public. Without the military we don't have a gnat's chance to save ourselves. The system is broken. It can not be repaired by the people who have broken it. As the Declaration of Independence very clearly states: "it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." Write the military and all the media outlets that you can. And keep writing and keep talking to anyone who will listen. I want my America back.

I am not advocating for violence here. Just the power that rightly belongs to "The People".

Here is the link to make the request:

http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/erms.aspx?SectionID=2

And here is the request that I sent:

Dear military leaders,

Our elected representatives are no longer representing "We the People". They are and have been for a very long time in bed with the very people they are supposed to be protecting us from. It is time to get back to our original Constitution.

I am only one old man who has no power and no authority. Our voting does no good.

I want my America back.

What are you going to do about it??????

Don Parker
Odessa Fl

[tim young]

Reply Don Parker,
It’s interesting that you invoke the military. The US military is a factor in this catastrophe that I think is underappreciated. Probably because when the media portrays them at all, they are supposedly overstretched, exhausted, and demoralized at best, and as violent, undisciplined, barbarous and feckless at worst. They can’t understand why anyone with any other options or aptitudes at all would join the military. In reality, they are the most effective, disciplined and battle hardened on the planet. Because, unlike in Vietnam era, they are all volunteer and they train and stay together throughout their service and they are dedicated to each other. This is why they continue to volunteer for more tours to the astonishment of the media. In the book AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country, the authors point out that the ivy league elites that overwhelmingly end up in leadership have no military experience and are ideologically hostile to the military In earlier times it was considered honorable for Ivy grads to serve in the military. Now it’s all red staters that make up the military leadership and they are very ideologically UNLIKE the elites in government. I know many who have served in iriq and afganistan and they are freaked out at what is happening to our country. They actually worry a lot more about what is happening on the homefront than in the combat zones.
If we wind up under martial law, it may happen and occur under terms that most cannot imagine right now.

[Oz Man]

Hey! For ausi's in london it ain't so bad! the aud's down a LOT in the last month. It's back to 2.51! check the forex sites.