Kids are asleep

[conuly]

I finally signed up for that CSA. A full veggie share, AND a fruit share AND (just because) an egg share, so hopefully that will sustain the two little growing-like-weeds kids who live in this house, especially what with the garden and all as well.

The fruit share isn't all that much, but then again, it costs less too. And we can always buy fruit, right?

So we'll see how this goes this year. Wish me luck!

Edit: Oh, cool. The farm doing the CSA I joined (picked solely on the fact that it has a clearly written payment plan) also does a "market CSA". NOT this year, obviously, but next year that'd be a great idea to supplement the veggies and fruits, right?

I really want to buy from the farmer's market more often, you know. I hear so often (from people who travel a lot and therefore have Opinions) that our prices for food and clothes in the US are "so low" compared to other places - even wealthy places! And I hear from other people (who read a lot and are full of social conscience and who also, therefore, have Opinions) that our prices in the US don't reflect the "true cost" of good food and clothes.

Well, I don't know. I live in the US, what do I know about prices and life outside?

But I read an article recently, an editorial really, about a guy who decided to only eat humanely raised meat. (I *also* have heard it said that if you don't eat meat for ethical and/or environmental reasons you do a better job by convincing three people to eat less meat than by trying (and failing) to convince one person to go vegan, and that's probably true.) He found out that it's more expensive that way. What he didn't say, but I thought at the end, is that it might not have to be so much more expensive.

If you buy beef at a few dollars a pound, and you throw out the bones with meat still on them even, and you burn a little, and you let some get freezer burned so it's largely useless, and you throw out some of your leftovers, and you eat a HUGE portion... how much have you gained doing this? If you bought that same beef at two or three or four times the price and you used the bones for stock and you only bought as much as you needed and you used more rice grains and veggies to fill out the bulk... well, I don't know. I always figured that meat was kinda boring, it's spices and veggies and fruit that tastes good!

(And, for that matter, why do people eat meat every day? Seriously? Nobody in the history of the world ate meat like that until recently, did they?)

I'm rambling. I'm sorry, it must be this rainy (ugh) weather.

Comments

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

I can tell you that everything is very expensive in Iceland, although we do have high wages. Still, I feel food here in Sweden is so cheap, and everyone else here thinks it's fairly expensive.

People in the history of Iceland ate meat every day, and not much else, actually, apart from fish and dairy produce and perhaps some lichens, algae, roots and berries, since that was the only way to survive until the Little Ice Age ended. Then people began to be able to grow root vegetables and even some cereals. Some meal was imported by the Danish, but that was often mixed with sand and wormy too.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Seconded. Some areas are just not that arable, so you gotta live on what's there.

I was just discussing this recently with someone (that college kid who turned up with scurvy was what started the convo on the topic). Esquimaux, after all, lived on very little other than meat, fish and more meat. (I noted that in order to avoid deficiencies in A and C vitamins, you must eat some of your meat raw, and include raw liver...but not too much and never bear liver. Also, during the summer include intestinal contents in soups and stews.)

[conuly]

I hadn't thought of that.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Which brings me to a point I have some opinion on. I think it is rather naïve of many authorities to assume that all populations have the same dietary requirements, as the dietary environment has not at all been the same globally, and since dietary environment greatly affects survival, it is a fairly strong evolutionary pressure (within species parameters in not a longer time). Consequently, it may not be optimal for Icelanders or Inuit to live on a diet that's perfectly suited to a Cambodian, and vice versa.

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

My mother, for one, is convinced that if I don't eat some form of animal protein with every meal I will starve.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yes, historically people in the northern lands have always eaten a lot of meat. Vegetarianism is really only practical in the tropical and subtropical regions. LOL, the hunters around here say "vegetables are what food eats".

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

I can tell you that everything is very expensive in Iceland, although we do have high wages. Still, I feel food here in Sweden is so cheap, and everyone else here thinks it's fairly expensive.

People in the history of Iceland ate meat every day, and not much else, actually, apart from fish and dairy produce and perhaps some lichens, algae, roots and berries, since that was the only way to survive until the Little Ice Age ended. Then people began to be able to grow root vegetables and even some cereals. Some meal was imported by the Danish, but that was often mixed with sand and wormy too.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Seconded. Some areas are just not that arable, so you gotta live on what's there.

I was just discussing this recently with someone (that college kid who turned up with scurvy was what started the convo on the topic). Esquimaux, after all, lived on very little other than meat, fish and more meat. (I noted that in order to avoid deficiencies in A and C vitamins, you must eat some of your meat raw, and include raw liver...but not too much and never bear liver. Also, during the summer include intestinal contents in soups and stews.)

[conuly]

I hadn't thought of that.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Which brings me to a point I have some opinion on. I think it is rather naïve of many authorities to assume that all populations have the same dietary requirements, as the dietary environment has not at all been the same globally, and since dietary environment greatly affects survival, it is a fairly strong evolutionary pressure (within species parameters in not a longer time). Consequently, it may not be optimal for Icelanders or Inuit to live on a diet that's perfectly suited to a Cambodian, and vice versa.

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

My mother, for one, is convinced that if I don't eat some form of animal protein with every meal I will starve.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yes, historically people in the northern lands have always eaten a lot of meat. Vegetarianism is really only practical in the tropical and subtropical regions. LOL, the hunters around here say "vegetables are what food eats".