I am fascinated by the recent increase in food prices. While I had been hearing rumblings (no pun intended) of this phenomenon over the past year, I became aware of the details after reading an article featured in The Economist late last year. Call me naive, but I always assumed that the food basics (bread, fruit, veggies, milk, eggs, meat, etc...) would plod along at prices generally pegged to inflation. Not so. In short, the rise in foreign food consumption coupled with the boom in biofuel production has created this unprecedented rise in food prices. As the article points out, the rising prices have been a boon to farmers and the "windfall" has led lawmakers to place renewed scrutiny on government programs meant to keep the price of domestic crops high while limiting foreign, often third-world, imports. A corollary to these developments, as explained in this NY Times article, is the farmer's increasing unwillingness to continue conservation arrangements in the face of these high prices.
As one may expect, this emerging phenomenon is a serious threat to the viability of the cheap and numerous All-You-Can-Eat buffets that have sprouted up over the last few decades. It makes me wonder what the denizens of these eateries, like hip-hop heavyweights the Fat Boys, will do to satiate their enormous appetites.
May your pants always be snug,
The editing on this video is top notch. Top notch.
Posted by: Schweif | May 07, 2008 at 01:33 PM