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Food security and the coming storm

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Re: Food security and the coming storm

#141

Post by giantg2 »

fny wrote: post #134
jillesvangurp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm less pessimistic. People in the US, and increasingly the rest of the world are on a diet that just isn't good for them: lots of low quality carbs with cheap fat and artificial flavorings and not a whole lot of nutritional value. Arguably, a large part of the population is eating way more than is good for them and not enough good quality food. And it's not just a money issue: it's a skill and knowledge issue. Peop…

Before you all clamor over organics, I'm going to leave some evidence to ponder. The food shortages in Sri Lanka are primarily due to ditching industrial agriculture in favor of organic: https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/05/sri-lanka-organic-farmi... We depend on industrial food processes to create the yields necessary to support society. Organic food does NOT provide commensurate food security.

And conventional/industrial won't provide longterm, sustainable food security either. There are too many people to sustainably support.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#142

Post by ericd »

devchix wrote: post #86
xyzzyz wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want a good crust, put a Dutch oven in your oven as it’s warming up, so that it also gets hot, then take it out, drop the dough into it (has to be low hydration to keep shape), cover with lid and put it back into oven. This will keep the steam inside the Dutch oven. In my experience, it actually makes it so crusty that I take it out of Dutch oven halfway to not overdo it.

Yes, I'm using this method. The downside is I can only bake 1 loaf at a time, limited by the size of the Dutch oven, and no baguette. :(

This is why you buy a second Dutch oven :-) maybe a slightly different size, so it’s convenient for eg smaller dishes, if your first is on the big side.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#143

Post by Viliam1234 »

pharmakom wrote: post #20
jillesvangurp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm less pessimistic. People in the US, and increasingly the rest of the world are on a diet that just isn't good for them: lots of low quality carbs with cheap fat and artificial flavorings and not a whole lot of nutritional value. Arguably, a large part of the population is eating way more than is good for them and not enough good quality food. And it's not just a money issue: it's a skill and knowledge issue. Peop…

Time for me is by far the limiting factor. Short of a personal chef (too expensive) all the quick options are unhealthy. Edit: Loads of people suggesting cooking - I know how to cook, I just don’t have the time or energy. It’s not just preparation time but also the planning aspect. Meal prep delivery services suggestions are interesting. I have tried a few and found them expensive and low quality. Open to trying more…

Cooking can take a lot of time, but there are some tricks to make it more efficient.

1) Buy a large freezer. Then you can cook larger amounts, divide them into small boxes, and freeze them. That means you can have a cooked meal every day, without having to cook every day, or having to eat the same meal two days in a row.

A large freezer also allows you to buy ingredients when they are cheap, without having to consume them immediately. Peel them, cut them, freeze them. Later, take them out of the freezer and put them into boling water.

2) Be selective about the recipes. Some of them require 2 hours of work. Some of them only require 30 minutes, and 20 minutes of that is literally waiting. You can decide to only do the latter. And the waiting time can be spent doing something else.

3) While you cook, you can listen to a podcast or an audio book. Download some good stuff to your smartphone, or buy a wireless headset. Cooking for 2 hours can be fun, if you simultaneously listen to Joe Rogan.

An alternative is having someone to talk to. This may depend on how your house is organized. Sometimes the kitchen is at the opposite side from the living room; sometimes the two are connected. In the latter case, you can chat with someone while cooking.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#144

Post by avgcorrection »

lotusmars wrote: post #17
ImHereToVote wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno. Mariupol doesn't look that flattened to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1I8SZeXGFo

Plese don't spread Russian propaganda. Graham Philips worked a token "pro-Putin Westerner" on RT and Zvezda, which is literally Russian army's TV channel. He's as shilly as it gets.

No post body was provided.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#145

Post by Viliam1234 »

xyzzyz wrote: post #83
IncRnd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, babies have been eating for an extremely long time, far longer than boxes and bottles have been around and filled with the "only way to feed the babies".

In the old days, the alternative to store bought baby formula has not been a home-made one, it has rather been a wet nurse. At the time, people had more kids, so there were usually wet nurses available close by.

Also, many kids died.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#146

Post by lotusmars »

h2odragon wrote: post #67
lotusmars wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plese don't spread Russian propaganda. Graham Philips worked a token "pro-Putin Westerner" on RT and Zvezda, which is literally Russian army's TV channel. He's as shilly as it gets.

All that's available form "official" sources is propaganda; might as well look at both sides. There's not likely to be any truth there, but one may have more hope of discerning truth by looking at things, than by refusing to do so.

This in itself is Kremlin's propaganda 101.

Kremlin's most effective propagandist media and influencers are never as blunt as "Putin is good".

It's more like "we never know the truth". "One side says that, another says that", "we don't know who's credible". "Truth is somewhere in the middle". "Politicians are dirty everywhere". "Everything is propaganda".

It's effectively the leutmotif of Russian media that aims to disorient and pacify domestic audience and they use it a lot on Western audience as well.

A great example was their media strategy on MH17 downing.

First they made sure their network of influencers spat out dozens of theories, no matter how contradicting or bizarre they are. "The plane was already filled with corpses". "Ukrainian jet fighter shot it down" (look up their military briefing on it, it's absolutely hilarious with disproportionally huge fake jet fighter pasted on a satellite image). "Spanish dispatcher saw it". "Ukrainian Buk shot it down". "There was no plane".

Afterwards give airtime to all the theories by saying "we're not claiming it's truth, but sources say this". Make your head spin, make you doubt everything. With such overload you have no other option but to just tune out, turn it off. There is no truth. Any voice is propaganda.

Peter Pomerantes had a great book "This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality"[1] on their tactics, a recommended read.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/This-Not-Propaganda-Adventures-Agains...

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#147

Post by hansvm »

bushbaba wrote: post #94
csydas wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree at large, but give exception to at least the US due to how cities are built. I am not a chef by any means or even a cook, but I learned how to cook in University due to being unbelievably poor and got tired of "low budget fast meals". Quotes because I don't think that the meals that fall into this category are at all better than their "proper" counter parts. Prepping a quick pasta with béchamel does not ta…

Having the right set of tools and prep space really is key. A good chefs knife, a cast iron pan, a fry pan, a pot, and cutting board is all you need. Learning good knife skills and having a good chef knife drastically speeds up prep time by 2-3x. For example take dicing an onion. If you didn't know this technique it'd likely take you more than 30secs to dice an onion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuebC0CfD8E

If anyone here is new to cooking and wanting to start on a budget, you can easily get away with a cheap knife, cheap set of diamond stones, a cutting board, and an enameled dutch oven. $60-$100 after shipping and tax, and you'll be able to cook basically everything. The knife being sharp is much more important than it being high quality (being sharp is also not essential, but it makes a big difference).

If you want to splurge, I also like a few bamboo spoons.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#148

Post by radford-neal »

Throwawayaerlei wrote: post #126
radford-neal wrote: post #51

No mention of the amount of food diverted to biofuels, such as corn being converted to ethanol. Stopping doing that would be the easiest way to increase food production. Maybe this omission has something to do with their ritual invocation (on no evidence) of climate change as a cause of the food shortfall. Not mentioning biofuels may be a matter of solidarity with other climate alarmists. Even though biofuels are a t…

Carbohydrates are the real feed stock in corn (maize) used to make ethanol. Left over are "distillers grains" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillers_grains as in "protein, fibre, fat" which is used as animal fodder, especially for ruminants who can digest the fiber. The real total loss is in biodiesel made from vegetable fats. I can't remember the numbers now, but I read the German use of them is a substantial frac…

People need calories. The carbohydrates going to make ethanol could have provided those needed calories.

I hope the Germans are just giving up on biodiesel if they can't get sunflower oil from Ukraine, rather than buying up other food oils...

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#149

Post by zdragnar »

pharmakom wrote: post #137
atmartins wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here me out: this sounds like an excuse. If you really want to solve it you could. I did. I use a wok to cook and it's faster than going to McDonalds. It's slower than a frozen meal but not by much. I don't aim for perfection, rather, most of my meals I try and make healthy. I still love bacon. In less than 10 minutes you can chop celery, broccoli, tofu, chicken, etc. If it takes longer then solve that problem: bette…

You compared the cooking time to going to McDonald’s but didn’t include the time to go to the shops!

Or the cleanup afterwards, which is often the most unpleasant part of actually cooking.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#150

Post by guerrilla »

lotusmars wrote: post #146
h2odragon wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that's available form "official" sources is propaganda; might as well look at both sides. There's not likely to be any truth there, but one may have more hope of discerning truth by looking at things, than by refusing to do so.

This in itself is Kremlin's propaganda 101. Kremlin's most effective propagandist media and influencers are never as blunt as "Putin is good". It's more like "we never know the truth". "One side says that, another says that", "we don't know who's credible". "Truth is somewhere in the middle". "Politicians are dirty everywhere". "Everything is propaganda". It's effectively the leutmotif of Russian media that aims to d…

If you don't know that everything is propaganda, I think you're rather naive (and must have missed the first half of the war somehow.) Nobody's "informing" you out of the goodness of their heart. Capitalists and states own media because it benefits their interests and will tell you whatever is profitable for them.[1]

You're still not addressing the fact that large portions of the city are still standing, as shown in the propagandists video. Trust me, I saw the large portions that were destroyed by Russia which in my view is terrorism and very sad, but you don't lend yourself any credibility bitching about the truth not being in the middle when it clearly is in this particular case.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model

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