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Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
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Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know it's fashionable to blame capitalism on everything, but dealing with excess produce is legitimately a hard problem because they have a shelf life and someone has to harvest them and move them to where consumers are.
With advanced preservation techniques, we can extend the shelf life of food almost indefinitely. This flexibility extends to the farm level as well: farmers have the agility to pivot production annually, switching from low-demand crops like potatoes to more profitable alternatives as the market dictates.
For example, these potatoes would last indefinitely in liquid form. ;)
Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#83Food abundance is crazy to have. Preservation techniques are incredible right now as well. They're no match for a fresh fruit, but if I can get thawed grapes through the year without seasons having significance I'll take them. I am constantly impressed by these seemingly mundane improvements to our lives over the years that have advanced science and development behind them.
I watched a documentary a while ago on YT, I can't remember the name now, but it was talking about the negative affects of this.
It was discussing how crops are bred specifically for life span and storefront appeal, at the expense of other attributes like taste and nutrition. It focussed on tomatoes, but I'd assume it is true for all crops.
Also fun fact: a kg of tomato seeds can be worth more than a kg of gold.
Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
They’ve been driving people to use their app for years now. The menu prices isn’t what one pays if they use the app, since it has a constant stream of coupons and discounts that bring the list price down.
Pretty much a standard 20% off, sometimes 25% as a deal depending on amount spent. BOGO value menu McDouble / McChickens. Points that add up to actually free food. Items not on the menu in store. It's robbery if you don't use their app now.
I’m not convinced it’s that good because of how the deals are structured. For example, top deal where I am at the moment is 9 chicken nuggets plus two medium drinks plus two sauces for 1990 HUF. That’s a two person deal (you don’t need two drinks if you’re on your own), but there are no chips, add a large chips to share at 1270 HUF and your meal costs 3260 HUF. Two four nugget McMoment deals comes to 3060 HUF (small fries, small drink). Are an extra 80ml of coke and half a nugget each worth 200 HUF? Maybe? But it’s definitely not the huge savings it purports to be.
This walkthrough is just an example, open the app yourself and have a look, most of the deals are just an item or two away from being a thing people would actually order.
Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
The French term for potatoes is also ‘earth apple’: pomme de terre
french fries are pommes frites. the french term is also used in germany (though sometimes shortened to pommes or fritten).
"Pommes frites" is German, not French. (It might have been French in the past, but nobody says that in French anymore.)
Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interestingly, some other products are also cheaper today than few months ago: Basmati rice: -25% (2.5 Euro/Kg) Pork: -25% (7-8 Euro/Kg) Butter: -33% (4 Euro/Kg) Coffee beans: -25% (10-12 Euro/Kg) Chocolate: -15% (20-30 Euro/Kg)
And then I went to the supermarket today and they wanted like €1.50 for a cucumber. A cucumber! That is essentially crispy water.
To be fair it is January, so your crispy water has to be grown in a heated greenhouse.
Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#87It's good they didn't flood the market and tank the price. It's real btw. I got a whole wagens worth and distributed amongst my neighbors
I am not sure if flooding the market is something really doable. At least in short timeframe. Demand is mostly inelastic. And buyers have their own predictions. They won't buy more than they can pass on how matter cheap it is. So price will likely drop, but demand will not go up much.
Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
french fries are pommes frites. the french term is also used in germany (though sometimes shortened to pommes or fritten).
"Pommes frites" is German, not French. (It might have been French in the past, but nobody says that in French anymore.)
a term falling out if use does not make it foreign. even if no longer common pommes frites is still a french term. the french wikipedia page also does not give any indication that the term is no longer used.
Re: Berlin: Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes
#89This kind of stunt is never received well in a working market economy.
Best case it will bankrupt well-meaning potato farmers.
Worst case, someone does it with malicious intent to grow a monopoly.