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Food security and the coming storm

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Re: Food security and the coming storm

#91

Post by bushbaba »

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…

Meal Prep and Cooking can be a huge time sink, but it doesn't need to be. At the most basic level a meal kit service will save you substantial time.

Or just get a list of recipes you like and stick to them. Sure less meal diversity, but you can optimize your meals. For me it's generic salad (Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Dressing, Cheese, Seeds), Rice Dish (Chicken, Beef, etc + Frozen Veggies), Smoothies w/Frozen Veggie and Fruit, ..etc.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#92

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#93

Post by devchix »

csydas wrote: post #85
devchix wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially with food: it takes a lot of time to source, prepare, serve and clean up Absolutely! You can't just buy a slab of chicken breast, it needs to be trimmed and put away until ready to be used. Hardest of all: planning, what to do with it, what else goes with it. Pointless to buy broccoli and kale if you don't know what makes it tastes good, and when the inspiration strikes you, there's an ugly head of brocc…

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…

I'm in a suburb of a large metropolitan area in the US. The grocery store is abundant, but 20 minutes away, I make one main trip to the store weekly, and a couple of side trips to other stores, eg Mexican/Asian groceries. We have different POV because of our geographic differences, I think. I do not think complicated recipes are good in and of themselves.

Pasta + bechamel is easy, you can't do this 5 nights a week. I'm moving away from carbohydrate-rich main dish, more to grains and pulses. A slow-cooked shoulder of pork, like a cassoulet, is easy, yet still takes time to roast, then the meat separated from the connective tissues, the fat, then a stock reduction, then the beans. I offer it as an example of cheap, easy, tasty, and time and labor intensive dish. You need some greens to serve with it, and you can't prep greens 5 days ahead. I also don't want to eat this 10 meals in a row.

Edited to add: I find Gordon Ramsey YouTube videos quite instructive, his menu is simple and tasty. I got a lot of mileage out of his techniques.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#94

Post by bushbaba »

csydas wrote: post #85
devchix wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially with food: it takes a lot of time to source, prepare, serve and clean up Absolutely! You can't just buy a slab of chicken breast, it needs to be trimmed and put away until ready to be used. Hardest of all: planning, what to do with it, what else goes with it. Pointless to buy broccoli and kale if you don't know what makes it tastes good, and when the inspiration strikes you, there's an ugly head of brocc…

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

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#95

Post by novaRom »

devchix wrote: post #62
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…

> I bake my own bread Hear hear! I bake once a week, sourdough is my white whale, I've never made a good one, the lean crusty breads need a good commercial oven to turn out a good crust. The home ovens (even with crazy modifications for steaming) don't do as well. Alas, if anything is most anti-adapted to time-saving automation it's cooking and baking. I can spend 8+ hrs a weekend (yes, that's right, 8+) for food pre…

And cooking requires a good amount of physical activity, like kneading dough. So it's a kind of small workout for me.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#96

Post by layer8 »

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…

I’m lazy and try to minimize food preparation time, and I don’t find it difficult. I don’t know how you define healthy, but I often just fry some steak or piece of fish in the pan with a side of frozen ready-made pre-seasoned vegetables in the microwave. It takes like ten minutes. Or a curry using a good curry paste with coconut milk and vegetables and/or meat, optionally some rice from the rice cooker, doesn’t take more than 20 minutes actual preparation time.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#97

Post by enraged_camel »

pphysch wrote: post #80

> Over the last three months, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shocked agricultural markets Did Washington's illegal invasions of Iraq, Libya, or Syria shock global energy and food markets, leading to global crises? No, because a large part of the global economy did not attempt to cut off USA from the global economy following those blatant violations of sovereignty. This real lede is buried deep in the article. The f…

>> Did Washington's illegal invasions of Iraq, Libya, or Syria shock global energy and food markets, leading to global crises?

Not a good comparison in terms of food. Ukraine produces 6% of the world's wheat. Russia produces 17%. The former is unable to export its stockpiles due to the Black Sea blockade by the latter, and the latter is not going to be exporting what it produces because they recognize that they can use it as leverage.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#98

Post by hunter-gatherer »

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. :(

Did this for a while but also wanted to do two loaves at once. I started baking on a steel plate and added a tray with water soaked lava rocks in the oven. It turns out pretty much the same as baking in the Dutch oven for me.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#99

Post by ibejoeb »

code123456789 wrote: post #71

LOL. The article says that to fix the issue we need some international efforts and blah blah blah. Bullshit. All we need is to sink down russian ships in Black sea. Even better will be to help with the liberation of both Kherson and Crimea regions. Zaporizhzhya and Donbas can be liberated later, but Bastion rockets in Crimea endanger ports in Odesa and Yuzhne. This is the easiest way to provide food to emerging marke…

Who is "we" in this context?

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#100

Post by guerrilla »

pphysch wrote: post #80

> Over the last three months, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shocked agricultural markets Did Washington's illegal invasions of Iraq, Libya, or Syria shock global energy and food markets, leading to global crises? No, because a large part of the global economy did not attempt to cut off USA from the global economy following those blatant violations of sovereignty. This real lede is buried deep in the article. The f…

I tend to agree but I want to add some reasons.

First is that it's clearly ineffective. As much propaganda as we hear, Russia's still getting what it wants. Russia pulled out of most of the country the day after Zelensky announced they might not go in NATO after all [1]. The south (which is strategic to Russia - see my other comment[2]) is theirs. The ruble is better than it was before the war even with lifted capital controls and lowered interest rates. Most Russians don't seem to be too effected either.

Second, even if it were effective, it seems like somewhat of a major contradiction to claim that the Russian people are powerless victims of a violent authoritarian regime while at the same time expecting them to go to war with their overclass in order to stop this after starving them into it. It also ignores the fact that they did not do so in nearly a century of brutal repression and, at times, starvation. Are we supposed to wait another 69 years for sanctions to take effect, recalling that the fall of the USSR wasn't even violent regime change or capitulation but rather a decision that benefited the overclass itself?

1. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/zelensky-ukr...

2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31549358

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