Open Thread

quote:
They couldn’t afford fruit at all, and were so afraid of scurvy they were raiding a neighbors lemon trees to squeeze the juice.

i don’t know why, but that seriously just cracked me up

*rob*

And one last jump on the $1 a day food, and I’m done.

The California couple in rob’s link did live on $1 a day for a month. Barely. They were vegetarians to begin with, first of all. They couldn’t afford vegetables, except once in a blue moon. They lived on home made tortillas and beans, corn meal and rice. They couldn’t afford bread.

They made their own pancakes, but couldn’t afford syrup, so they got a local restaurant to give them free packets. The husband was so weak, with so little energy, he couldn’t go to the gym or work out.

They couldn’t afford fruit at all, and were so afraid of scurvy they were raiding a neighbors lemon trees to squeeze the juice.

No one on this OT would do that for very long.

At the end of the month, the husband said, “I challenge anyone to try to live on a dollar a day and eat fresh food in this country,” Mr. Greenslate said. “I would love to be proven wrong.”

In the same WSJ article, the author cited a recent study – “Last year, Dr. Drewnowski led a study, published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, comparing the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. The study showed that “energy dense” junk foods, which pack the most calories and fewest nutrients per gram, were far less expensive than nutrient-rich, lower-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables. The prices of the most healthful foods surged 19.5 percent over the two-year study period, while the junk food prices dropped 1.8 percent.”

So please, I grew up pretty poor myself, and have eaten tons of frozen veggies, and still do. I’ve also eaten my share of chicken backs, rice and beans, and other stretch-em-out staples of the poor. We never went to restaurants, and we were never on food stamps or welfare. We also grew fresh vegetables, and picked apples, pears, and berries.But that was in the country where food was cheaper, and fresh food was more available. But living on $75 or even $150 a month for a family of four, with growing kids, in NYC in 2011 is tight. Let’s not pretend they are all eating doritos and soda all day, or living on steak. Yeah, it can be done, but it’s a struggle, because being poor is a struggle, and damn hard.

The IBM Watson computer plays on Jeopardy tonight.

What’s up??????

Ok Grammy’s:
Lady Gaga sucks – she’s alice cooper, but he did it better
Cee Lo Green – was Hilarious – loved his costume and Gwyneth wasn’t all too bad
The tribute to Aretha – I thought was really solid
Mumford & Sons – LOVED! – that Banjo player was rocking HARD
Avett Brothers – while I love them, they should have picked a better song
Bob Dylan – ah what can you say about him – it’s Dylan
Mick Jagger- solid solid – LOVED that Raphael Saadiq performed with him
Bruno mars/Janelle Monae/BOB performance – meh, am not into them
Arcarde Fire winning – haaaaa, well good for them! – but agreed with DH – they have had better material!