5 ms·

At first I wondered why bother. If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? So it seemed unnecessary and superfluo

At first I wondered why bother. If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? So it seemed unnecessary and superfluous. But I suppose there's another possible reason. If you can't give people what they want (meat), give them something else (fish) and try to convince them they do want it. If you can actually pull that off, then maybe it makes you look better and/or makes them feel better.

veltas 5y ago
>If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? So it seemed unnecessary and superfluous. No, what will happen is some people will get meat for the week in their shop, and some will get none. Imagine meat is like toilet roll, one day a family turns up late to get their food from the store and there is no meat left for them. It's better to avoid situations like this by trying to convince households to eat more alternatives, than to leave some households with no meat at all or let meat queues start etc.
- gtm1260 5y ago
  Ok but if you turn up at the meat shop and can't get any, wouldn't you then go to __x food shop down the street__ and get something else instead?
  - nanis 5y ago
    > wouldn't you then go to __x food shop down the street__ A-hem. Command economies and central planning are interesting like that.
    - antifa 5y ago
      If there is a shortage, it doesn't matter if your market is "free" or if your economic planner is Sam Walton or Сталин or Bezos, you better hurry to next shop and hope they still have some, or hope you're rich enough to buy from scalpers, or hope there is enough supply for rationing.
nanis 5y ago
> If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? Maybe, just maybe, I am really going out on a limb here, the USSR did not have prices for things that reflected the relative scarcity of items.
vodkapump 5y ago
Could also be for the same reason my family made sure we had at least 1 (fatty) fish meal every week. We live far north in Norway, sunlight is relatively scarce through the year, which means Vitamin D deficiency is a concern. But what is also a good source of Vitamin D? Fish!
- tuukkah 5y ago
  Good point. Did the USSR leaders know about the positive health effects of fish (vitamin D, fatty acids etc.) though, and if they did, why didn't they use that as an argument to convince people?
  - vodkapump 5y ago
    Come to think of it, they probably didn't. But a quick online search seems to show that the 70s was around when the world understood Vitamin D a lot more, so could be.
    - kayuri 5y ago
      They definitely did, since they promoted fish oil consumption in their healthy lifestyle propaganda ads since 1950s and maybe even earlier.
      - tuukkah 5y ago
        Wow, that's a big omission in the article then.
teachingassist 5y ago
> If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? Encouraging weekly fish-eating habits is also a mechanism to ensure that you have a healthy national fish industry, that you can dial up as soon as you need it. This is something that modern [especially European] nations seem to have institutionally neglected or forgotten. By importing all necessities and instead focusing on exporting services, you put your nation and people at risk from any such crisis.
zokier 5y ago
Note that fish day applied mostly to "commercial" kitchens: > This prompted Mikoyan to issue an order on the “introduction of a fish day at public catering establishments.” It didn't have to be Thursday, but from that moment on, factory and other canteens began to serve fish one day a week (emphasis mine)
rsynnott 5y ago
> At first I wondered why bother. If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? In the early months of the Covid pandemic, most developed countries saw a toilet paper shortage. Not due to supply, but due to consumer behaviour. If anything, a real or perceived shortage tends to cause consumers to behave less rationally, not more. Markets don’t self-regulate well in these circumstances.

veltas 5y ago

>If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? So it seemed unnecessary and superfluous. No, what will happen is some people will get meat for the week in their shop, and some will get none. Imagine meat is like toilet roll, one day a family turns up late to get their food from the store and there is no meat left for them. It's better to avoid situations like this by trying to convince households to eat more alternatives, than to leave some households with no meat at all or let meat queues start etc.

gtm1260 5y ago
Ok but if you turn up at the meat shop and can't get any, wouldn't you then go to __x food shop down the street__ and get something else instead?
- nanis 5y ago
  > wouldn't you then go to __x food shop down the street__ A-hem. Command economies and central planning are interesting like that.
  - antifa 5y ago
    If there is a shortage, it doesn't matter if your market is "free" or if your economic planner is Sam Walton or Сталин or Bezos, you better hurry to next shop and hope they still have some, or hope you're rich enough to buy from scalpers, or hope there is enough supply for rationing.

nanis 5y ago

> If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? Maybe, just maybe, I am really going out on a limb here, the USSR did not have prices for things that reflected the relative scarcity of items.

vodkapump 5y ago

Could also be for the same reason my family made sure we had at least 1 (fatty) fish meal every week. We live far north in Norway, sunlight is relatively scarce through the year, which means Vitamin D deficiency is a concern. But what is also a good source of Vitamin D? Fish!

tuukkah 5y ago
Good point. Did the USSR leaders know about the positive health effects of fish (vitamin D, fatty acids etc.) though, and if they did, why didn't they use that as an argument to convince people?
- vodkapump 5y ago
  Come to think of it, they probably didn't. But a quick online search seems to show that the 70s was around when the world understood Vitamin D a lot more, so could be.
  - kayuri 5y ago
    They definitely did, since they promoted fish oil consumption in their healthy lifestyle propaganda ads since 1950s and maybe even earlier.
    - tuukkah 5y ago
      Wow, that's a big omission in the article then.

teachingassist 5y ago

> If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? Encouraging weekly fish-eating habits is also a mechanism to ensure that you have a healthy national fish industry, that you can dial up as soon as you need it. This is something that modern [especially European] nations seem to have institutionally neglected or forgotten. By importing all necessities and instead focusing on exporting services, you put your nation and people at risk from any such crisis.

zokier 5y ago

Note that fish day applied mostly to "commercial" kitchens: > This prompted Mikoyan to issue an order on the “introduction of a fish day at public catering establishments.” It didn't have to be Thursday, but from that moment on, factory and other canteens began to serve fish one day a week (emphasis mine)

rsynnott 5y ago

> At first I wondered why bother. If there's a famine or a meat shortage, wouldn't people turn to other foods on their own? In the early months of the Covid pandemic, most developed countries saw a toilet paper shortage. Not due to supply, but due to consumer behaviour. If anything, a real or perceived shortage tends to cause consumers to behave less rationally, not more. Markets don’t self-regulate well in these circumstances.