4 ms·

There's not really a substitute for rice or cooking oil.

by giraffe_lady 4y ago

danielmarkbruce 4y ago
Pasta and butter? Bread? Fruit? Snickers bars?
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  Can you fry an egg in a snickers bar? Ever eat the famous staple food black beans & fruit? Yes I know that other foods exist.
  - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
    Those other foods are substitutes, by definition. Maybe that was sarcasm and I missed it..?
    - giraffe_lady 4y ago
      My point is that people don't consume calories they eat meals. The foods people eat, especially staple foods, are important parts of their lives. We can't guarantee every staple be cheap obviously, but a lot of these things are staples in the first place because they are cheap and widely available. If you're eating for example beans and rice as the base of your diet you're already near the bottom of possible prices for sustenance. Sure junk food is cheaper per calorie in the short term, but we don't have public healthcare where I live and you're just signing up to be publicly shamed for your health problems later.
      - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
        There is a long history of humans changing their diet in response to economic forces.
        giraffe_lady 4y ago
        [flagged]
      - selimthegrim 4y ago
        There are plenty of Caribbeans that eat black beans with plantains or bananas.
toast0 4y ago
There's a lot of different oils you can cook with though. Including animal fats. Rice has many suppliers and a couple types, but if that's not enough, other grains are available. If the cost of rice has gone up, some of those other options look more appealing. I understand this doesn't help if you're already at the maximum cal/$ and now those items are more expensive. But in that case, the problem isn't there's no substitute, the problem is there's no affordable substitute. Fixing the price of rice, so that people with low income can afford it doesn't work when there's low supply, either though. In that case, they can afford it, if it's in the shop, but chances are it will be out of stock. And you still have the hard/impossible problem of how do I eat when I can't afford food?

There's not really a substitute for rice or cooking oil.

danielmarkbruce 4y ago

Pasta and butter? Bread? Fruit? Snickers bars?

giraffe_lady 4y ago
Can you fry an egg in a snickers bar? Ever eat the famous staple food black beans & fruit? Yes I know that other foods exist.
- danielmarkbruce 4y ago
  Those other foods are substitutes, by definition. Maybe that was sarcasm and I missed it..?
  - giraffe_lady 4y ago
    My point is that people don't consume calories they eat meals. The foods people eat, especially staple foods, are important parts of their lives. We can't guarantee every staple be cheap obviously, but a lot of these things are staples in the first place because they are cheap and widely available. If you're eating for example beans and rice as the base of your diet you're already near the bottom of possible prices for sustenance. Sure junk food is cheaper per calorie in the short term, but we don't have public healthcare where I live and you're just signing up to be publicly shamed for your health problems later.
    - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
      There is a long history of humans changing their diet in response to economic forces.
      - giraffe_lady 4y ago
        [flagged]
    - selimthegrim 4y ago
      There are plenty of Caribbeans that eat black beans with plantains or bananas.

toast0 4y ago

There's a lot of different oils you can cook with though. Including animal fats. Rice has many suppliers and a couple types, but if that's not enough, other grains are available. If the cost of rice has gone up, some of those other options look more appealing. I understand this doesn't help if you're already at the maximum cal/$ and now those items are more expensive. But in that case, the problem isn't there's no substitute, the problem is there's no affordable substitute. Fixing the price of rice, so that people with low income can afford it doesn't work when there's low supply, either though. In that case, they can afford it, if it's in the shop, but chances are it will be out of stock. And you still have the hard/impossible problem of how do I eat when I can't afford food?