Howard Davidowitz, a leading expert on finances, predicted today that the lifestyle Americans have grown used to is undergoing a "permanent" transformation -- downward.
When working at a conventional job, I drove my car, a Saturn, which GM announced yesterday is being orphaned from now on, burning fossil fuels for an hour and a half, and shopped for groceries in supermarkets, often spending $100 at a time, in order to stock up for days at a time.
Now, I am developing a new habit. I walk about as long as I used to drive, and I shop in the little Mexican markets that pepper this part of the city. When you walk, you tend to buy less -- only what you can carry.
It follows that you waste less.
Tonight's haul -- choirizo, baby bok choi, tomatillos, ginger -- cost ~ $4. Other possible parts of the meal -- potatoes, garlic, onions, rice -- I have on hand.
Things that tempted me but I left for another day included okra, Mexican onions, cut cactus, and tiny eggplants.
This is no big deal here, just a tiny personal experiment to reduce my costs and lighten my carbon footprint. It's also fun, supporting my penchant to continue trying new foods.
Slightly further away, in Japantown, along Clement Street, or in the Richmond, there are Asian markets with tons of other locally grown foods. One thing I now have that used to be in short supply is time, so I can go to these neighborhoods and diversify my diet, also for far less money than at the supermarket.
If Mr. Davidowitz is correct, these types of changes should soon become, not optional, but mandatory if we are to stay afloat. Even then, so much more will be necessary. Collective living units; no large cars or trucks; many fewer gadgets.
More on that later.
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2 comments:
I hope he is right. As a chef, currently providing my skills for the over-consuming, gluttons...I am glad. I know that in the short term it may impact me negatively, in the long term, I dream of a day when there are more smaller restaurants, cooking honestly, with integrity, eschewing the mid-western trend of franchise debacles existing soley due to the "sam's club" type contracts with national food vendors. I hope in the future we as a nation can come to appreciate the fact that 1 pound of butter requires 2.4 gallons of milk!
I am in the "bread basket", the mid west, where fresh seafood, and seasonal vegetables mean nothing, because we can, and often are, required to get the public whatever they want, when they want it. If not for the financial mess that California is in, I would be packing my bags. Some one like me dreams of going to the market, a state with a 365 day growing season, access to fresh seafood, imports, and a public who may actually appreciate that a person makes their food, not just a drone.
But for now, I am here, in the cold, giving the guest value (deception) added products, telling them fairy tales, using menu descriptors that are misleading, and sometimes, downright lies! However they know not; too busy eating too much, for too little, with no understanding of how the food even makes it to their plates!
By the way, if you haven't been to Nopa...in your area...go!(I assure you that I have no connection with this establishment aside from wistfully wishing I was cooking there)
Here's the web address of the Sous Chef's blog, who seems to be very proud of what he does, why he does it, and who he does it with:
http://linecook415.blogspot.com/
Check out the Alemany Farmer's Market on Saturday's David. Real farmers, real food, really good prices. If you linger until when they start packing up (around noon) you can often get things half off. I was buying stone fruit for a buck a pound last fall.
The little food stalls can't be beat either, get the chilaquiles from Sabores del Sur, if you like that kind of thing.
It is a long shlep home though, but the 67 Bernal stops right there.
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