A cousin in Portlandia hosts a annual Kraut Fest in which a dozen of so families come together and make sauerkraut from scratch. Beer, brats, brots, kids working alongside adults, a beehive of German productivity with Irish hilarity.
I brought a crock to the sauerkraut fest and the krautmeister poo-pooh'ed it saying I'd break the crock mashing the Kraut... little does he know the Irish only pretend to work (and we all know mashing the kraut only speeds up the fermenting, it is not really necessary.) So there!
There were probably 30 containers, 5 crocks and the rest food-grade plastic buckets. None of the 5 crocks were broken.... Erin go braugh!
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
I brought a crock to the sauerkraut fest and the krautmeister poo-pooh'ed it saying I'd break the crock mashing the Kraut... little does he know the Irish only pretend to work (and we all know mashing the kraut only speeds up the fermenting, it is not really necessary.) So there!
There were probably 30 containers, 5 crocks and the rest food-grade plastic buckets. None of the 5 crocks were broken.... Erin go braugh!
But as I was leaving there were extra buckets of Kraut, one I had done since there was an empty bucket and more cabbage... my cousin told me to take it since he was kraut stupid.
Three weeks later the plastic bucket is a horror house of mold of several varieties, and no mold yet in the crock... mold is inevitable, and you just scrape it off.. but interesting crock v plastic...
I have ten gallons of kraut coming up in 3 weeks. Reubens are back on the menu.
But my reason for the post is this: McDonald's experienced a 30% drop in its profits last quarter. It serves food that can make you sick worldwide. That is a lot of sales that did not take place. That is a lot of highly subsidized food product backed up in the distribution channels. And far more important, that is a lot of alternatives to junk food that got eaten, necessarily at a higher price.
As people get more money in emerging economies, their first purchase with newly discretionary income is better food. Check it out (drill down, but it is there Distribution of Additional $1 Income Across Food Subgroups, 144 Countries, 2005.) That report is ten years old, but these trade reports, of new food trade lanes is current.
Between 2000 and 2011, developing countries also increased their share of world agricultural exports from 27 percent to 36 percent.
That is an awful lot of food that is being eaten. See a pattern? McDonalds down, fresh/good up.
A cousin in law at this very kraut fest told he he had been diagnosed as pre-diabetic. I said "it is all that junk food you eat." He said "that is why my doctor said, but I can't give it up, I like it." Indeed, the stuff is designed to get you hooked and to then make you dependent on Big Pharm forever. I don't think it should be outlawed, ending big Ag subsidies would be enough to bring it all down.
And then there is also this: of the 60 people involved in making kraut, why does one not start a business making kraut, fresh raw kraut without the nasty chemicals, which are not needed anyway, and then pickles, etc. And once there is USA market established, then start exporting to get in on this world trade that is asking for new and better?
I teach a class online regarding getting those export sales at the small business level. You either have your own food production, or will find production that should be exported, and you'll get into the business with little or no resources. Sign up here now, next session starts Tuesday November 11.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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