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Taxpayer money used to make it more expensive to eat

partgypsy

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No offense, I'd rather eat vegetarian than eat chickens the way that Perdue "manufactures" chicken.
 

ksinger

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If the purchase goes to programs to feed those with no money to make even a discretionary choice, then I have no problem with it.
 

iheartscience

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Seems like this is a standard practice, and I have no problem with it, especially because the food will go to feed the hungry. I'm a lot more concerned with all the tax subsidies for corn.
 

megumic

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We only purchase organic chicken/turkey and grass-fed beef so I wonder how the organic meat/chicken market comes into play here and what impact it is having.
 

Dancing Fire

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thing2of2|1313600726|2992659 said:
Seems like this is a standard practice, and I have no problem with it, especially because the food will go to feed the hungry. I'm a lot more concerned with all the tax subsidies for corn.
cost more money to make ethanol than gas.. :rolleyes:
 

AmeliaG

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Farm subsidies are like death and taxes. Can't get rid of them. Arrrgh!
 

partgypsy

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That's an interesting question. I know my views have changed since both seeing documentaries and also visiting both an industrialized hog farm and a sustainable farm. Alot of the cheapness of meat is bought with crowding, inhumane practices, environmental pollution, and artificially low grain prices. So in my opinion the low prices are subsidized, in an indirect way.
But I know my comments sounds haughty because people are hungry in this country and most people cannot afford $12 chickens. I am fortunate that my husband and I don't mind eating vegetarian (beans and rice are cheaper than even cheap chickens). But both my kids LOVE meat and would eat it every day if they could, so we compromise. We are definitely not completely consistent but we do some locally grown and some commercial (eating out), and we eat less meat in general.
 

kenny

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Let them eat tofu.
Tofu is cheap, makes a much smaller carbon footprint than animals, and does not encourage cancer like meat does.

Sure it can taste cardboard and you have to jazz it up, but when well prepared tofu ain't that bad.
 

ksinger

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kenny|1313602934|2992690 said:
Let them eat tofu.
Tofu is cheap, makes a much smaller carbon footprint than animals, and does not encourage cancer like meat does.

Sure it can taste cardboard and you have to jazz it up, but when well prepared tofu ain't that bad.


Yeah well THEY aren't going to eat tofu. I know many many well-off people who won't eat tofu, and have zero idea of how to cook it. Along with the opportunities missed, the lousy upbringing (in many cases) of the impoverished, and the lack of basic skills like cooking ANYTHING, where are THEY even going to find tofu? Half the time the poor don't even have access to a decent regular grocery, let alone someplace that carries tofu.

I get so amused/exasperated at the assumptions of what THEY have access to sometimes. Just because YOU have access to all the available goods, does NOT mean that everyone does. I'm reasonably well-off in Oklahoma, and I don't have access to many things that are easily available on the coasts or in other states.

We DO have lots of tofu here, now: huge Asian population, but 20 years ago? Hardly.
 

dragonfly411

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Ksinger - I think the they was meant to be those with no money.

Let them buy up Perdue though lol, I'm not eating that. A better move would be to up the standards of how chickens are raised and processed before being put on the market. Producers would have to downsize their flocks, and the price of chicken could then be raised based on the better standards of living for the animals.

That's just me though.
 

ksinger

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dragonfly411|1313610843|2992769 said:
Ksinger - I think the they was meant to be those with no money.

Let them buy up Perdue though lol, I'm not eating that. A better move would be to up the standards of how chickens are raised and processed before being put on the market. Producers would have to downsize their flocks, and the price of chicken could then be raised based on the better standards of living for the animals.

That's just me though.

I did know that - It is the basis of my reply actually.
 

dragonfly411

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ksinger|1313617508|2992856 said:
dragonfly411|1313610843|2992769 said:
Ksinger - I think the they was meant to be those with no money.

Let them buy up Perdue though lol, I'm not eating that. A better move would be to up the standards of how chickens are raised and processed before being put on the market. Producers would have to downsize their flocks, and the price of chicken could then be raised based on the better standards of living for the animals.

That's just me though.

I did know that - It is the basis of my reply actually.


It is distinctly noted in the article that the food will be used towards those that are impoverished and don't have access to meals, thus they'll be used at homeless shelters, and "soup kitchen" environments. Those folks aren't hunting for tofu, or chicken, or lima beans for that matter, they're going somewhere to find a meal to fill their stomachs so they are not going to be picky about what they eat, nor are they worried about finding something and cooking it.

Kenny's point was that tofu is a cheap and filling alternative to meat for feeding the poor, so the government could easily use that as an alternative that won't cost as much.
 

megumic

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kenny|1313602934|2992690 said:
Let them eat tofu.
Tofu is cheap, makes a much smaller carbon footprint than animals, and does not encourage cancer like meat does.

Sure it can taste cardboard and you have to jazz it up, but when well prepared tofu ain't that bad.

I mostly agree, Kenny. However, I'd like to add that tofu, a soy product, is grown with hormones and accordingly can encourage cancer, particularly in women. Thus, I'd amend to add ORGANIC tofu would be the way to go. (But that's just me being super picky and annoying about what sort of hormones enter my body from protein sources.)
 

ksinger

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Understand, I really like tofu. But that makes me a bit out of the ordinary. Why is everyone fixated on tofu? THIS IS AMERICA NOT CHINA!!

If we're going to suggest something cheap, why not distribute/feed the good old standard of beans and rice? Healthy, no hormones, blah blah blah. What is the point of feeding people something that a) very few Americans know how to cook properly, b) that many people have never eaten and would be very wary of, and c)that many people won't eat until they are genuinely starving and ill.

How hard is it to force feed your children, people? Even when they're hungry, they won't eat that (insert whatever stuff they won't ingest). What is this penchant for making sure that the food we feed the poor is the most foreign and untasty we can find? Would you like a nice side of subtle contempt with your tofu sir? :rolleyes:
 

Cehrabehra

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Actually in china they're not eating much tofu either. Or chicken. Or beef. They live on veggies and pork. Pigs are cheap here. Cows are expensive.
 

Dancing Fire

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ksinger|1313621786|2992919 said:
Understand, I really like tofu. But that makes me a bit out of the ordinary. Why is everyone fixated on tofu? THIS IS AMERICA NOT CHINA!!
i love tofu,but i'll take a juicy rib eye steak any day of the week.. :lickout:
 

movie zombie

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another industry bailout........nothing new about that.

re tofu: those of us with hypothyroidism are not supposed to eat tofu in any form, even soy sauce. interfers with thyroid fucntion/medication.
 

TristanC

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What's wrong with Tofu? The japanese have some killer recipes. And I could eat it every day. Could eat beef every day too... but I'm betting that the tofu will kill me slower. And there is less guilt.

Choice is a blessing. Singapore has no significant domestic agriculture or animal farming, so we mostly go commercial. There are organic alternatives, but the prices are nothing short of daylight robbery.

I hope someday that farming will be more humane. But I believe that if it is more economically viable to be cruel, even if purdue doesn't do it, the next farm down the road will. Mores the pity.
 

dragonfly411

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ksinger|1313621786|2992919 said:
Understand, I really like tofu. But that makes me a bit out of the ordinary. Why is everyone fixated on tofu? THIS IS AMERICA NOT CHINA!!

If we're going to suggest something cheap, why not distribute/feed the good old standard of beans and rice? Healthy, no hormones, blah blah blah. What is the point of feeding people something that a) very few Americans know how to cook properly, b) that many people have never eaten and would be very wary of, and c)that many people won't eat until they are genuinely starving and ill.

How hard is it to force feed your children, people? Even when they're hungry, they won't eat that (insert whatever stuff they won't ingest). What is this penchant for making sure that the food we feed the poor is the most foreign and untasty we can find? Would you like a nice side of subtle contempt with your tofu sir? :rolleyes:


I will not argue against rice and beans. That's a great idea, and one I'm using every week to save money. :bigsmile:
 
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