The view from the dumpster--the last pork chop

The view from the dumpster—The last pork chop

Within the decimation at the grocery stores, I noticed periodic peculiarities. This evening, there was very little meat to be had, which has been a constant problem with this particular store, which is part of a national chain. Since the first run on that store they have been incapable of refilling their meat department, the seafood side does very well, it’s always full and the stock is rotating. Tonight, I saw that they had plenty of chicken, cut up parts, drumsticks, thighs and breasts. The price was fair, but it was all packed in ten pound bags. Sloppy wet plastic bags with chicken pieces floating in them, certainly not appealing to the average consumer. The average consumer would also be hard pressed to deal with ten pounds of thighs, at the regular retail price. While another smaller regional chain is offering up Perdue thighs in a 10 count pack at 99 cents per pound. The average consumer may be enticed to take advantage of this volume deal and pay the regular price of $1.49 per pound, take it home and freeze the unused balance, but they’re not getting a bargain, just a mess and more work to do. As I continued to peruse the wasteland I saw two lonely packs of pork chops sitting there all by themselves with no other pork chops to keep them company. The chops were on sale at 99 cents per pound, I took them both, not because I’m greedy but because I needed more than one pack but less than two. So I ended up feeling slightly guilty, taking the last pork chops in the store. I managed to get through the checkout without being stopped and frisked; I exited quickly and hid the chops in a secret compartment in the car.

These peculiarities are happening more and more often, a total imbalance between what’s available, what the store used to carry, the pricing of the products. There’s no rhyme or reason. This store couldn’t keep ground beef in stock from their regular suppliers, so they brought it in from a different vendor, ground kobe beef at $10 per pound, while the other regional store added a new vendor with packs and bricks of ground beef at a reduced price from their norm. There’s an imbalance of what’s available and where, what’s needed and where, and what’s affordable. But there are things that started way before the advent and impact of Covid-19, we were being sold down the river before we even knew there was a boat, and now it’s a sinking boat. One of those boats is a slow boat to China. Where we send livestock raised here in the U.S. to China for processing which in turn is returned on another slow boat back to the U.S. market. The idea of course is that there are people that willing to work for substandard wages and poor working conditions to slaughter and process this meat. In other words it’s a cheaper way to do it. And now, we are looking at the potential that our Congress would allow these producers to not put on the country of origin label. So that we never know that this meat was processed in a country that has no standards, that has no concern about our needs, where we have no access to redress any shortfalls in quality. The other consideration in labeling is that whole best by, sell by bullshit we routinely deal with. If the meat spent 3-4 weeks going to China, time to be processed and another 3-4 weeks coming back, how fresh is that? How do we put an adequate date on a product that was out of date before it ever arrived at the store?

As a part of our continuing effort to deregulate and undo all of the safety nets put in place to curb the avaricious appetites of those who control a capitalist society, protections that are there to protect us and control them are being torn away allowing the possibility of squeezing every ounce of blood out of our citizens. So we did away with meat inspectors.

In order to assist the people who need the most help, some states have increased the amount of EBT benefits for the next two months, while the cost of food begins to rise and the availability becomes an issue. We’re now ordering that meat processing plants continue to operate despite the outbreaks of the corona virus in the plants, which will do no good unless those employees are willing and able to come to work and put their lives at risk. We’re destroying food in the fields instead of utilizing our national resources to reallocate that food to areas where it is needed. We’ve decided that if you’re brown and live in U.S. territories or on reservations, you aren’t worthy of any help. 

These problems aren’t going away any time soon, they are only partially related to Covid but certainly aggravated by it and maybe even being used to push an agenda that will prove to be destructive to our independence and push us even further into the dominion of faceless corporate overseers, a path from which there is no return. “Saint Peter don’t you call me, ‘cause I can’t go, I owe my soul to the company store”. And that quote from “Sixteen tons” sums up perfectly where we are headed with this administration and the mindset of their handlers, straight to Hell.

 I’ve seen a lot of comments from folks who are now insisting on growing their own food. I really have to admire them for stepping up and wanting to do something. I have to tell you that we grow our own food every year. We plant a garden, we grow some delicious vegetables, we have a good time, great exercise, commune with nature, enjoy the results of our efforts. But that simply is not enough; it’s great as a supplement and wonderful while it lasts during the season. But from a practical standpoint, short of having an indoor hydroponic setup where we can grow year round, it’s simply not enough. There are many folks who harvest their bounty and freeze it or can it; they’re ahead of what I do, but I’m proud of them. That takes care of some produce, but it truly is a small part of your overall food needs, most neighborhoods would likely not be amused at you having dairy cows or chickens in your backyard, especially if you’re part of the 20% nationally that live in apartments. Some of this argument and discussion is driven by folks who have no intent on getting their hands dirty, but they hope that you will do it for them.

You’re annual crop actually coincides with what many small family owned farms do, they are the target, they are what you are intended to take out. Your planting efforts if you increase them by significant numbers will have no impact on Con-Agra or ADM or Monsanto. They can ride out the wave and still have enough cash to buy out the small farmers, or simply make them sharecroppers. And in return we get those special blends of High fructose corn syrup, soy meal additives, fillers, chemical stabilizers, pink pig and other pseudo foods designed to maximize profits and to keep us alive and functioning, but not strong enough to fight back.

We as a nation, as consumers, as the real driving force behind the economy and the country as a whole need to revisit how things that impact our lives need to be done, and who is going to do it. We need to remember a time when the focus of the community was to provide for the well being of the community, included joint efforts to produce adequate amounts of food for all. We need to consider how to have conversations with food banks and soup kitchens, with CSA’s, with our local farmers and ranchers, and co-ops, with our own production efforts and how to combine all of that into a sustainable system of food harvest, for all.  We need to look to ourselves, partnered with others to protect the family farms, the small farms, the quality of our food, the quantity of our food and the accessibility for everyone. We need to combine our forces and resources to protect our communities, to stand up against those who would shackle us as a captive audience. It’s time for us to sharpen our pitchforks.