Bennett has been really picky about eating lately and will often leave most of the food on his plate untouched. Instead he opts for graham crackers or goldfish crackers or any cracker of any kind. I was getting tired of making him a full meal, only to have to wrap it up for the next day's lunch and learn later that he didn't touch the food. I would then try to serve it to him for dinner - nuking it for the third time - now making it far less appealing than when I first served it to him fresh and piping hot. After three tries, I ended up throwing the food away.
A few weeks ago when my Dad was here, we were talking about the rice shortage. The price of rice has doubled. Once self sufficient, the Philippines now has become the world's largest importer of rice. But since exporting countries are trying to control prices at home, they tighten their supplies, thereby limiting the amount of rice available for countries like the Philippines. Dad told me about the poor families in the Philippines, who barely earned enough to even afford a little bit of rice for their families. They didn't eat much of anything else except rice. With the cost of rice doubling - what do they eat then? Not much. And then what? Famine, political unrest, regional instability, war...I don't even want to think about it. I read recently that the government set up a relief program - subsidies in the form of "rice passes" for the poorest of the poor. They are also telling people just to "eat less rice!" How laughable considering that is all they have to eat!
Which brings me back to Bennett and all of us here, where gas is over $4 a gallon and yes, a sack of rice costs twice as much - but we buy it anyway. And then we throw it away. I admit to being guilty of this- - with Bennett's uneaten dinners or with me at restaurants. I just went out tonight for dinner with J and Bennett and my cousins - and someone said something to the effect of - why don't we just stop eating rice - since we have other options like bread, or orzo! Yes, I know the cost of flour and just about everything else has gone up too, but why should we eat rice when people in the Philippines have to have a "rice pass" to get just a little? Or better yet - let's just low carb it and focus on veggies and fruits and fish instead?
The more I think about it, the more I like this idea. Limit my rice consumption and do whatever I can to re-use whatever I have leftover. Eat smaller portions (which I need to do anyway!) so nothing gets thrown in the trash. I don't know if doing this will keep people from starving halfway across the world, but combining all the "little bit of somethings" can amount to a whole lot. Here's a staggering statistic: "The Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day; recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people." Can you freaking believe it? 20 million people!!!!Anyways, here's a good website about how to avoid wasting your food. And I really think chicken adobo wouldn't taste so bad on a bed of orzo. Think Filipino-Fusion food. It's the in-thing these days.
A few weeks ago when my Dad was here, we were talking about the rice shortage. The price of rice has doubled. Once self sufficient, the Philippines now has become the world's largest importer of rice. But since exporting countries are trying to control prices at home, they tighten their supplies, thereby limiting the amount of rice available for countries like the Philippines. Dad told me about the poor families in the Philippines, who barely earned enough to even afford a little bit of rice for their families. They didn't eat much of anything else except rice. With the cost of rice doubling - what do they eat then? Not much. And then what? Famine, political unrest, regional instability, war...I don't even want to think about it. I read recently that the government set up a relief program - subsidies in the form of "rice passes" for the poorest of the poor. They are also telling people just to "eat less rice!" How laughable considering that is all they have to eat!
Which brings me back to Bennett and all of us here, where gas is over $4 a gallon and yes, a sack of rice costs twice as much - but we buy it anyway. And then we throw it away. I admit to being guilty of this- - with Bennett's uneaten dinners or with me at restaurants. I just went out tonight for dinner with J and Bennett and my cousins - and someone said something to the effect of - why don't we just stop eating rice - since we have other options like bread, or orzo! Yes, I know the cost of flour and just about everything else has gone up too, but why should we eat rice when people in the Philippines have to have a "rice pass" to get just a little? Or better yet - let's just low carb it and focus on veggies and fruits and fish instead?
The more I think about it, the more I like this idea. Limit my rice consumption and do whatever I can to re-use whatever I have leftover. Eat smaller portions (which I need to do anyway!) so nothing gets thrown in the trash. I don't know if doing this will keep people from starving halfway across the world, but combining all the "little bit of somethings" can amount to a whole lot. Here's a staggering statistic: "The Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day; recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people." Can you freaking believe it? 20 million people!!!!Anyways, here's a good website about how to avoid wasting your food. And I really think chicken adobo wouldn't taste so bad on a bed of orzo. Think Filipino-Fusion food. It's the in-thing these days.
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