Bananas are ridiculously cheap even up here in Canada, and they aren’t grown anywhere near here. Yet a banana can grow, be harvested, be shipped, be stocked, and then be purchased by me for less than it’d cost to mail a letter across town. (Well, if I could buy a single banana maybe…or maybe that’s not the best comparison, but I think you get my point)
Along the banana’s journey, the farmer, the harvester, the shipper, the grocer, the clerk, and the cashier all (presumably) get paid. Yet a single banana is mere cents. If you didn’t know any better, you might think a single banana should cost $10!
I’m presuming that this is because of some sort of exploitation somewhere down the line, or possibly loss-leading on the grocery store’s side of things.
I’m wondering what other products like bananas are a lot cheaper than they “should” be (e.g., based on how far they have to travel, or how difficult they are to produce, or how much money we’re saving “unethically”).
I’ve heard that this applies to coffee and chocolate to varying extents, but I’m not certain.
Anyone know any others?
Surprised nobody said meat yet. Current prices are only possible through gigantic subsidies and the blatant disregard for even the most basic of animal wellbeing and that’s not even starting to factor in the environmental and climate damage meat production ensues.
I started eating substantially less meat over the last 10 years. The money I save eating less goes towards higher quality meats from small farms. Weirdly, it depends on if you know where to go. If you buy from a farm that also butchers and packages the meat, it’s going to cost and arm and a leg because they are selling both convenience and are aware that audience they are selling to has more money. However, if you purchase say 1/2 a cow and arrange to have it butchered, you pay a lot upfront, but it’s even cheaper in the long run. Only problem is, you’ll likely need a chest freezer.
I agree with you but there are more ethical ways to eat meat while also saving money. Last year my wife and I purchased 1/4 of an entire cow from a farm about 35 miles north of us (friends and family bought the other 3/4). This cow was responsibly raised, grass fed, on a small, local farm. We received 200 pounds of meat with probably a dozen different cuts of meat. This includes dozens of pounds of excellent steak and the meat is simply amazing. We will definitely be going this route moving forward as we averaged the price per pound to ~$4/lb which is far less than the local grocery.
I understand this isn’t possible for everyone as we also had to purchase a chest freezer which requires space but has made our grocery bill far smaller and the meat we are eating much better in many ways.
Even if the cow is responsibly raised, there’s still the question of how it was conceived. No farmer simply let’s a bull on top of a cow, since our modern cows are too big to safely mate. So usually a cow is artificially inseminated, which is an inherently violent procedure. The milk industry could simply not exist without this institutionalized rape
artificial insemination isn’t rape. it’s a veterinary procedure
If I artificially inseminated you would you feel raped?
I’m not a cow and I somehow doubt you are a veterinarian
So it would be abhorrent right? What makes it ok to do to a cow then? Is it the prop stethoscope? the certificate of graduation on the wall? Do cows just not matter? if so why not?
cows aren’t people.
As you said, they can’t mate… so what’s your solution? Let them go extinct and we lose not only a beautiful creature but a significant part of our species food source and history? We’ve been drinking milk and eating beef since the dawn of animal husbandry
Wait you’re saying it’s better to be genetically experimented on, caged, forced to breed, and be killed in your early adulthood than not have children?
That’s it’s actually more ethical to make a creature who you later kill for your own pleasure than not to do that? because the alternative is only wild cows and cowlike creatures existing?
They’re living beings, not museum exhibits ffs. Species don’t have preferences, individuals do.
>it’s actually more ethical to make a creature who you later kill for your own pleasure
no one is doing that
What is meat farming? in most of the world at this point in time it’s much more efficient to eat plants. Nobody with access to a supermarket is eating only what meat they might need to survive with no alternatives, you eat it for pleasure. For this pleasure someone must die, therefore you kill them for pleasure.
if you are buying food in a supermarket your not killing anything except maybe lobsters
you literally don’t know what anyone else needs. you can’t dictate the diet that is right for them.
>it’s better to… breed…than not have children?
the highest benefit to any organism is to pass it’s genetic material to another generation.
benefit for whom?
for the DNA
Yeah, I’ve been making efforts to reduce meat from my diet for plenty of reasons. But I enjoy the taste, so I’m excited for lab-grown meat!
There will be too much pushback for that to make an impact in a hurry.
The most exciting one is plant based eggs and milk, because a LOT of people who wont buy a lab grown steak also wont read the back of the box of cookies to see of it uses real milk and eggs. Mass produced processed foods will use the shit out of it if its cheaper.
Just about all of it.
Most farming gets subsidised. This is a good thing. You want excess in the system. You’ve seen what the free markets did to housing. You don’t want that happening to food.
The slavery-in-all-but-name isn’t such a good thing, but hey-ho.
Our housing market is not a free market because government heavily suppresses the supply side.
Bananas happen to be very productive plants. One banana plant produces hundreds of bananas. The further lowering of the cost comes from economy of scale and fucking over workers and nature.
Pretty much all food. I can work for 5 minutes and buy 700 Calories’ worth of trail mix. My work consists of walking around a climate controlled room answering questions about things people are buying.
This means that with 15 minutes per day of effort, I get a diet more consistent than my ancestors could get with six hours of work per day.
Food is ridiculously cheap around me.
The United States subsidizes the hell out of dairy products. Dairy (and by extension, beef) is way, way cheaper than it should be.
For anyone curious about this, go google “cheese caves”. The US government has massive caverns full of cheese. The government keeps buying cheese to subsidize the dairy industry, and ensure they keep enough dairy cows around.
But this also means they have a metric fuckload of cheese, and no way to get rid of it. They can’t just give it away to the public or sell it at cost, because that would crash the price, which would harm the farmers, which would defeat the entire purpose of the subsidy in the first place. So they just lock it in a cave. The government has entire caves that are just packed full of cheese. It’ll never be eaten, and is simply left there to age.
I believe one of the biggest reasons for even keeping the cheese around at all (instead of just doing something like tossing it into a volcano) is so they can use it as a strategic food reserve during war or famine. If, for instance, the government suddenly needs to feed a much larger army, it can start tapping into that massive food reserve simply by opening the cheese caves and pulling out the (now very aged) cheese. But that’s a very large “what if”. Or maybe there’s some big disease that wipes out the majority of the dairy cows. The government would be able to keep shelves stocked while farmers work on replenishing their herds.
Government cheese is called that for a reason. Anyways I totally agree with you but it’s interesting so I’m just providing a link for anyone who is interested in learning more.
Government cheese is a commodity cheese that was controlled by the US federal government from World War II to the early 1980s. Government cheese was created to maintain the price of dairy when dairy industry subsidies artificially increased the supply of milk and created a surplus of milk that was then converted into cheese, butter, or powdered milk. The cheese, along with the butter and dehydrated milk powder, was stored in over 150 warehouses across 35 states.
Isn’t there the thing where the cheese needs to age by just sitting there, the farmer needs cash flow, so the cheese is put up as collateral. (But yes there is government cheese too.)
I was always wonder how the heck did beef and milk are so cheap in US. I live in south Asia btw. Our income and wages are dog shit compared to the USA, yet our beef cost US$15 per kilo, and milk cost US$1.5 per liter.
Does water count? It’s the first thing that always comes to mind for me. I’m certainly not complaining, but it amazes me that, no matter where you go, water, even clean water, is universally free. It’s certainly not unlimited.
That does depend on where you are in the world. Even in North America, not everyone can just turn on a tap.
As well, it’s generally our tax dollars that go to treating and supplying it. So we do pay for it.
That said, you’re absolutely right. It’s my favourite thing to drink, and it probably wouldn’t be if I had to pay for every glass! Lol
Ramen always surprises me by how it remains consistently cheap
Always thought garlic bread is such a steal. Often you can get 2 (small) baguettes for less than £1 and G Bread is so good. When my plans of world domination come in, free garlic bread for everyone is first on the agenda.
I’m not sure if world domination usually comes with an election, but I’d vote for you!
Like everything made in China.
A shirt that costs $8? Board game that costs $20?
Nice try, Davos
To be fair, banana are only cheap in North America compared to the cost of other fruits. Bananas are pretty expensive if you consider you can get around 8-10 for a dollar in places where they are local.
I can get 4 for a dollar where I live in the States
Yes and 8 for a dollar seems to be twice what you’d get.
Rotisserie chickens
imo I don’t think there is any food item costs less than it should
I would argue that that’s because you should be paid more money. That’s why I’m not suggesting we should be paying more. Just kind of wondering what foods are “artificially” priced low due to exploitation of labour (etc).
Dry beans. A $2 bag makes a massive pot.
But when you think about it, beans should be cheaper than meat or something. Yeah a bag makes a whole bunch of beans but it’s straight ground to plate vs feeding a cow from birth. In fact relatively speaking of seems like the bean to cow cost ratio is out of proportion, the beans should be cheaper or the cow should be more.
Right but consider the work involved in gathering a pound of beans. One can get beans for far less work than that.
Almost anything at Costco.
