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While skyrocketing food prices are sparking riots around the world, in New York the crisis is forcing restaurants like Good Enough to Eat to make due with frozen blueberries in their pancakes! The owner tells the Times the blueberries she gets shipped from Maine are now $38 per flat, up from $24 last summer. A five gallon jug of Canadian maple syrup is now $250, up from $200. And a 100-pound sack of flour costs $7 more.
All these price increases – a 30-pound sack of rice has risen to $43 from $22 this year, egg prices have shot up 70%, cheese is up 25% – are a side effect of the rising cost of oil, a switch by many farmers to produce corn for ethanol, and crop shortages worldwide. For those of you who've been dining out less, Time Out NY gets some good tips from local chefs on cheap ingredients you can substitute for expensive stuff at home.
Restaurant owners in prime locations say the good news is that the weak dollar has kept the tourist business strong, though Europeans' miserly tips are the bane of waiters. But to stay afloat, smaller restaurants have been forced to cut more corners by shrinking portions, serving cheaper dishes like catfish, or charging for items that used to be complimentary, like rice. And the A.P. has it that Chuck E. Cheese has begun using a "reformulated" high-moisture mozzarella pizza cheese to save money, which is probably a safe move because who’s going to complain about the pizza at Chuck E. Cheese? Those animatronic Pizza Time Players will zap you with their laser eyes.
Photo courtesy Wally G.
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Good Enough to Wait
Pizza's gotten too expensive for me. The average has to be around $2.25 a slice now. At least we haven't gotten to the point where ramen's too expensive.
Also, speaking of shrinking portions. Did you notice that the 1.75 gallon of ice cream shrunk to 1.5 gallon? That stuff's mostly made of air too.
I buy bread from Amish Market on 9th Ave. What went for 59c costs 99c a year later. I can afford such spike in bread prices, but do feel sorry for people who have to feed their families.
"reformulated" cheese? Does it mean Chuck E. Cheese served a real one before? Supermarket stuff always tasted like an artificially flavored, by-product of petroleum industry.
Why does Food Emporium on 42nd & 9th sell bread imported from Canada? Why it cannot be made locally in NY, NJ or PA? Guaranteed local jobs and fresher goods w/o higher shipping costs.
Bread riot!
I haven't noticed any increase of the cost of the prepackaged banana cake at my local deli. Perhaps more people should eat cake.
@Pharmer - I noticed the ice cream thing although you must mean 1.5 quarts.
I got a sandwich from pret a manger yesterday and while they never used much meat, there was one meager slice that didn't cover half the bread.
A perfect example of how ETHANOL IS BAD FOR OUR COUNTRY AND ENVIRONMENT. Farmers are now growing for fuel, which means that the price of corn for eating will continue to rise, and because they need such a great mass of corn to make the fuel, their soil will be useless in a few years.
If Bush thinks he's solved global warming by promoting ethanol, he's got another thing coming. I just hope everyone else realizes this before we start to pay 5 bucks for an ear of corn.
So let's see...under George Bush the price of which major necessities have skyrocketed? Oh, where to begin? Food, energy, education, health care, housing, I guess that's enough. The only major necessity that hasn't shot up seems to be clothing. You can still get a decent pair of Dockers for $20 on sale. Good job George!
Regarding the ice cream, don't forget that while the recent change has been from 1.75 quarts to 1.5 quarts, those 1.75 quart containers used to be half gallon (2 quart) containers.
The only way to make sure you're not paying for a lot of air in your ice cream is to make it yourself. It's not that hard. And ice cream machines are cheap enough that you'd make back the cost after what would have been three or four gallons of Haagen-Dazs.
@JMH - also now everyone buys slow-churned = more air so it's even less ice cream.
@Spiritof76 - the only problem with making ice cream is that it doesn't keep like the store-bought kind with their fancy additives.
Since Ice Cream is basically butterfat, the simple thing to do is pour a bunch of ice cubes in a blender, throw in a few sticks of unsalted butter, add ten cups of sugar and the flavoring(s) of your choice, hit "Frappe" and Voila! Delicious frozen treat.
the only problem with making ice cream is that it doesn't keep like the store-bought kind with their fancy additives.
The premium brands have no preservatives. Making your own last is just a matter of not making too much, scooping out only what you need, putting plastic wrap right on top of the ice cream to keep out funky flavors and quickly returning the container to the freezer before it starts to melt.
@Spiritof76 - my home made ice cream always seems to get very hard after two days in the freezer. I don't want to make small batches of ice cream every other day.
The premium brands put in something - ok maybe not preservatives - like xantham gum in order to allow refreezing after you transport it to your home.
You're doing something wrong then. Go ahead and read the ingredients on a Haagen-Dazs container. There are no ingredients you wouldn't find in homemade.