[at-l] Y2K food finally comes out of the closet..

[lwbooher@halifax.com (Leslie Booher)]

Many recipients of food stamps don't have facilities to store or cook food.
The refrigerator died long ago and the landlord won't replace it.  The stove
works sporatically, maybe.  In one of their many moves, most of the cookware
was misplaced or lost, if they ever had a sufficient supply to begin with.
Poverty involves many things that we can't even imagine.  anklebear

-----Original Message-----
From: Texas Twelve-Step <texas12step@hotmail.com>
To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Date: Monday, April 02, 2001 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Y2K food finally comes out of the closet..


>James Bullard wrote:
>> Texas Twelve-Step wrote:
>
>>> The cool bit is that he could've purchased an equivalent amount of food
>>> from the supermarket, which would've keptjust as well in long-term
>>> storage, for perhaps a fifth of
>>> the cost. Of course, that's predicated on knowing how to cook food in
the
>>> first place. Microwave ovens and food stamps have rendered such an
>>> assumption questionable in
>>> these modern times.
>
>> Just out of curiosity, what is there about microwave ovens and food
stamps
>> that would imply an inability to cook? I can cook (some, not great) and
my
>> wife is an excellent cook. We both use the microwave oven. It's another
>> (not necessarily better or worse) way of heating food.
>
>The microwave oven is what makes convenience foods convenient.
>They're only really useful for quickly heating prepared (i.e.
>precooked) foods and leftovers. There are few unprocessed foods
>that you can actually "cook" by microwave.
>
>>                                                    As for Food Stamps,
>> they have nothing whatever to do with cooking food, they only aid in
>> acquiring it. I know lots of folks of all ages whose access to a good
>> balanced diet is due to the Food Stamp program. You can't cook what you
>> don't have.
>
>The food stamp program was created, in part[*], at the behest of
>the commercial foods industry to give welfare recipients taxpayer
>money to buy their stuff. So instead of doling out inexpensive
>bulk foods such as canned meats, dry beans, sacks of flour and
>the ever-popular brick of welfare cheese -- things from which a
>good balanced diet can be derived with a little effort and cooking
>skill -- we now get to pay retail for single-serving microwaveable
>spaghettios, pizza pockets and Fruity Pebbles.
>
>Have you ever wondered why McDonald's recently felt it necessary
>to put those goddamned indoor playgrounds in their so-called
>restaurants? I believe it's because the American diet has become
>so dependent on microwaved convenience food that McDonald's fare
>is no longer considered special enough by the kids to be a
>sufficient draw -- even with the Evil Clown promoting it every
>fifteen minutes on Saturday mornings. Why go to McDonald's when
>you eat equally tasty junk food on a daily basis, on demand?
>
>Food stamps and microwave ovens discourage home economics and the
>art of cooking in general. Give most people 20 lb sacks of rice
>and pinto beans and they'd have no clue what to do with it.
>
>Don't be fooled. They are the work of SATAN.
>
>-TXIIS
>
>[*] Yes, you can also argue the convenience and dignity angle for
>food stamps, but I'd bet a thousand dollars in ersatz Confederate
>currency that the costs of: 1) stamp fraud and, 2) recipient
>spending on extravagant food items at retail prices likely exceed
>that of simply hand-delivering unprepared bulk foods direct to
>the recipient's door.
>
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