Food Price Datapoint of the Day

David Chang:

Farmer Michael's feed costs have risen 400 percent in the last twelve months. To make a profit on the beautiful turkeys his family is raising in time for Thanksgiving, he'll have to charge a hundred bucks a bird. At Momofuku, I'm paying 150 percent more for humanely raised pork belly than I was paying at this time last year.

Chang's conclusion is inescapable:

Our cuisine and eating habits will more closely resemble those of the nineteenth century than the late twentieth. Hunting will be less about the buck points and more about the meat. Nose-to-tail eating will make a comeback--not because of fashion or Fergus Henderson (whom I love), but because of scarcity and price. And small-scale farming--little vegetable gardens in the backyards of homes in cities, suburbs, and the countryside alike--will become not just economically sensible but cool.

For brunch on Saturday, I made some very simple and rather delicious organic chicken hearts on toast; I think the onions and garlic that I fried the hearts in cost more than the meat. I can't wait to see fewer steakhouses and more offal temples in New York: dining could get much more interesting, if things continue at this rate.

(HT: Steele)

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