Has The Time For Atkins Come At Last?

From today's LATimes:

"High wheat prices take the cake

"Bad weather has ravaged crops worldwide, making everything from pasta to Twinkies cost more.
By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 18, 2007
From pastries to pasta, the price of just about everything made with wheat is going up.

"Blame the trend on a biblical bout of bad weather -- drought, freezes and floods -- that has decimated wheat crops and created shortages around the world.

" 'It's tough. Wheat is in everything we do.'
— Charles Feder, Pastry business owner


"Wheat futures hit a record of $8.87 a bushel in Chicago trading last week before retreating to $8.75 on Monday. Still, that's a huge jump from $3.95 a year ago.

"'This is a historic level. There is no way we can cut costs fast enough or deep enough to handle this type of huge increase in wheat,' said Bill Nictakis, president of the fresh bakery division at Sara Lee Corp.

"Sara Lee raised the prices of its own bread and bagels by 5% last week, and the cost of what it bakes for the private labels of retailers by 6% to 7%.

"And it's not just Sara Lee and its customers who are feeling the pinch.

"Shoppers in Rome are threatening pasta boycotts to protest rising prices. In Lanzhou in western China workers are complaining about paying more at the industrial city's 3,000 noodle shops. And in the United States, parents are shelling out more for all the Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies that are stuffed into school lunchboxes."

I don't know about you, but DIH is hyperventilating. Does this mean we wil have to go low-carb if we want to put the kid through college? Must I turn to the "Hunter-Gatherer Diet," where all you eat is nuts and berries and animals you've killed yourself? (Actually I hear that diet does wonders for one's skin. Hm.)

Today's agenda: go to Costco. Buy a dozen of those humonguous chocolate layer cakes they sel that as soooooo gooooood..... Buy a freezer. Preserve cakes against shortage.

But take some deep breaths first.

Comments

Popular Posts