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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica can’t eat its way out of this massive cheese problem
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-cant-eat-its-way-out-of-this-massive-cheese-problem/2016/05/25/976e96c4-228a-11e6-9e7f-57890b612299_story.html...
Thanks, Obama! Just kidding. Its more like Thanks, Putin. In August 2014, he banned European Union agricultural imports as payback for E.U. sanctions punishing Russias invasion of Ukraine. Putin struck just as the European Union was ending dairy production limits, so the loss of the Russian market was doubly painful to E.U. producers and rendered them desperate for markets elsewhere. Throw in a stronger dollar due to Federal Reserve policy (thanks, Janet Yellen) et voila! U.S. cheese imports are rising.
...
What is to be done? We could try to eat through the problem. You laugh, but the current level of per capita cheese consumption in the United States is 64 percent higher than it was in 1975, due partly to a richer societys growing taste for richer foods. In the short run, consumption might go up a bit, since the glut is making cheese cheaper.
Whats more, the U.S. government has a long-standing pro-cheese-eating policy, which grew out of the need to do something with the subsidized excess of milk products generated by federal pro-production dairy policy which, in turn, has persisted for decades despite declining consumer interest in drinking milk.
Raster
(20,998 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)Raster
(20,998 posts)Hoppy
(3,595 posts)Raster
(20,998 posts)Retrograde
(10,175 posts)appal_jack
(3,813 posts)Todays_Illusion
(1,209 posts)Socal31
(2,484 posts)But wait, it gets feta!
w0nderer
(1,937 posts)Socal31
(2,484 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)betsuni
(25,752 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)I'm sick of the Parmesan politics.
betsuni
(25,752 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)betsuni
(25,752 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)underpants
(182,988 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)cyberswede
(26,117 posts)braddy
(3,585 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)Need some help
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)Bad fondue pun?
-app
underpants
(182,988 posts)sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)Should take America about a month to eat it, problem solved!
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)JVS
(61,935 posts)laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)send it to Canada. Our cheese is like 3 times the price, LOL. We could use some foreign charity cheese
Recursion
(56,582 posts)This is going to drive me crazy.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)pkdu
(3,977 posts)nationalize the fed
(2,169 posts)underpants
(182,988 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)We'll do it after the Tractor Pull on Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)betsuni
(25,752 posts)Texasgal
(17,049 posts)BadgerKid
(4,559 posts)Little Tich
(6,171 posts)maryellen99
(3,790 posts)roamer65
(36,748 posts)Downwinder
(12,869 posts)Put it in the commodities program for food banks like they did last time.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Though I understand they don't do physical baskets so much anymore.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)expanded to other items. Guess that was the origin of food banks. Part of my lost decades.
glowing
(12,233 posts)I wouldn't eat any grilled cheese for years without out it. My great grandma got the cheese block, and sent it to my grandmas for "us kids". Then one of my babysitters had the cheese too... So, I begged for grilled cheese there as well.
I don't think you can get those wonderful yelled slabs of cheese anymore. Honest to God, if they sold it in the store, you would see a ton of people buying it out of nostalgia... Lol.
And none of those was all that long ago, historically. It was back in the 80's under Reagan and in VT.
Initech
(100,129 posts)"What situation isn't improved by pizza?" - Deadpool
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)raging moderate
(4,314 posts)There are people starving somewhere. This cheese belongs to them. Find out where they are, and get this cheese into their hands.
oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)msongs
(67,478 posts)appal_jack
(3,813 posts)Both sides of my ancestry have been milking herd animals and making cheese for at least 10,000 years. Cheese is literally in my blood, and I'll keep it that way, thanks.
-app
closeupready
(29,503 posts)The body DOES need protein, and there are amino acids in dairy products which can NOT be synthesized by the human body, nor can they be found in a vegan diet.
GaYellowDawg
(4,452 posts)I'll preface this by saying that I'm pretty much a meatatarian. I love meat. I don't consider something a meal without meat. And characterizing cheese as "congealed fat" is completely stupid. And false.
You're referring to essential amino acids when you talk about amino acids that can't be synthesized by the human body, but you're wrong about a vegan diet not being able to supply them. A vegan diet can supply all of the essential amino acids by combining different groups of vegetables, legumes, and grains. Depending on the brand and preparation, tofu can have all the essential amino acids. Same thing for quinoa.
I'm never going to be vegan because I can't stand most vegetables, and the very idea of kale or wheatgrass just about makes me want to throw up. I'm never going to give up cheeseburgers, and bacon, and hot wings. And soy milk tastes like you mowed grass and mixed it with milk. Disgusting. But even if it's completely not for me, veganism is definitely a viable lifestyle.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Like you, I'm an enthusiastic carnivore, though I do enjoy veggies IF (and that's a big IF) they are done right - in season, cooked til tender, generously spiced...
ohnoyoudidnt
(1,858 posts)That sounds like a dare.
Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)They'll make short work of that cheese.
Warpy
(111,417 posts)Domestic cheese is still expensive as hell and not even that "our cows have names and live in a setting fit for a calendar" cheeses, the non organic stuff is just as expensive. Some of it must be held off the market to keep those prices up.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)(Cost Of Goods Sold)
Transportation, labor, etc. haven't particularly gotten cheaper, so even if cheese itself is cheaper wholesale that won't always mean you'll notice it in the price tag.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)ReRe
(10,597 posts)... but you know how picky they are about the food they accept. If they won't take it,
then send it to NYC to help them lure their rats into traps.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)They have to send a social worker, a priest, a fire inspector, and a second social worker in case the first had a conflict of interest, along with a credit check, criminal history, and financial disclosure. I'm trying to adopt a dog you're about to euthanize, not asking for the launch codes.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)I could sit here and rattle off one case after another all day long.
Seems like everyone is suspect now.
Still infuriates me
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... "They're going to make criminals out of us all yet!" And they did.
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)Cheese is great!
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)beveeheart
(1,373 posts)Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)I'm confident
betsuni
(25,752 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I love cheese.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)This was an epic pun thread, though...
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)underpants
(182,988 posts)marybourg
(12,648 posts)as the fabric thread.
surrealAmerican
(11,367 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)Easy as that!
Think it'll happen? No.
Mother Of Four
(1,716 posts)But I don't know jack.
ohnoyoudidnt
(1,858 posts)That's a lot of cheddar we're talking about.
surrealAmerican
(11,367 posts)ohnoyoudidnt
(1,858 posts)cliffordu
(30,994 posts)I could be the first death by pun recorded at DU
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)cliffordu
(30,994 posts)That put me over the edge......
How ya doing, friend?
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Hope you're also hanging in there, brother. Tough weekend ahead...
cliffordu
(30,994 posts)undergroundpanther
(11,925 posts)My cat just snorted that line of cheese
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Some of the sale prices lately have been irresistable.
underpants
(182,988 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)Have you eaten 39 pounds of cheese yet this year? No? Then you are still lacking.
underpants
(182,988 posts)MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)I give up
Paulie
(8,462 posts)Quel fromage!
Deadshot
(384 posts)I should go listen to R & Brie to make myself feel better. We should pray to Cheesus.
I'll be edamned.
tazkcmo
(7,304 posts)We all could use a bit of brevity and you've knocked it outta the park! Thank you for helping me start my day with several laughs and smiles!
I feel the funniest people are some of the smartest people and DU reflects this. So contributors, thank you too.
LuckyTheDog
(6,837 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
Chan790
(20,176 posts)Odin2005
(53,521 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Quality cheese is as expensive as ever.