Lest my readership assume that I’ve lost every bit of my social conscience, and embraced a lifestyle of decadence, I should reemphasize that not everyone in the world gets to consume in quite the same way that we Americans do.
The NY Times recognized this point bluntly today, in a cogent editorial:
Most Americans take food for granted. Even the poorest fifth of households in the United States spend only 16 percent of their budget on food. In many other countries, it is less of a given. Nigerian families spend 73 percent of their budgets to eat, Vietnamese 65 percent, Indonesians half. They are in trouble.
So, it’s one thing for me to prattle along about the fancy shit I just ate, but a little global perspective provides a sobering reminder. Just to save a little face, I didn’t stumble on to the Times piece until after I wrote the previous post.
Sarah said
I may have lamented the price tag of School of Unnamed Restaurant, but that Saturday, I participated in racking up a $500 bill at James. Mini-bourgeois means “broke”, not “poor”, apparently.