Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Vegetarianism for the growing world

Was waiting for an article like this one which says "The Chinese are getting richer and, like their western counterparts, eating more meat, which in turn is spurring a surge in demand for foodstuffs to feed a growing population of pigs and other livestock. "

Pure economics would tell you that to create 1 KG of meat you need 10 KG of grain. Hence either the meat is priced 10 times that of grain or it is bound to happen in the near future. Prices of food have been on the "rice" :), and down the lane I guess it makes more sense to directly consume the rice yourself intead of feeding it to a pig and then eating the pig instead.

So all you tandoori chicken connoiseurs might just have to shell out more money or switch to panneer tikka masala instead :)

The Indian Government instead of inflation control tactics such as banning exports, giving out import licences, banning futures trading, sending the police to unearth `hoarding', hiking interest rates etc. , would do well to encourage vegetarianism :D hehehe....

I can almost hear P. Chidambu saying "All Saravana Bhavans and Pure Veg restaurants get a VAT waiver. Pure Veg restaurants to have a VAT of only 1% :D..."

Anyways, this is not in any way to hurt the sentiments of non-vegetarians...but just an economic point of view of mine in relation to being a non-veggie. If prices of chicken are going to continue to rise as given in this article, does it not make more sense to consume maize directly instead of feeding it to the chicken and then eating the chicken instead?

Anyways, I am predicting that down the lane the markets would decide for themselves the prices in such a way that vegetarianism is the way of life of the common man. Go free markets...

Jokes apart , as one of the comments below point out...the equation between veg food and non veg food is not going to be exactly 1:10...there are so many other parameters...

Just thought I could get away with a "pro veg" argument....but no....someone had to come and spoil it everytime :(

5 comments:

Woodworm said...

But, to make panneer you need a cow or a buffalo, feed it grass or maize, and then you need to milk it, and curdle the milk with lime juice. So why not simplify that with a "Ghaas Makka Nimbu Tikka Masala"?

Whoiscb said...

@woodworm : Ya actually...I was carried away by the fact that Panner Tikka tastes like Tandoori chicken (which is what the non veggies tell me).

So I guess, Ghaas Makka nimbu tikka masala would be the better alternative :D

P.S. Between me and woodie, "Where the hell did u get this stupid name da"!!! thu...

Naveen said...

Dei...One thing...Its a dubious assumption that growing livestock is more expensive than farming. For example, fishes can be bred and consumed more easily than rice in some places in the world :). The cost of a plate of beef will never shoot beyond a certain point since the operations are so streamlined in the west :) and will continue to be so. But if your argument is either extinction of animals or the "10% trophic level energy" thing.. i totally agree.. :D

Whoiscb said...

@Naveen : Hmm...now I know why you always stood first in class

Naveen said...

we will take it offline :) But seriously man.. if vegetarianism is rewarded..... i can probably save something :)