I’ve pretty much been a lifelong omnivore with about three years of eating no mammals. (I used to love telling people that and they’re reaction would be, “But you’re eating chicken!”) Since then, I’ve rarely cooked pork or beef, substituting in ground turkey, turkey bacon or turkey sausage. Now, I see the writing on the wall, written in meat.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to expose the fragility of our infrastructure, namely the lack of healthcare for employees whose jobs weren’t previously thought of as important enough to provide such a benefit. The general population acknowledges, perhaps for the first time, that healthcare is a human right. Corporations, which haven’t offered much outside of an underemployed hourly wage, have started to do the bare minimum by offering paid sick leave. That would at least encourage employees to stay home if they’re sick.
Yet coronavirus treatment costs thousands of dollars. So, even if someone has paid sick leave, that wouldn’t begin to cover that medical bill without health insurance.
One of the inevitable consequences has finally reached the shores of the meat packing plants. If they’re anything like what I’ve read in The Jungle, then I’m surprised we hadn’t reached this point back when there was still a TP crisis.
Although I still consider myself an omnivore, I’m no longer buying any meat, outside of eggs, while this shit is still going on. Even if I eventually must become a vegan because of this situation, it seems better to wean myself off meat rather than go cold turkey.
I’m sure the next reports will be about how the coronavirus affects chicken farms. Even if the stories haven’t reached me yet, egg and poultry prices haven’t noticeably increased–yet. Not like avocado prices. The best way to lose my taste for a certain food is for the price to soar out of my beyond my budget.
I’m probably being optimistic, thinking I can be an ovo-lacto pescatarian. None of those jobs involved in the food supply chain offer health insurance. Perhaps grocery store supervisors would be the first across the board to already have had that in place before this crisis–along with employees at upscale grocery chains where I can’t afford to shop.
Then again, I don’t completely understand the food supply chain. As I continue to order takeout once a week from some local restaurant, I’ve discovered that they’re prices for meat dishes haven’t increased. That’s at least an omnivore’s silver lining. So, it’s now become more affordable to buy already cooked meat than to buy it at a grocery store and cook it at home.
As if I needed another sign of the devil at the grocery store!
I’d been hunkering for trail mix. Recently, some of the bulk foods have returned. The bulk items in which customers use a scoop are still off limits, but the bulk foods that come fully enclosed a dispensing container are back. I had so much trouble with this mix pouring out that employee had to take the container down and shake it several times to fill half the bag.
At one point, I told her that I felt so bad that she had to go to so much trouble to assist me, despite her cheerfulness. As soon as I saw the sign-of-the-beast price, I burst out laughing and showed it to her. She said she’d share that experience with others.
The drama continues…