As you may may know, the world has been faced with severe food shortages in recent months. Driven by an increase in the price of ethanol, meat, wheat, and rice, many staple foods are in low supply, and the outlook is not good. We've seen riots all over the place, but until recently, this phenomenon had not hit us very hard here in the United States. That was, until now.
Follow me over the fold...
Something terrible is brewing on college campuses all across the country. For those of you who care about your health or have a steady income, you probably have not noticed, but ramen noodle prices have skyrocketed here in the US over the last few months, and it's only going to get worse. It's already happened in South Korea, China, and Japan, but now the suffering is hitting home. So far everything is peaceful, but unless our candidates start a dialogue on food security, I fear the worst. Sit-ins, maybe. Riots, perhaps. Hunger, guaranteed. It's unlikely that our universities will be forced to shut down, but with the student loan industry in shambles and the ramen noodle prices rising, who knows what to expect.
I know a lot about ramen noodles. I've been severely addicted to them for 25 years. When I was 12, I wrote a love song about ramen noodles. On my 15th birthday, my uncle got me a book about ramen noodles, and it soon became my bible. And today, many years later, I still have several packs a week. For years, they provided me with both energy and extra money. I loved them, and they afforded me a lavish globetrotter lifestyle. Even in the 90s, when reports came out that they were unhealthy, I stuck with them. And in 2007, when the 96 year old inventor of ramen noodles died, a little part of me died too. Through thick and thin, till death do us part... or so I always thought. Today, however, the outlook is not so good.
In the last year, the average price of noodles has increased by between 25-100% depending on your brand of choice. My brand has always been Nissan Top Ramen, the top-of-the-line ramen noodle. I've seen a box of 12 rise from around $1.75 to $3.50 in just 8 months. I can survive, but I fear that my younger and less fortunate noodle-lovers may have nowhere to turn. And we know that all food prices (including ramen) have hit their worst inflation mark in over 17 years.
Four years ago, when Michael Moore stood on stages all over the country and threw packs of ramen out to new voters, who knew that those precious noodles would turn out to be good investments. Little noodle gems just being carelessly tossed around, as if our world had endless supplies of them. But Mr. Moore is not to blame for this food crisis. For if he knew that he was throwing out deep-fried-gold, he surely would have kept the noodles to himself. I digress.
Here's the point: There is perhaps no better example of a cheap staple food in the US. Young, poor, and those with a salty pallet require cheap foods - like ramen noodles - for their survival. When their cost rises, without an equal or greater rise in wages, we suffer. And, of course, the young and the poor suffer at a quicker and more devastating rate. Perhaps most worrisome is that our national ramen discourse is non-existant. Neither Obama, nor McCain have mentioned ramen noodles in any public speech, and neither have spent a great deal of time discussing food prices as a whole. College students are struggling to get by, and the only thing our leaders are discussing is lipstick. Insulting.
Food, water, and health are three of the most important aspects to survival, and our leaders - with the assistance of the mainstream media - have yet to create any sort of national dialogue about them. Nothing on the food crisis. Nothing on healthcare. And nothing on the environment. For the last week, since the end of the RNC, and the official beginning of the campaign, we have yet to have one national discussion of importance. College students are starving, so for their sake, please quit talking about pigs and bridges, and start talking about ramen noodles!