On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 13:11:30 +0100, Ashley Moran <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I know someone who has not long started eating paleo, but he says
>he's spending £5+ a day on food plus what he eats at home.  He eats a
>lot of nuts, avocados and other fruits.  His problem is he isn't keen
>on very fatty meat yet.

No. His problem is that he isn't thinking Paleo.  Look at it another way.  It didn't cost any money to
eat in the Palaeolithic, but there was time spent hunting and gathering. Suppose this took three
hours a day. You could make the case that, until he has spent three hours a day working for
money or gardening to acquire food, he can't say it's costing him too much. He just needs to get
his head around the fact that finding good food is one of the basic tasks of existence for any
animal, including the human animal. He will probably find there are a few other things he's
spending money on which are not so basic / essential / core.

Non-Paleo food costs less money because its total costs - the externalities - are not factored into
the monetary cost.  For example, the damage done to the soils by artificial fertilizers, the loss of
biodiversity through monocultures, the greenhouse damage done by using fossil fuels to transport
and process foods - all these are costs which we pass on to be absorbed by the environment
rather than paying at the shop. When he understands this, it won't make it any easier for him to
pay for his food, but it will increase his understanding: there is no such thing as a free lunch.

I was in England earlier this month and saw that meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables are 2 -3 times
the cost they are in Australia.  Almost all fruits and many fresh vegetables are imported into that
island (avocados and asparagus from Peru; chives from Israel, blueberries from Australia).  Yet 60
years ago there was a 'Dig for Victory' campaign to make Britain self-sufficient in food.  They went
close to success, too. But over the next 60 years cheap oil gave the British the easy way out. That
is about to change with the decline in North Sea oil and gas - the UK is now an importer of these
diminishing products and the cost of food can only rise for people who don't grow their own.

There is in England a wonderful relic of the Dig for Victory campaign - the allotments movement.
This allows city dwellers to rent for a nominal fee space in community gardens that are scattered
throughout the cities and towns of England.  I say many of these from the train window as I
travelled around the country. So your friend CAN grow his own if he is determined to make the
effort.

Keith