You’d have to be living on another planet not to know that the world is in the throes of a food crisis. From England to Egypt, there are shortages of staples like rice and flour, while the rising price of wheat has sent the price of meat soaring.
The head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) called the global food shortages, “a silent tsunami which knows no borders sweeping the world”.
In Haiti, there have been riots in the street as the price of rice, beans and fruit have gone up by 50% in the last year. The UN Secretary General warned that the food crisis could threaten the already fragile security situation in Haiti.
In Trinidad and Tobago, people tend use the cost of the fast food doubles - an Indian delicacy of two flat fried breads, called “bara” filled with curried chick peas - as a guage of the state of food prices.
For as long as I can remember, the average price of a doubles was TT$1.50 (£0.15, US$0.25) and that allowed someone to have a decent meal for less than TT$5.00.
But a Trinidad Express article recently reported that people were now paying TT$4.00 for a doubles. Here’s an excerpt.

Breakfast cost more yesterday and so did lunch.
Pholourie is now two for $1. Scores of customers however did not seem to mind digging deeper into their pockets to satisfy their hunger for their favourite delicacies.
They are now paying $17 for three doubles and a soft drink. Last week the same breakfast was priced at $14.
The price of doubles, aloo pies and saheena has risen from $3 to $4 for one. Another favourite, pholourie, which was priced at four for $1, shot up to two for $1.
Around noon yesterday scores of people went to their favourite doubles sheds in Debe, a town famous for its Indian delicacies in South Trinidad, and began shouting out their orders. But though several jaws dropped, the majority did not seem to mind when they were told that prices had gone up.
“Did the price really go up? I know they were saying it will go up this week but I did not know it increased already,” Vishnu Jairam said. He then turned and paid for his order.
Diana Benjamin, an employee at Hassanali’s “D Green Shed,” said all items were increased by $1 from March 31. “We did not want to send up the price. But everything is going up and we have to cover our costs. Not only flour, but oil and other grocery items are increasing,” she said.”

Rice is also scarce and the world price of rice has risen 68% since the start of 2008.
This is due mainly to the what the United Nations calls a “perfect storm” of rising demand from developing countries such as China and India, the impact of climate change and policy responses by governments. Since the start of 2008, major rice producers like China, India, Vietnam and Egypt have imposed limits on exports to keep domestic prices down.
In the United States, Wal-Mart’s cash and carry division, Sam’s Club, is selling a maximum of four bags of rice per person to prevent supplies from running short. In rival bulk chains like Costco, there are also similar restrictions at some branches.
On a lighter note, it’s not only the staples that are scarce these days. In the UK, the popular biscuit fig rolls are also hard to come by these days. The Guardian reported that some supermarkets have even put up notices, to inform customers of the current crisis, which began with hard times for the pollinating fig wasp of Anatolia.
“The crunch came because the heat coincided with the discovery of contamination. At the end of March, Paula Waldron, head of the food incidents unit at the Foods Standards Agency, wrote to all British companies importing Turkish dried figs.
Eurolaw-busting levels of a poison called aflatoxin had been found in consignments, she said, and everyone needed to carry out their own additional anti-toxin tests. The poison comes from a natural mould that is a parasite of figs, and has been linked with cancer.”
Somehow I think we could all live without fig rolls, but the rising price of staple foods and the effects are more cause for concern.
If you want to follow the news on the global food crisis, head to the BBC’s Food Crisis report where all the latest news and background information. In the meanwhile, cherish the food you’ve got and don’t waste!

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