Thinking About Food ***

Sunk Costs and Measure 49

As this rumination began while working on the overlong post on Water  ( Dasani, Anyone? ), it seems only appropriate to ponder the economic metaphor of sunk costs. 

After all, fire and drought ( Measure 37 Claims in Hood River  )   are in today's news  but it won't be too long before they are replaced by storms and floods - sunk costs, so to speak.

In economic theory, a sunk cost is one that cannot be recovered and should not contribute to rational decision making.

We were thinking about this yesterday while driving north on I-205 to visit Gartners Meats on 74th and NE Killingsworth to sample their brats and other assorted meats. ( Tasting our own medicine, so to speak - see Tom McKenna's post, Beer, Brats and a Tailgate and the related Togetherness ).

Traffic, as usual, was horrific, and in between fuming about the long line to turn left onto I-205 from Division St. and construction related traffic jams, we found time to pat ourselves on the back for having had the good sense to live where we do  in Ladd's Addition - a cozy little neighborhood where the streets make almost no sense but which is close to everything.  Thereby affording us the very green luxury of rarely encountering life's freeways while simultaneously benefiting from ridiculously inflated house values.

The point here is that we are unlikely to return to Gartners any time soon - for the simple reason that it is too far from our daily haunts. This is unfortunate, because Gartners is a throwback.  As Tom says in his post , "I go there when I know it will be crowded just to thoroughly indulge in the atmosphere."  When you walk in there are so many people milling about the small space outside the long meat display counter, that you have to take a number! The wait is actually fortunate as it affords time to consider the very large number of choices you will soon have to make - 5-6 types of bacon, even more marinaded meat choices, close to 15 different sausage varieties, and all the predictable selections you would find at any meat counter - beef in all forms and cuts, pork, lamb, chicken ... you name it.

We bought a little of everything and, just this morning, finished a breakfast featuring their  extra-lean, sugar cured bacon, beef bacon and scrambled eggs. Best breakfast we've had in some time, but unless we happen to be in the neighborhood, a pleasure we will have to forgo, except for special occasions.

And so, back to sunk costs. The distance and headache that separates us from Gartners is a sunk cost of living where we do. We cannot recover it.

( The once mighty Colorado River separates the Mexican state of Baja California from Sonora at its mouth. It has been reduced to a sluggish, salty stream by removal of most of the water for irrigation or use by the cities of Southern California. - Gemini Earth Photographs - NASA )

Which brings us to measure 49, floods, famine and fires.

Yearly fires in southern California are a sunk cost of living in a desert, as is the depletion of the once mighty Colorado River.

The choice of where live, suburban sprawl and urban densities ,proximity to natural landscapes and rural development all have associated sunk costs - costs which we cannot recover, but which are only now floating to the surface and contrary to economic theory must inevitably enter into our decision making.

Ruminations about Price and Value

Ken's Artisan Bakery
Tangerine Habanero Mustard
Two Tzatzikis

In classical economics and to a lesser, but still real extent, in life, price is a measure of value. Simply put, for a given type of product, be it wine, cheese, furniture, clothing or cars, more expensive tends toward more better. When asked, "How do you pick wine?", my first, modest, response is always that I choose a color - red and maybe a grape variety or region - pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, Russian River or Bourdeaux and then I choose how much I am willing to spend. And without fail, up to about $40/bottle, the more expensive the wine, the more character, subtlety and complexity.

In classical economics 'substitutability' is a concept closely related to price and value. The theory being that the price charged by a producer is constrained by consumers' willingness and ability to 'substitute' other products for a given expenditure. And this is where value and price stop marching down the same line.

At approximately $3.50 per loaf, bread from Ken's Artisan Bakery ( some of the best bread in Portland ) is more expensive than bread made by Safeway. So far, so good; price correlates with value. But here's the rub:

Following the logic of substitutability, a fancy Oregon Pinot Noir at $35/bottle should be worth 10 loaves of Ken's bread @ $3.50 per loaf. I don't know about you but I'll take the 10 loaves.

This is all to say that a food blog like this can easily fall into the trap of the fancy and the expensive. Fancy and expensive is safe, often new. It can be exciting and different. But there's lots, in fact, most of food that is not expensive and here are a few that have recently caught our attention:

• Tangerine Habanero Mustard by Earth & Vine Provisions - Don't let the habanero scare you off, this mustard is both delicate and powerful. The tangerine mixes effortlessly with the mustard. The spice from the habanero is restrained and it goes great with anything you usually put mustard on. Available at Zupans.
  Approx. $6.50 per 10 oz. jar.
  
  
• Tzatziki:  Alexis Tzatziki, from the same folks who run the restaurant at 215 W. Burnside and  Aladdin Foods Tzatziki. Both are very good separately. ( The tzatziki from Alexis is creamier. The tzatziki from Aladdin has bits of cucumber.) But both are better in combination, particularly when spread over a slice of Ken's Artisan Bakery brown bread.
  

Hurrah!!! - creativity and basic simplicity out trump price every and any day.

Omnivore's Dilemma

Appreciating food must also include, to some degree, thinking about food.  To use a fancy word, provenance- what we eat, why we eat it, where it comes from, etc. - matters.  In wine it's called "terroir."

Along these lines...

We are in the middle of reading  The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen and find it both fascinating and appalling.

And in not so humorous counterpoint, we point to a link we followed, ironically, from New Season's home page, to an article in the Vancouver Sun The economic fallacy of 'eat local, buy local'

Eats Shoots and Leaves - A Dilemma Indeed

In his compelling and informative book, Michael Pollen describes The Omnivore's Dilemma as follows:

            "To one degree or another, the question of what to have for dinner assails every omnivore and always has. When you can eat just about anything nature has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety...This is the omnivore's dilemma...

           ...contrasted with the omnivore's existential situation ( is ) that of the specialized eater, for whom the question could not be simpler.  The koala doesn't worry about what to eat:"

The koala eats shoots and leaves from the eucalyptus tree and that's it, no dilemma.  Unlike anxious humans and nervous rats for whom each evening, each meal is an existential crisis ( 'Should I have gravy with my mash potatoes or just ... salt and pepper?' ), the koala leads a life unfettered by too many choices.

It is symptomatic of the current age that the notion of a dilemma has been transformed from its original meaning as "a usually undesirable or unpleasant choice" to what is today a milder, tamer variant. Those few choices we do actually make are between two perceived as not always equal but usually positive alternatives. As Meriam-Webster informs us:

            "The use of such adjectives as terrible, painful, and irreconcilable suggests that dilemma is losing some of its unpleasant force. There also seems to be a tendency toward applying the word to less weighty problems, as in "solved their goaltending dilemma"

Heaven forbid we should have to choose between two bad alternatives. But a close reading of the Omnivore's Dilemma reveals that Michael Pollen has chosen an apt title, for we have in the modern age made a Faustian bargain.  Its an all you can eat banquet but at a price we may not be able to afford.

 

 

A Work In Progress

The Beginnings page is where we reflect on why we are doing this.  As in any such metaphysical exploration it will be less useful in the immediate sense ( there won't be any hard information about Food or Wine ) but may reflect what we mean by "Life's Pleasures."

Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily.
                    -    Epicurus, from Diogenes Laertius,
                         Lives of Eminent Philosophers

Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.
                -    Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
                    -    Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
                         Said by the King to the White Rabbit

To grow old is to grow common. Old age equalizes - we are aware that what is happening to us has happened to untold numbers from the beginning of time.  When we are young we act as if we were the first young people in the world.
                    -    Eric Hoffer