Soup kitchen queues grow as US teeters on brink of new downturn

flaire

From another article in The Guardian,

Hunger and poverty are not new phenomenons in America, but the lot of the average worker has considerably worsened since the early 1980s. And in the past decade, two key factors – soaring oil prices and a stagnant minimum wage – have pushed many of our poorest families over the brink. Between 2000 and 2008 oil prices quadrupled, which in turn caused food prices to escalate. During the same period, the federal minimum wage, which was set at $5.15 an hour in 1997, remained stagnant for almost 10 years. The combination of these factors has had devastating consequences for America's poorest workers, particularly those living in car-dependent regions, whose finances were already stretched to capacity.

The full article http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jun/16/sasha-abramsky-breadline-usa-poverty-hunger

Regards

amcluesent

Oxtail soup would be the coup de grace. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Snooze

amcluesent wrote: »

Oxtail soup would be the coup de grace. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Oxtail is niiiiiiiice. Is it really made from oxes tails though?

Rob

purch

I had my first cauliflower soup on Friday ... it was cauli/cheese actually

Broccoli Cheese was always a favourite 'Soup of the Day' when we had our Restaurant in Tampa.

Americans like anything with melted yellow flavourless stuff in it !!!!

PasturesNew

Snooze wrote: »

Oxtail is niiiiiiiice. Is it really made from oxes tails though?

Rob

Yes, most of them have tiny lumps in ... that's the actual ox tail. Ox tail is only meat .... so no different to any other meat (not like bums/eyelids/lips)

carolt

When I was little, we used to have chicken soup a lot, and I'd get given the heart as a special treat, bobbing round merrily in my soup.

Don't think my kids would go for it, somehow.

PasturesNew

carolt wrote: »

when i was little, we used to have chicken soup a lot, and i'd get given the heart as a special treat, bobbing round merrily in my soup.

Don't think my kids would go for it, somehow.

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mgardner

dopester wrote: »

At least in the US the citizen knows they have to put by for themselves in the good times. That the safety net is minimal and not permanent.

I'd be grateful for soup-kitchens in the same situation, if I hadn't saved in the good times and if I'd been reckless with my decisions such as speculating on property, or indulging in total consumerism.

Free food. The US has a much better chance of seeing a recovery than we do - with more real world logic in place.

Not a cradle-to-grave welfare as over here... rewarding the idle, recklessness, gamblers, speculators, and those who refuse to STR after seeing their homes shoot-up in value. Even the safety net here is not enough for some people now they find the party is over..... with people whining how they've paid in to the system for years..... happy to see the value of their homes treble in 10 years... now they want a citizen's income ! Un-kin-believable. Your expectations need to be sledgehammered.

The money from Labour's party-years has gone. Spent - and even more - borrowed. It has gone in to supporting ever growing counterproductive slum culture, free healthcare, totally expensive wars ect. The rest of us, the prudent and hard-working, aren't here to pay and support every other reckless or idle person's way in life. Want some financial security in life? Then save up for it and stop expecting everyone else to pay your way.

What about the people in the Us that there have never been good times for. The ones that from cradle to old age is more about survival. I have only been to America once my daughter took me to Disney and my heart went out to the old people and disabled people that I saw working as cleaners and shop assistants. They did nt have a chance of ever putting anything by. Surely we would not want to see this here or anywhere for that matter

carolt

PasturesNew wrote: »

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So was it just me, then? :rolleyes:

And here's me thinking it was just a sweet part of life in the 70's, like chicken kiev (never had that till the late 80's, actually) and avocado served au naturale as a (v posh) starter.

And my very first kiwi fruit. Likewise served plain as a starter.

Ahhh....those were the days.

That said, can't remember when I last bothered cooking/serving a starter at all.

But I've probably given my kids kiwis for pudding, if not avocado.

Swings and roundabouts.

PasturesNew

carolt wrote: »

So was it just me, then? :rolleyes:

And here's me thinking it was just a sweet part of life in the 70's, like chicken kiev (never had that till the late 80's, actually) and avocado served au naturale as a (v posh) starter.

And my very first kiwi fruit. Likewise served plain as a starter.

Ahhh....those were the days.

That said, can't remember when I last bothered cooking/serving a starter at all.

But I've probably given my kids kiwis for pudding, if not avocado.

Swings and roundabouts.

I've not had avocado. I never have starters unless it's compulsory (say, 3 Xmas dinners with a works' do).

Never had a kiwi fruit either.

I was brought up on plain food. The most exotic things we had were Hungarian Goulash (so, that's stew with some random paprika in it) - and Vesta curries.

Re soup kitchens, there's been another sort of twist on this "public feeding" type of idea. In the War, because of rationing, workers were given access to cheap eating places. So they'd have loads and loads of places they could go to and eat good basic meals at dirt cheap prices. As they were the workers, with rationing, it was felt necessary to keep them well fed.