9.02.2006

The antioxygenated man goes to market.

I don't know what those economics guys have to say about it but the price of my own personal market basket has good up damn near 50% in the last six months, I'm willing to bet. Used to be I could get in and out of the grocery store for $20 and it was $30 today. And not for anything unusual, either - chicken parts, sweet potatoes, lima beans. And a bag of potato chips. I always buy a bag of potato chips, a carryover from the days when I did all my grocery shopping on foot and wanted something to munch on whilst trudging home (tricky when it rains).

And coffee. OK, I've changed my coffee buying routine and it's more expensive now, but that's not enough to account for the difference by itself. I decided about a year ago to buy fair trade coffee and it is more expensive, partly because it's fair trade and partly because it's just better coffee most of the time. Anyway, I don't have enough money to be donating much to charities and such but I figure the least I can do is to pay the coffee grower a fair price, so there it is.

Which is why I didn't buy this new premium priced brand they had on promo sale - I don't remember the name of it but it's all fancied up in one of those foil bags, looking expensive and plastered all over with labels that say "rich in antioxidants" and "more antioxidents than green tea" like it's some kind of new health food, which is a sure way to sell just about any kind of food these days (I'm waiting for "potato chips prevent cancer," myself). But it ain't fair trade, so there you go.

Sure, the green tea line is a good one. Man, I have plenty of green stuff in my refrigerator already, green tea is the last thing I need. But tea is strictly an emergency drink, as far as I'm concerned so I'm not in much danger there. Besides, I know all coffee is "rich in antioxidants" and, given my coffee drinking habits, I am already the most antioxygenated guy on earth.

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