December 28th, 2023
The introduction gives you an idea of the format of the book. The author first talks about garlic and its importance in Korean culture. He then talks about going to grad school in England in the 80s and how British food was, per stereotype, bland and terrible. The British were very closed off to foreign foods. However, during the 90s or so, there was a cultural shift and the British began to try all sorts of food. With no pride in their own cuisine, they could try everything without concern for “national pride”. The author then contrasts this to economics of the time. Instead of a great opening, there was a great closing in the 80s. In the 70s, one could find and study all sorts of schools: Marxist, Keynesian, Classical, Neoclassical, Austrian, etc. In Reagan-Thatcher era, the Neoclassical overtook all others until it became synonymous with economics. We still live in this economic drought today. Like food, economics is cultural and there is no right way to prepare it. Some times and places benefit from one type and are hurt by another. Like food, the economics we live under affects the way we think. If we live under a system that assumes greed, we are less likely to trust the motives of others. It’s a pretty good opening for the book.
December 29th, 2023
The book is pretty short and each chapter is only like 10 pages. I read the Acorn and the Okra chapter, both of which fall under the section of stereotypes or something like that. The only people who seem to eat acorns as anything other than a survival technique are the Koreans. They’re more important to the black pigs of Spain that eat them and become a delicacy meat. Pork is important in Spain, likely a cultural artifact as it being a “Christian” meat during the war with Muslims. As Jews also did not eat it, they were forcibly converted and made to eat it as proof. When the Jews were evicted, they found refuge in the Ottoman empire. The author uses this as evidence against the modern intolerant views of Islam, when clearly some Islamic views are open to friendly relationships and scientific knowledge. The Ottomans embraced merchanthood since Muhammad was a merchant and were successful traders. To contrast another stereotype, East Asians are seen as hard workers, though in the past they were seen as lazy. Confucian ideology had a caste system and looked down on artisans and merchants. This was a mindset that had to be forcibly broken in the 60s and beyond, and only then were these countries able to industrialize and see big economic impacts.
The okra chapter discusses slavery. Okra is an African plant that spread to many places (though not Korea) and was brought to America, with many other plants we eat daily, during the slave trade. America and European capitalism was built on the backs of slave. Not only were slave-backed crops 50% of American output, slaves were collateral and used to back bonds and loans, enabling the creation of modern banking. The slave revolts of Haiti led directly to the Louisiana purchase and thus America become a continental country and economic superpower. The author contrasts slavery with economic freedom propounded by neoliberals. This freedom is not really freedom, as it clearly allows slavery. Friedman and his ilk choose economic freedom over any other freedom, especially when it comes to the “rights” of the property owners. They think they should have the freedom to run their factories or businesses as they choose. They think the freedom to elect a socialist is inferior to free trade, a la backing Pinochet and the killing of Allende. The freedom to control one’s employees is more important than the freedom of the worker to organize and control their own fate. Freedom is just a term of propaganda.
January 2nd, 2024
I read a few chapters in the last couple days. Let’s see what I remember. The last chapter of “prejudice” sections (I couldn’t think of that word last time) is on coconuts. Coconuts are apparently an amazing food. Not only are they widely used in culinary, but the husky hair bits have uses for ropes and whatnot, the unripe fruit has water that can be drank, and the insides have an oil that was used widely for lubrication before petroleum took over. This miracle fruit (nut?) is a reason why “tropical people” are widely seen lazy since they have no need to work hard, and that is why they are poor. The author then goes into stats that show that people in poor countries work more hours than those in rich and work for many more years than those the rich. They also have to work harder due to having poorer equipment. I think most people realize this and the stereotype of a lazy third-worlder fairly archaic.
The next chapter, I forget the section, is on anchovies. I enjoy a good anchovy, but not many Americans or Anglos seem to like them. Apparently they’re an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. Had no idea. But the anchovy segues into birds of the South American Pacific coast, then to guano. This was a huge market for South America because it was used as fertilizer and also in gunpowder (so was coconut) due to its rich nitrates. Of course it was overused and supply was affected. The big problem for the market was that the Germans created an artificial fertilizer and then the need for guano was done forever. This was a common trend of rich countries, lacking a primary resource, creating an artificial and destroying the market. This happened to dyes and others.
The chapter on prawns discusses their culinary uses and why many find eating bugs disgusting, though shrimp and prawn and not much different. I don’t remember what else it talked about. It did talk about how bugs are eaten often in Asia and are a more efficient source of protein than mammals and birds, since they use less land, water, and feed per gram of protein. Now I remember, it talked about infant industry protection. Silk worm pupae were a big snack in Korea because it was something that gets leftover from the silk industry. Other industries in countries like Japan and Korea were essentially created out of thin air because of government controls. Let’s say its about cars. They would place high tariffs on imports and essentially force banks to lend for this industry. Over time, they lessen the protection so that the industry can become competitive on foreign goods. This is what America, the bastion of free trade, did as advocated by Alexader Hamilton. It’s only bad for countries who want to export to that market, hence why advanced countries force “free trade” on weaker countries.
Then there’s a chapter on noodles. I love noodles, especially Asian noodles. Asian food sometimes is too spicy, unfortunately. Italians are also big noodle lovers. I forget the transition, but the chapter moves on to Hyundai-Kia. This is another case of infant industry protection, as there was no auto industry in Korea at the time. Hyundai was already a big company, but worked in other industries. They sued the profit of those other industries to shore up the weak car industry. Look at it today. Now it’s bigger than GM and Ford.
January 3rd, 2024
Carrots: the author does not dwell on them long. He says that the orange carrot is only a creation of the 17th century, and they are naturally white. The orange carrot is a miracle plant, however, because they contain beta carotene. This is processed into vitamin A in the body, but not in excess so it does not lead to poisoning. Around 2000 or so, some scientists created Golden Rice, a yellow looking grain that contains beta carotene. Asians tend to have a high vitamin A deficiency and this would have helped them. However, this cannot be sold by the scientists because a grain of this rice uses 70 patents. The author then talks about the issues about patents and how it could be changed. Giving a 20 year monopoly is not very reasonable in the fast changing world. If the idea of a patent is to make innovation public, it is not very useful if nobody can use it. Using a new innovation can lead to more innovation, but letting 20 years go by is not helpful. In previous generations, a government prize would be given for certain inventions. British Parliament offered 3 million pounds (in today’s worth) for someone to invent the chronometer. Likewise, Napoleon offered a prize for food preservation that led to canning.
I also read Beef. This one goes heavy on information about Uruguay, who apparently has the most cattle per capita or land mass or something. They had a big leather industry before refrigeration, but also marketed the beef bullion cube thing early. We all know about the downsides to the beef industry, such as deforestation and whatnot. The main point comes down to free trade and how it is usually not very free for the weaker countries. Once Latin America became independent, Britain and others forced “unequal treaties” on them, which guaranteed low tariffs for sellers in Latin America among other unfavorable things. The same was done in Asia. Once these treaties expired, these countries jacked up tariffs to aid their own industries. The World Bank and some other international agreements also force free trade on these countries, even to their own detriment. Milton Friedman and his ilk praise this free trade and mark the repeal of the UK’s Corn Laws as the ushering of a new era. However, Britain still had a thousand tariffs other than corn and only became a superpower after centuries of high tariffs allowed their industries to grow. Pretty narrow minded guy, that Friedman. Interesting note, there was a bit about corned beef hash. The “corn” aspect is that the beef was preserved with large grains of salt, or “corns” of salt.
January 7th, 2024
Banana: The banana is a notorious fruit. How can something coming 3000 miles away cost 14 cents? When I think of the banana, I think of the banana republics of Central America. Instead of a government, these countries were essentially controlled by the United Fruit Company or the other one. It’s like a coal company town, but on a larger scale and more brutal. The author then goes on to contrast this by saying global corporations are capable of bringing benefits, if they are controlled the right way. Instead of having free reign, they need to give some percentage of ownership to locals and use some percentage of its supply from local vendors. Once in the country, an entirely new industry can open up in the host country and bring brand new technologies. Think of Korea, who never would’ve been able to build cars or semiconductors (Hyundai and Samsung) without foreign corporations.
Coke: We all know Coca-Cola used to be made from the coca leaf. Apparently it also used to be (until 2016) made with kola nut, whatever that is. It apparently still has coca leaf, with the cocaine extracted, for flavoring. Coke is the symbol of America, though its main ingredients are foreign. Being anti-Coke is a symbol of rejecting Americanisms. In the last couple decades, there was a “Pink Tide” in Latin America, where neoliberal policies were shot down and socialist policies were on the rise. I think the best example of this was Bolivia. They increased tariffs a lot, nationalized some industries, and increased social spending. Instead of crashing and burning, like Washing Consensus (US Treasury, IMF, and World Bank) claimed they would, the economy grew and inequality decreased. Suck it, neoliberals.
Rye: I can’t say I’ve eaten a lot of rye. Maybe I have without realizing it. It’s big in eastern Europe. Russia is the biggest consumer, Germany is the biggest producer. Bismark was famous for uniting “rye and iron”, that is the Prussian landowners and the Rhineland factory owners. Bismark, a staunch conservative, is shockingly the inventor of the welfare state. He created the first insurance program for workers, among other things I forget. This was not because he was a bleeding heart, but because he wanted to weaken the appeal of socialism. Socialists were pissed and were opposed. But it worked, and as years went by, the revolutionary fire died and the socialists wanted to fixed the system instead of destroying it. Thus was welfare created by a right-winger. Welfare is never free, of course, as we pay for it in taxes. It is not just paid for in income taxes, but in tariffs, sales taxes, VAT, etc. About 1/3 of taxes are collected through these latter methods, which are more burdensome on low-income people since they are a flat tax. The benefit of welfare and things like a nation heath care service are the convenience and the economy of scale. It is much cheaper for every hospital in the country to buy equipment and medicine from a single source than for each individual one to make small orders. That’s ignoring the for-profit local insurances as well. Welfare is a good thing.
January 8th, 2024
I hate spicy food. There was a chapter on chili that was actually pretty good, though the tie-in I can’t remember. The chapter was about equality and fairness. It complains about the Soviet concept of equality by telling the story of how a vegetarian requested something other than chicken on a flight and was told that everyone gets chicken. That equality makes no sense because everyone has different needs. The counter to this is the right-wing view of fairness. They think letting everyone do anything is fair since everyone has the same opportunities. But not everyone has the same opportunities because not everyone has the same starting points. Even if they do, they do not have the same capabilities or abilities. The welfare state helps give people the same starting point that ensuring all children get the necessary care needed for proper development. Then it allows all to access good schools and from there one’s abilities can lead to their level of success. I strongly believe in this view. Bring the few at the top down a few pegs to bring the many at the bottom up a few pegs. Once everyone has achieved a level of comfort and fairness, then the competition that life inevitably becomes and be conducted in good faith.
The chapter on chicken was okay. It was stretched from the meat everyone is indifferent to to the work that everyone is indifferent to: domestic. GDP does not consider things that are not marketable, like child-rearing or taking care of the elderly, and these women (mostly) do not earn a pension and often end in poverty. Essential workers during the pandemic, sans doctors, were also extremely underpaid and thus their contributions are not weighed appropriately in GDP. These jobs are also mostly female held.
The history in the lime chapter was more interesting than the meat of it. The British Empire, masters of the sea, had a scurvy problem and had no solution. Once ocean sailing became common, people began dying from lack of vitamin C. 18th century scientists started to believe this was related to certain acids, and thus thought acid fruit could help. Limes were used, after lemons, since they were more acidic (though lower in vitamin C) and grew in the Caribbean territories. The government mandated its use in the navy and forced soldiers to drink the juice by making it a part of the grog ration, thus saving many lives. This was done solely due to government intervention. Then it goes into the need for the government to intervene in green-technology. Only the public sector can be so long-term thinking. The private sector is unfortunately only concerned with near-term gain and will kill itself next quarter to make more money in the third quarter. It amazes me how short sighted boards of directors can be.
January 9th, 2024
I finished the book today. It’s not the best ending, in my opinion. The spices chapter is interesting, but the rest is meh. Spices led to the creation of the LLC. Prior to that, if you were an investor in a company that went belly-up, you had to pay off the debts, no matter the cost. With an LLC, you are only liable up to what you invested. You lose your shares, but that is all. This encouraged people to invest in risky enterprises, such as sailing around the world for flavors. Now, the LLC has become a bit of a liability itself. With minimal regulation, people buy shares and sell them ASAP for quick gains, thus leading corporations to think quarter-to-quarter instead of long term. If regulations encouraged or forced holding shares for longer terms, thus creating a true investment in the company and a concern for its future, then we may have better outcomes. Less companies would be shut down because they aren’t “profitable enough”, less people would be let go to meet the year’s target, more investment would be made in the company itself instead of sending 80% of profit to shareholders. I say this as someone trying maximize my dividends. A hypocrite, maybe, but not a day-trader.
First, I hate strawberries. Second, I don’t fully agree with this chapter, though I am likely just uninformed. The strawberry is easily bruised and thus must be picked manually, while other fruits could be picked/harvest with automated equipment. This is done by immigrants making less than $20k a year. Once there is an automated system, these immigrants will be out of a job. The author says that automation is not so bad and that it creates other jobs. I don’t think they create enough jobs that way and not for the same demographic. These immigrants are not going on to build or design robots, whereas the college student who was going to be a mechanical engineer may choose strawberry robot engineering instead. If a fast-food joint replaces its staff with robots, it needs someone to maintain those robots. In reality, the 5 employees replaced by robots will be maintained by 1 employee. What about the people making the robots? They’re going to be Chinese. Tough luck, burger flipper. I really don’t see how it would end up any other way.
The last chapter is more about food than economics. It goes on for a really long time about chocolate, which obviously leads to the Swiss. Essentially the whole bit is about how the Swiss are assumed to be the perfect post-industrial society, but in reality they are the most industrialized society per capita in the world. Their persona is services and finance, but they make a lot of stuff that may not be seen by consumers, such as industrial equipment and chemicals. So their success as a country is because they are VERY industrialized. Bad news for the UK and US. Not the deepest way to end a book, but it’s a good, short read.