On “Food” Prices and Veganism

Reuters' "Steep Food Price Increases on Way: Experts" (yes, that really is the title) does something I haven't seen before, and I wonder if the reporter, Charles Abbott, even realized he was doing it. He equates animals with food, but in a different way than we're accustomed to.

Let's deconstruct:

• The first sentence is: "U.S. food prices will rise by at least 7 percent in 2009 because of higher feed costs for chickens, hogs and cattle, said a group of food-industry economists on Thursday." That tells me that products made from animals will be more expensive–what we call "meat" will be more expensive. "Dairy products" and eggs will be more expensive. But those products are not equivalent to "food." They're subsets of food (remember Venn diagrams? Animal products would be inside the larger circle called "food").
• You're being unreasonable and presumptuous, says my conscience. Just wait, broccoli's about to skyrocket, too, and Charles Abbott is about to tell you why. Abbott continues: "Although grain prices have declined since summer, this year's corn, wheat and soybean crops are forecast to fetch prices at the farm gate that are double their 2005 levels. Corn and soybeans are major ingredients in feed rations."  Again, back to "meat" and such.
• The people Abbott spoke to are: a representative from the National Chicken Council and Thomas Elam from Farm Econ, who has been named a Poultry USA "Top Gun" consultant to the US Poultry Industry. So Abbott consulted the animal exploitation industry only, which is fine with me. What's not fine with me is the "meat" equals food assumption. What's not fine with me is saying you consulted "food-industry economists," when you spoke with people who kill animals for a living or consult for people who kill animals for a living. There's more to food than the death of sentient nonhumans.
• Elam, by the way, says that "poultry, hog and cattle producers would cut production in coming months because of feed costs, meaning less meat on the retail market but at higher prices."

Here's a tip for anyone who complains about their increasing grocery bill: eliminate the most expensive part. Animal products are more expensive than ever, are not particularly healthy, are far more responsible for climate change than Al Gore will admit to (even now–in today's NYT–what is wrong with him?), and they require the unnecessary exploitation, torture and killing of beings as sentient as the goldendoodle Barack Obama is thinking of buying for his daughters. It's never been a better time to go vegan.