Joseph, where are you when we need you?

I'm hearing alot lately about food shortages, especially rice. Apparently, we're also missing corn, soybean and all kinds of wheat. Sugar is also becoming scarce. A friend showed me an article she took off the internet that said that buying rice and storing it is a better investment than a low interest CD.

Huh?

I spend half of my life in the supermarkets and it doesn't look like a shortage to me. I counted 20 different cereals there the other day. Rice? There were a dozen varieties from plain to exotic. Coffee? Seven different brands, not including the flavored ones.

Of course, we have to say there is a shortage, this way prices can go way up. And up.

Look, economics is simply not my thing. When I had to follow the stock market for Mrs. Posner's economics class in the 11 grade, I totally cheated. I didn't understand it then and don't understand it now. Buy low, sell high (but we generally do the opposite). And I do believe that at least some of this is created by the media who relishes whipping up the public to a frenzy. What fun for them to see masses of people panicking and running over to their local ShopRite to stock up on basmati or risottos. Imagine how much fun the 11 o'clock news would be to watch, were that to occur.

But still.

We are a gluttonous society. The amount of food available in the supermarkets is crazy and the amount we buy is obscene. Did our parents eat like this? Our grandparents? Of course obesity is on the rise everywhere. (I know, I know, I'm not one to talk, but if they only sold one cereal, and it was bran flakes, I'd probably be thin. Of course, my kids would be starving).

Maybe a "famine" is a natural correction for our gluttonous nature. Because sooner or later the piper has to be paid. Maybe "later" is now sooner.

But as the Israelis are fond of saying, "Yiyeh B'seder".

It's all good.