Food inflation, local trend or worldwide?

I’m sure it’s basically the same machine, but if there’s a general shortage of feedstock (of whatever type - rice bran isn’t going to be the only shortage) it’s going to drive up prices. People have to meet the cost of capital on those machines and they’ll probably accept a smaller profit margin rather than let the machines stand idle for X hours a day.

It’s like grape seeds, first they press oil, than the leftover is going to feed. Ground to meal, then mixed with feed.
Rice bran is only partially mixed with feed. If it’s only pressed it will still contain some oil.

I was looking at the other oils available in Carrefour today. Indulge me on my soapbox for a minute here, avocado oil, is there a more wasteful oil on the planet? Water hungry avocadoes, and just pressing the flesh for oil. That one can go up.

The tragic thing about all this is that it didn’t have to happen. Avocado trees grow like weeds in the right climate. I have several of them. They’re not much use for fruit as such (not named varieties) but they’d be fine for oil, and I planted them for that purpose. The pressings could be used for compost. There need be no waste, no fertilizers, no irrigation. Just appropriate design.

But that’s not the way politicians like things to be done.

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Even the friggin’ vinegar is up in price. Decrease size, up the price.

+33% price rise on chicken bake.
+17% price rise on soda.

If that increase in oil price is across the board in Taiwan, it is going to hit some places hard, like traditional breakfast shops, and those fry up places that you pick stuff out of the cabinet to be deep fried.

There’s always gutter oil …

I certainly hope not, because cooking for one person is a lot of work.

we get husks/bran/everything for $600nt for about 2 tonnes. actually its free, the 600 is the truck fee. got about 10 tonnes today. food grade. Its cheap until there is a market :wink:

inflation can be adjusted. such as using less oil. price gouging, especially on a large scale, gets tricky!

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I always thought rice bran, for this reason of it being a by-product, was one of the more sustainable oils. Of course you don’t hear much about it because it is not trendy like coconut oil. I mean, you don’t have to grow a dedicated crop raised just for oil. Especially crops that we don’t even eat otherwise, like canola or palm.

A fried chicken place nearby upped their chicken steak from 50 to 75NT$.

Canola is a rotation crop to keep the soil healthy.

You’re not going to be short on fiber in your diet. Buy a press to make fire pellets.

That’s the purported reason, but in reality it has no such effect because soil management overall is poor. Canola yield is also extremely low compared to tropical oils derived from perennials like coconut and oil palm. They have their own issues related to bad management of course, but all things considered it is easier to maintain soil health with perennial cover than with a rotation of annuals. Any product that requires ploughing, chemical fertilizers, and a herbicide spray-off is by definition terrible for soil health.

I’m not sure what bearing this comment has on the distinction I was drawing between crops grown just for oil, and rice which has the happy accident that there is a surplus byproduct which can be processed into oil. Do you mean to say canola is not all bad environmentally by virtue of it being a rotation crop?

A place I go to a lot for lunch became much more expensive. Business lunch deal went from 290 to 340. That’s the largest price hike I have noticed.

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Maybe they will go back to frying with lard… it would taste better for one.

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That’s bad, but I suspect that’s not all. I am guessing they probably increased the ratio of flour to meat as well …

Our famous fried chicken: 80% coating, 20% meat.

maybe the chicken isn’t chicken anymore…

She just sprays water onto the chicken than presses the chicken into the flour, what sticks, sticks.