I write occasional pieces for the website Lovefood.com, which features reviews, opinion pieces, recipes and pretty much anything on food. The most fascinating and thought provoking piece on the site of late has been one written by Charlotte Morgan, about taking a challenge to live on £1 a day worth of food for five days. The link is http://www.lovefood.com/journal/opinions/18059/live-below-the-line-food-poverty.
If you go to the piece you'll see a lot of comments and tips (and sadly quite a bit of carping) about cheap food, and only a few contributors to the discussion grasping the point that those living on such a budget in the Third World have things very tough. I wrote an austerity cooking piece some time back, http://www.lovefood.com/journal/opinions/14049/family-mains-course-meals-for-under-3, about four family meals for under £3 each, not a stretch to cook on that budget, but not huge variety and they were carb heavy things in the main. I am tempted to try the £1 challenge, but wouldn't inflict it on my family.
A point I didn't make in my own comment on Charlotte's piece is that longer term economic convergence means our standard of living is likely to fall further in the West (competing with China and India - and they are already moving a long way from just low-skill labour roles - means falling wages here), so simple strategies like learning to cook from scratch, avoiding the shameful waste we see everywhere, and growing your own veg/fruit/herbs etc will become ever more important over the coming decades. I am teaching my son to cook for the sake of his independence and health when he flies the nest, but also with such a future in mind.
That said, food remains a joy for those of us with anything like a budget and the knowledge needed to make the best of it.
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