http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/05/mario-batalis-food-stamp-challenge/
Chef Mario Batali, of the ABC food-show The Chew wants to raise awareness of the "plight" of Americans on food stamps by living for a week on a food-stamp equivalent budget. He calls this his food stamp "challenge." This comes to about $1.48 per meal per person. His conclusion? It's tough, and it's subsistence, and it's "not thriving." Clearly America needs to spend more money on food stamps.
Unfortunately for Batali, he only really raised awareness of the fact that he's an idiot, and completely out of touch. I don't normally post political or social commentary on this blog (that's what Facebook is for!) but this one really just made me laugh for it's audacious ignorance.
My wife is the CFO of our house, and she does the grocery shopping. Her weekly budget for food is $100. I have four kids. That means that if we stick to that budget, we spend about 79¢ per person per meal. Let's say that we aren't always strict about the budget though (which, let's face it, is true) and that we overspend by 50%. That still brings us to $1.19 per person per meal.
How exactly is this a "challenge?" I'm not rich, but I'm reasonably financially comfortable, and I don't feel like my lifestyle is anything like "subsistence." Granted, I don't live in New York either. Cost of living calculators suggest that I should increase my food budget by about 20%. That turns my 79¢ into 95¢ and my $1.19 to $1.43--still below the food stamp limit.
Thanks, chef Mario Batali, for raising awareness. Of what a completely out-of-touch nincompoop you are.
1 comment:
Update five years later: ...AAAaaaand he's a sexual predator. His virtue-signaling was just that; signaling to cover up the fact that he has no real virtue. Nothing he stands for, nothing he says can be taken seriously.
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