On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards) j
Joyce Bupp
But I really needed to go to the
supermarkets
My last visit had been two
weeks earlier. And now the card
board bottom was showing
through the dwindling contents of
the last box of The Fanner’s
favorite breakfast cereal. A basket
I keep on the kitchen counter filled
with assorted fresh fruit was down
to one sad-looking banana, while
the vegetable crisper was bare
except for a small section of cab
bage. Even my chalk supply for
marking pens of baby calves until
I get identification eartags made
had run out.
See, I really did need to go to
the supermarket. Yet I dreaded
going on a Friday, one of the
busiest grocery shopping days of
the week. And, the weather fore.-
casters were warning of the
impending First Big Snow of the
season.
Awareness of all that still
didn’t totally prepare me for the
worst supermarket crush of shop
11.
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pers I’ve ever seen in my entire
life. After gathering a supply of
fresh produce, I rounded the far
end, rolled partway down the aisle
and nearly plowed into the end of
the first checkout line, a dozen
plus-carts long and stretching
down through snacks and soft
drinks.
Halfway through shopping, I
had to backtrack through cereals
and greeting cards because the
backup of carts completely
blocked the other end and
stretched a good third of the way
back through that one, too. Plans
to buy ice cream were halted by
the line winding the whole way
from the last checkout counter
down into the dairy section—;and
it would have been soup ’til I got
through anyway.
Several times 1 was tempted to
do as a few others did: abandon the
whole thing and leave. But most
shoppers were in a smiling, if
resigned, good humor about the
whole thing. We became instant
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sympathizers with one another,
shaking our heads and comparing
gripes about the insanity of it.
Fact is, most of us could have
gone right home with nothing and
still wouldn’t have gone hungry.
Only about half of the carts in line
were filled with the usual week’s
worth of family supplies generally
purchased by most Friday shop
pers. It appeared to, at least in part,
be a case of Supermarket Snow
Scare. And nearly every cart con
tained milk, a fact I noted with
glee. Not mine, though I did grab
some bread.
Standing a full half-hour in the
line to checkout gave me time to
recall a couple of clippings clutter
ing my office desk. One railed on
about milk prices and the “expen
sive” price of farm programs.
Another one details the Census of
Agriculture’s figures which show
a shrinking of farm numbers by an
estimated 32,500 per year. And
tacked to the bulletin board is yet
another with the headline “Farm
ers Need Other Income To Sur
vive.” (“WHY?” I have scribbled
across it.)
If farm programs were the get
rich-quick scheme detractors label
them, why are so many farmers
going out of business—or needing
to rely on outside income to sur
vive? In reality, farm programs
contribute little to the overall
income of the vast majority of
American farm families, cost a
fraction of one percent of the
national budget and several times
less than the food stamp portion of
USDA spending. They are instead
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I pondered while waiting in line
that half hour how many fellow
shoppers considered that in many
countries, people wait in line like
that every day for a simple loaf of
Sweet Potatoes’ New Form
BY DORIS STANLEY
Everybody’s Science
Sweet potatoes —even can
died—have fewer calories than a
spinach souffle and they’re loaded
with beta carotene and only a trace
of fat. Now a new, high-value
frozen food made from low-grade
sweet potatoes rivals, can even
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fresh sweet potatoes.
Developed by a U.S. Depart
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North Carolina State University
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pare from freezer to plate.
Although an important food
source since ancient times, sweet
potatoes have declined in popular
ity because they’ve traditionally
been considered a seasonal food.
Also, most consumers prefer a
baked sweet potato which takes an
hour.
William M. Walter, a chemist
with USDA’s Agricultural Re
search Service in Raleigh, NC,
hopes to revive interest in this
nutritious vegetable. At the ARS
Food Science Research Unit in
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Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, February 11, 1995-B5
bread, a cut of fatty meat, or
maybe reconstituted, powdered
milk for a hungry baby.
Just suppose some day we real
ly needed to go to the supermar
ket— and it was empty.
Supermarket Snow Scares
would be a picnic compared to
what would happen then.
Raleigh, he and NCSU scientists
ground up low-grade sweet pota-
toes, added two types of cellulose
texturizing agents and a little
sugar and froze the mixture in
sausage casings. When baked in a
conventional oven at 400°F for 15
minutes, the food was rated equal
to baked fresh sweet potatoes in
taste, texture, color and overall
acceptability by a 30-member
taste panel.
One of the additives used could
increase the health val"**- of
the sweet potatoes, Wal aid.
Widely used in the food industry
in texture modifiers, thickeners,
binders, and stabilizers, MHPC
(methylhydroxypropylcellulose)
may lower blood cholesterol lev
els.
Walter and colleagues also
increased by 100 percent the firm
ness of french fried sweet potatoes
with an alkaline-neutralization
treatment. This treatment and the
frozen product work on all grades
of sweet potatoes, which could
open up new markets for growers.
(Agricultural Research Service.
U.S. Department of Agriculture)
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