Thursday, June 5, 2008

How much does an orange cost?


I never think about how much produce costs. I always just go to the grocery store and pick what I want. Buying fruits and vegetable is always non-negotiable. They're part of a healthy diet.

In the cab today on my way to meet a friend for coffee, I struck up a conversation with the cab driver. He started to ramble off all the fruits that Canada grows and which Panama imports...apples, pears, and there was one other one that I forget.

Then he asked me how much an orange costs. An orange? I had no freaking idea (but that's mainly because oranges are not my fruit of choice. I get my vitamin C from apple juice). The cost of a pear? Not a clue. An apple? Forget about it. I just buy fruit and have no idea how much it costs.

I don't know how much any kind of basic necessity costs at home.

But I do know that in Panama, the middle and lower classes are struggling when it comes to food prices. The price of a pound of rice -- one of the most consumed basic foods -- has doubled from $0.25 to $0.50. Taxi drivers buy gas one dollar at a time. And when I ask Panamanians the price of basic items and by how much they have increased, they can rattle off the prices without hesitation.

And I don't even know how much an orange costs.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The sad fact is that at least in United States, the prices of produce are really rising. I'm really concerned because fruits and vegetables are so important and part of a healthy diet.
That's why I think alot of Americans, at least myself for sure, are going to think consider growing some of our own produce in the backyard.

it might be a pain but it can save alot of money.

hbkana said...

Unless fortified with ascorbic acid, apple juice is not a source of vitamin C. Ryan, do you have scurvy?

Ryan said...

No! I don't have scurvy "heather" -- whoever you might be!

Anonymous said...

The importance of fruit and vegetables in our diet has been overstated. Neanderthals ate mainly meat and a few wild berries and they were as strong as oxes albeit their breath was probably pretty bad.

I do recognize that we take a lot of things for granted in the U.S./Canada and an orange is one of them.