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From Flour to Canned Soup, Coronavirus Surge Pressures Food Supplies - The Wall Street Journal

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From Flour to Canned Soup, Coronavirus Surge Pressures Food Supplies - The Wall Street Journal

From Flour to Canned Soup, Coronavirus Surge Pressures Food Supplies - The Wall Street Journal

Posted: 12 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT

Grocers are having trouble staying stocked with goods from flour to soups as climbing coronavirus case numbers and continued lockdowns pressure production and bolster customer demand.

Manufacturers including General Mills Inc., Campbell Soup Co. and Conagra Brands Inc. say they are pumping out food as fast as they can, but can't replenish inventories. Popular items such as flour, canned soup, pasta and rice remain in short supply.

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Bartering Child’s Dress for Food: Life in Lebanon’s Economic Crisis - The New York Times

Posted: 12 Jul 2020 06:11 AM PDT

BEIRUT, Lebanon — For three decades, Chef Antoine El Hajj has appeared on television five days a week to help cooks across Lebanon improve their grasp of the culinary arts.

Two months ago, as an economic crisis caused Lebanon's currency to collapse and prices to soar, he realized that many of his viewers could no longer afford staples he had long relied on in his recipes, like beef.

"There used to be a middle class in Lebanon, but now the rich are rich, the middle class has become poor and the poor have become destitute," Mr. El Hajj, 65, said in an interview this past week before going on the air.

He has since cut beef from his menus and fills his segments with tips on how to keep dishes tasty with less oil, fewer eggs and cheaper vegetables.

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Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

Lebanon's crisis, the result of years of government corruption and financial mismanagement, has caused unemployment and poverty rates to skyrocket, businesses to shutter and salaries to lose their value as inflation soars.

Mass protests against the political elite erupted across the country last fall, and sometimes turned violent. The demonstrations tapered off when the country shut down because of the coronavirus but have recently picked up again as the lockdown has added to the economic distress.

The effects of the economic meltdown are increasingly infiltrating the daily lives of many Lebanese. Power cuts darken streets, banks refuse to hand over depositors' cash and families struggle to buy imported essentials like diapers and laundry detergent.

The government has long failed to provide sufficient electricity. But blackouts have grown so long that the din of traffic in Beirut, where about one-third of Lebanon's 5.4 million people live, has been replaced by the roar of overworked generators.

Their exhaust fouls the air, and many residential buildings are shutting them off to rest at night, depriving residents of air-conditioning during the sweatiest stretch of the Mediterranean summer.

For two days recently, Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the main facility treating Beirut's Covid-19 cases, suddenly went from one hour without power per day to 20 hours without power, according to its director, Dr. Firass Abiad.

So the hospital, which now lacks power six hours a day, has closed some operating rooms and delayed surgeries.

"It feels like you are continuously firefighting with no end in sight," Dr. Abiad said.

Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

After dark, Beirut's once-raucous nightlife has given way to an eerie desolation. Bars have few patrons, main streets are dark and traffic lights at major intersections are out, leaving drivers to navigate on their own, flashing their high beams and hoping for the best as they plow through.

The swift collapse has struck a blow to the pride of many Lebanese, who often have claimed to have the Middle East's best cuisine and have seen themselves as more sophisticated than others in the region. Now, many wonder how far their standard of living will fall.

"Beirut is a survival city. People always find ways to eat and drink and make music and do activism. But now, the air is very thick," said Carmen Geha, an assistant professor of public administration at the American University of Beirut. "Now, even upper-middle-class people can't afford to eat outside the house. It's like you take your salary and divide it by nine."

The Lebanese pound, or lira, has lost about 85 percent of its value on the black market since last fall, getting its own satirical Twitter feed where it reacts to its own decline.

"I'm the cheapest but I'm not a piece of junk," the account said early this month amid reports that it was trading at 9,500 to the U.S. dollar, far from the official bank rate of 1,500.

Much of the financial distress comes from chaos in the banking system. The central bank ran what critics have called a Ponzi scheme, enticing commercial banks to make large deposits of U.S. dollars with high interest rates that could be covered only by bringing in more large depositors with even higher interest rates.

But that system ground to a halt last year when new investors stopped coming, leaving the country's banks far short of thedollars they owed their depositors.

The banks have reacted by mostly refusing to give out dollars, which the Lebanese had long used interchangeably with local currency in daily life.

A former Lebanese banker, Dan Azzi, has taken credit for coining a term now widely used for these theoretical dollars that exist only in Lebanese banks: Lollars.

The result has been financial pandemonium, and pain.

Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

The government has sought to control the black market exchange, where changing money on better terms than the official rate can feel like buying drugs, requiring quick meetings in alleyways with money-changers who use fake names and fear arrest.

The effects of the crisis on the country's poor have been acute, as was made clear by four recent suicides in one two-day period, all linked to the economic crisis. A man who shot himself on one of Beirut's best-known boulevards left behind a handwritten sign reading "I am not an infidel," a line from a well-known song whose next lyric is "but hunger is an infidel."

Membership of a Facebook group called Lebanon Barters has swelled, its members offering everything from poker chips to hookahs in exchange for food. Their posts read like tragic poetry.

"New weights, never used, to trade for a package of diapers, size 6, and a bottle of oil," read a post with a photo of dumbbells still in the box. "People need them."

Another post featured a lime-green dress that Fatima al-Hussein, a mother of six from northern Lebanon, had bought as a gift for her daughter. She was looking to trade it for sugar, milk and detergent.

In a phone interview, Ms. al-Hussein said her husband makes 200,000 Lebanese pounds per week as a manual laborer, an amount that used to be worth $130.

Now it is worth less than $30, leaving her family struggling to afford essentials.

She said she decided to trade the dress after she had to start feeding her children bread dipped in water. But so far, she had found no takers.

When her neighbors cook, she closes her doors and windows.

"I don't want my children to smell the food," she said.

Before going on air last week, Mr. El Hajj, the television chef, said that what counted as affordable recipes was a moving target.

Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

"Beef got expensive so we moved to chicken, and now people are telling me that chicken is expensive, too," he said.

As he prepared the dishes for the day's show, he fielded calls from viewers struggling with preserving food amid power cuts. How do you make jam from plums or cherries? How do you keep meat fresh when you can't count on the freezer?

He laid out the options. Fruits and vegetables could be canned, pickled or dried. Ground meat could be preserved in fat as confit.

"Everything has a solution," he said after the show, and added, "What is important for me with my program is to help people to continue to eat."

Oregon to consider allowing food truck in Shrine parking lot - Press Publications Inc.

Posted: 12 Jul 2020 07:10 AM PDT

        Oregon City Council will consider a Special Use Exception (SUE) in an R-5 Condo-Residential District for the purpose of operating a business out of a food truck in the parking lot of 635 S. Coy Road, where Our Lady of Toledo Shrine is located.
        Delana Ball, owner of Sabaidee Coffee and Crepes in Tiffin, is the applicant.
        James Gilmore, commissioner of building and zoning, said the food truck would be located at the rear of the parking lot of the property close to the entrance.        
        Rules governing food trucks in the city state that an organization, such as a church, school or business, can use a food truck for patrons at a festival. But if the food truck is in competition with a brick and mortar store selling directly to the public, the food truck would need a conditional use in a C-2 zoning. Since the property is in an R-5 Condo Residential zone, a special use would be needed for the food truck to operate at that location, according to Gilmore.
        "We have no zoning that allows the public to sample food trucks," Gilmore told The Press last week.
        The Oregon Planning Commission on June 21 recommended that the request be approved by council.
        Mayor Mike Seferian, a member of the planning commission, said food trucks have been controversial in the city for some time. Food trucks compete against brick and mortar stores that have made a large investment in the community. Food trucks' investments in a community, by comparison, are much smaller.
        Scott Winckowski, chairman of the planning commission, asked if council was working on legislation governing food trucks.
        Seferian said it was difficult to draft legislation that states what is to be accomplished and that it was hard to put into words.
        "We are feeling it out," he said. "We have always said we will kind of let it go if we can get by without any complaints. I know it does not sound very professional, but we only chose to do it this way because we could not come up with something better. So we are trying to feel our way through and possibly come up with language or legislation or something. When we looked around at different communities, we did not find something we would consider really good. It sounds like it might be easy to put something down, but it is difficult."
       
Well received
        Ball said she has owned Sabaidee Coffee and Crepes in Tiffin since 2014.
        "It is doing well. It is very well received in my community," she said. "They love me. Even through COVID-19, I am surviving. It is because I have people that come from Toledo. I have people that come from Columbus. I have people that come from all over the state, just to my restaurant. They love the atmosphere. They love the friendliness. They know they get more than just a cup of coffee. They are loved up. They know it and they love my product. I pay a lot of money for my product, so it better be good. I have always wanted to come and expand here into Oregon. I approached the spiritual center because they have a very, very large property.  It is not being used really, and they want people to know that they are there. So obviously, they are on board."
        Ball said she met with Seferian, City Administrator Mike Beasley and Sommer Vriezelaar, executive director of the Oregon Economic Development Foundation, to discuss the matter.
        "They want me to come. I have gotten a lot of support," she said.
        "I want you to know that I am very community minded," she added. "I purchase things in the community. I hire people from the community, and I treat them like family."
        Rick Orovitz, a member of the planning commission, asked Ball what was keeping her from starting a restaurant in Oregon.
        Ball said there was nothing preventing her from doing so. But since she already owns the food truck, she would like to feel out the environment before sinking another $100,000 to start another sit-down restaurant.
        Ball said the food truck will be open five to six days a week from 6:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. year-round.
        Gilmore said the application was only for Ball's food truck on that particular parcel. The food truck cannot move anywhere in the city, just on the property on Coy Road.
        Ball said she plans on leaving the truck at that location permanently.
        Gilmore said he did not believe there was any other SUEs for food trucks in Oregon at this time.
       
Support from shrine
        Chris Rocher, who is on the board of trustees for the Toledo Shrine, said after much discussion with Ball, as well as sending members to Tiffin to try out the product and getting a favorable response, it was decided to allow her to put the food truck on their property. He said the Toledo Shrine has been at that location for over 25 years and attracts people from all over.
        "It would provide hospitality to visitors and offer them a place to eat and drink," he said.
        There was some opposition as well.
        Stacey Bohland, who has lived directly to the north of the parking lot for 28 years, said Coy Road is very busy. She is concerned that the food truck might increase traffic in the area. There is also a school bus stop in the Shrine parking lot. She did not think it would be safe for kids who are waiting there early in the morning.
        Richard Stanley, who lives in Bayberry Creek Condominiums, said his front porch faces the parking lot. He is concerned about additional traffic as well as additional trash going into a nearby ditch.
        Others came forward to object as well.
        Public Service Director Paul Roman said Coy Road and Navarre Avenue is a dangerous intersection. The city received a safety grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation to improve the intersection. Plans call for dedicated right turns and a median – 500 feet east and west on Navarre. It will be a major upgrade and will significantly improve Coy Road.
        In light of the concerns expressed by some nearby neighbors, the planning commission voted 4-1 to accept the SUE for a term of one year. Should council approve of the SUE, the matter will be reviewed again on September 1, 2021.            
       
Rogers Lane
        City council will also consider a zoning change from C-2 General Commercial District to R-2 Medium Density Residential District on a parcel at 2189 Rogers Lane at a public hearing on July 27. The owner/applicant is Thomas Saunders.
        The adjacent properties around the rear are all R-2. There would be very little impact to the surrounding neighborhood if the zoning were changed, said Gilmore.
        The property is currently being used as single family, which makes it a non-conforming use in a C-2 zone. The owner wants the zoning change because a bank will not approve of a loan to rebuild the house should it ever be destroyed, since it is not an approved use.
        "The question is, can you rebuild your house on property that is zoned commercial? No you cannot," Gilmore said to The Press last week. "The bank does not want to lend on a house that cannot be replaced."
        He said there are similarly non-conforming properties in Oregon that will eventually become commercial.
        "Once the useful life of that house is gone, we hope commercial or industrial would take its place," he said.
        Saunders told the planning commission he has lived on the property for 22 years. He was not aware that the property was zoned C-2. He believed the house, built in 1958, before Oregon became a city, had been zoned C-2 since then. When Saunders sold the property, the buyers were planning on getting a non-conventional FHA loan. Unfortunately, the bank would not provide that particular loan unless the property is zoned R-2.
        The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend to city council that the zoning change request be approved.

Man bites seagull after it tried to steal his McDonald's food: report - Fox News

Posted: 12 Jul 2020 08:20 AM PDT

Don't mess with people's food.

A McDonald's customer was arrested after he allegedly bit a seagull after it tried to steal his meal. The suspect reportedly attacked the bird in front of the authorities.

The animal apparently appeared to be injured as a result of the bite, but it flew away before authorities could inspect it.

The animal apparently appeared to be injured as a result of the bite, but it flew away before authorities could inspect it. (iStock)

Officers from a local unit were on patrol when they witnessed the incident in the city of Plymouth, England, Cornwall Live reports. The man reportedly claimed that the bird was trying to steal his McDonald's, so he grabbed it and bit it.

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The animal apparently appeared to be injured as a result of the bite, but it flew away before authorities could inspect it. The suspect reportedly admitted to being under the influence of drugs.

The suspect was taken into custody since seagulls are a protected species in the area. The McDonald's fan is reportedly facing up to six months in prison or a fine of about $6,300.

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In a statement obtained by Cornwall Live, a spokesperson for the local police department said, "He sunk his teeth into it before throwing it to the floor. Officers had seen the incident and immediately went over and detained and took details from him. Around this time, the man volunteered the information that he was under the influence of drugs and it was decided that he should be taken to Derriford Hospital for treatment. The seagull was clearly injured by the incident but flew off before we were able to check on its welfare. We don't know what happened to it afterward."

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Southwest News Service (SWNS) reported that a police spokesperson also stated, "Yesterday we detained a male who attacked & injured a seagull in the city center. Love them or loathe them, seagulls are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981."

Food for People Offering Free Produce Distributions at Four Locations in Humboldt This Week - Redheaded Blackbelt

Posted: 12 Jul 2020 08:52 AM PDT

This is a press release from Food for People:

Do you, or someone you know, need food assistance? Food for People's Free Produce Distributions can help! In order to expand access to healthy foods during these challenging times Food for People is offering Free Produce Distributions in Eureka, Fortuna, Garberville, and Redway.   Mark your calendars, these distributions will continue each month from now through October.

Eureka Drive-thru Produce Distribution – Thursday, July 16th
 Every 3rd Thursday from 11am-1pm in the north parking lot at Bayshore mall (3300 Broadway St.). *This is a drive-thru distribution, those without a vehicle are directed to visit the Eureka Food Pantry (2112 Broadway) open Tues, Wed, Fri from 11am-3pm.

Fortuna Drive-thru Produce Distribution – Wednesday, July 15th
 Every 3rd Wednesday from 11:30am-12:30pm  at Fortuna Community Services parking lot (2331 Rohnerville Road). *This is a drive through distribution, there will be a separate area for walk-ups. Cars will enter via David Way.

Garberville Produce Distribution – Tuesday, July 14th
 Every 2nd Tuesday from 10:30am-12pm  at the Garberville Presbyterian Church (437 Maple Lane). *This is a walk-up distribution – face masks are required, and we ask everyone to maintain 6ft social distancing.

Redway Drive-thru Produce Distribution – Tuesday, July 14th Every 2nd Tuesday from 1-3pm at Redway Baptist Church (553 Redway Drive). * This is a drive through distribution, there will be a separate area for walk-ups. Cars will enter via Empire Drive and exit onto Redway Drive.

Masks are required for all distributions and we ask everyone observe 6 foot social distancing. Participants are asked to make room in vehicles volunteers will load produce directly into the trunk for drive-thru distributions.

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