Raw recipe for riches

To try to see if there are both wealth and health benefits to vegetarianism, I turned to Statistics South Africa's inflation data.

Farm gate prices in the latest producer price inflation figures provide strong ammunition for going vegetarian.

The consumer price index, on the other hand, shows carnivores suffering less from inflation once the food gets to retail shelves. Meat inflation at 10.8% was lower than grocery store price hikes for fruit and vegetables.

As the accompanying table shows, farmers are receiving far lower prices for plant foods while livestock prices have gone up. For some reason, this deflation in agricultural prices is not filtering through to grocery shelves.

Trade union Solidarity recently accused grocery chains of profiteering, but Standard Bank economist Danelee van Dyk explains that the price difference is to some extent justified.

“Packaging, marketing, transport and labour costs are some of the additional costs that bolster prices at retail level; these are often the “invisible” costs retailers have to contend with, and which add to the relative stickiness of food prices at retail level versus those raw, unprocessed foods at the farm gate.”

Cutting out the supermarket by shopping at a local farmers' market may be one way of cutting food costs. But these outlets are often targeted at health nuts who are willing to pay a premium for organic produce, one of the things that makes it hard to determine whether going vegetarian is cheaper. Vegetarians often buy more expensive vegetables than the rest of us.

An article on MSN Money justified its headline “Go vegetarian to save money” by arguing that while vegetarians' food bills may be higher, they recoup this with lower medical expenses.

But if vegetarians are generally healthier, why do insurance companies not offer them discounts, as for non-smokers?

Discovery Health is offering discounts on fruit and vegetables bought at Pick n Pay. But this may have more to do with marketing Discovery's credit cards than getting people to go veggie.

But most of us can acquire a taste for unprocessed foods that are both cheaper and healthier than processed foods.

Fruit and veg prices rise and fall, and a key to smart shopping is knowing what is in season.

Source: Sunday Times

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