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Tortilla Crisis in Mexico

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posted on Jan, 27 2007 @ 01:48 PM
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The headline may seem like a joke, but it's not.
It's not a cheap shot at Mexican cuisine either.

I grew up in Southern California and learned to appreciate Mexican cooking at an early age.
Perhaps spurred on by watching my Mexican friends pull home-made tortilla's, burritos' etc. from their lunch bags and I was sitting there with a white bread sandwich.
Not much better than Mexican food imo.


NEZAHUALCOYOTL, Mexico -- Thick, doughy tortillas roll hot off the conveyor belt all day at Aurora Rosales's little shop in this congested city built on a dry lake bed east of Mexico City.

Using cooking techniques that date to the Mayan empire, Rosales has never altered her recipe. Nor did her father, grandfather or great-grandfather.

On good days, the neighbors line up for her tortillas.

But these are not good days, and sometimes hours pass without any customers.

Mexico is in the grip of the worst tortilla crisis in its modern history. Dramatically rising international corn prices, spurred by demand for the grain-based fuel ethanol, have led to expensive tortillas. That, in turn, has led to lower sales for vendors such as Rosales and angry protests by consumers.



Link: www.washingtonpost.com...

(I tried to use the H1 and EX buttons above, but they wouldn't work for me.)


This crisis, a good example of "The Law of Unintended Consequences" comes from Mexico's decision to get into the Ethanol fuel business.

Prices for corn flour have doubled in many places and tripled in others making it very tough for poor families to get the good nutrition they need.

Mexico exported corn last year and this year the powers that be have passed an emergency approval resolution to import 800,000 tons of corn from the US.

There is talk of price-fixing and collusion among the corn suppliers and the Mexican government has stated they will investigate.
Even so, if their investigations are anything like the ones that go on here in the US, the major players will have made their profits, gone their merry way and won't be affected to any great degree.


[edit on 27-1-2007 by Desert Dawg]



posted on Jan, 27 2007 @ 02:57 PM
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Well, maybe instead of peak oil, we have peak tortillas? or one of the many future unintended consequences of peak oil?




posted on Jan, 27 2007 @ 03:16 PM
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Ay Carumba Senor!
This is a corny situation.
The problem with corn being in demand for ethanol is finding enough land to feed people and hungry cars too.
Does this mean more rainforest will be destroyed so people can leave their bicycles at home and go for a drive in their ethanol corn guzzlers?

Seems there is always a piper that must be paid.



posted on Jan, 27 2007 @ 03:22 PM
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That's interesting, because I heard a piece on National Publc Radio this week indicating that ethanol prices could hit a lot of food markets here in the US. They used corn (and I wondered why they couldn't make ethanol out of something else) as the specific example, citing how many foods it was in. There's a mind boggling number of products, from baby food to alchohol that it goes in.

Very interesting find! I think we need to be aware of this.



posted on Jan, 27 2007 @ 04:05 PM
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(and I wondered why they couldn't make ethanol out of something else)

Like our garbage?
Seems we have lots of that, but that makes methane, but I am sure ethanol can be derived from something that is a waste product.


kix

posted on Jan, 27 2007 @ 04:11 PM
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Syrup, alcohol, medical ointments and a lot of stuff is made of corn....(a lot of cattle feeding stuff is made from corn leftovers....

expect hikes on a lot of stuff




 
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