* "Use less garlic, there's no such thing as vampires" says a wise man, to the public via the local newspaper. No points for guessing that said wise man is a politician. Ahem.
So apparently, the uncertain weather conditions in China has caused a massive reduction in the export of garlic, and while the demand remains the same (actually the demand has probably increased with it being Ramadan and all now where people are busy making extra stuff for the breaking of fast every evening, etc) which has led to an incredible increase in the price of garlic. And after all that, the only thing a hapless politician can advice is for us to use less garlic in our cooking. How constructive and forward thinking.
Now, even with the limited knowledge of economics I have, I understand that there is probably no way that we can reduce the price of garlic, but you'd think that the Minister for Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism would have something better to say or not say anything at all. In fact, his advice of using less garlic is probably what most consumers would be doing with their own free will as a temporary countermeasure until a better solution is found - such as searching for a different source of garlic. A short search on google shows that garlic is also grown elsewhere around the world, but not as much as China, of course, But still, that's worth a try, eh?So for now, people are going to suffer from slightly tasteless food, and loss of blood due to vampires. :D
* Not his exact words ;)
why don't people start growing their own?
ReplyDeleteGood question, nurse... unfortunately, it's one of those I can't answer
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Malaysia imports 100% of its garlic from China....do you have the wrong climate to grow it? For such a staple of Asian cusine you really need a contingency supplier.
ReplyDeleteI love garlic....I always use double what any recipe says.
Oooh...i would love to play host to some vampires!
ReplyDeleteYou can always carry a wooden stake around instead.
ReplyDeleteKing of Scurf: We import a lot of stuff... even rice, which can be grown here is imported from Thailand. And yes, garlic adds so much flavour to food. I couldn't possibly live without it!
ReplyDeleteSaby: Hmmm... after reading Carpe Jugulum, I wouldn't mind hanging out with Vlad myself... ;)
SAW: LOL. "Thumbs up" to the idea :)
I love garlic, couldn't live without it, it improves the taste of all sorts of dishes. But what exactly is less? Only one bulb? Only one clove? Garlic powder?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, why not grow it locally? I quote from Wikipedia: "Garlic is easy to grow and can be grown year-round in mild climates." Hot climates like India are okay too.
My friend grew garlic in Ireland - so it doesn't seem to need exotic climate (we seem to only be able to grow potatoes, onions, carrots and apples outside here) maybe malaysia is too hot for it. Or maybe people never needed to grow their own garlic before and so didn't have the foresight to plant it last year - or however long in advance you need to do these things - I'm no horticultural expert! I prefer food from the supermarket - but I'm also aware I'm not supposed to admit to this!
ReplyDeleteAnd as we all should know by now you can defeat a vampire by hiding one of their socks!
nick: Oh my... ok, I think I'm going to do some experimenting on growing garlic after this, just for fun.
ReplyDeleteAHD: I don't know much about garlic either, and of course why it's not grown here is an even bigger mystery. But i'll try to find out.
And yes, the socks thing... now I'm beginning to suspect that I might be a vampire. All my socks seem to be paired up properly! I seem to be losing pairs these days.
I absolutely lurve garlic and I too cannot understand why we don't (or can't?) grow it here.
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as our politicians go, I'm am so not surprised with their wisdom :D
I too have given up on our politicians... but it doesn't mean I'll stop poking fun of them... hehehe...
ReplyDeleteHas the country implemented emergency measures to combat the vampires? Can't have them ruining an important time like Ramadan.
ReplyDeleteWell, not really... I guess it's every person for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if the prices of wooden stakes started escalating as well. ;)
ReplyDelete