Everyone wants to be your baker.....

The sights. The smell. The taste.

As most of you know, I travel around the country for work. Those excursions are generally filled with food experiences and communications from all angles. From the Starbucks at the airport, to the in-flight food options on the airline, to the hotel merchandising feedlot at check-in, we're are constantly being pierced, pricked and punctured that we may need a little something to put in our bellies.

One category of this agitated sensory overload is the processed junk pastries and baked goods we are being mentally fed by  'in your face" messaging thanks to the industrial food circuit. I'm often amazed that our society has not fought back against this junk business and denied this fake food it's daily existence in our daily travels.

Try and think back to your younger days and your neighborhood bakery shop. For some of us, this may have never existed - it's been awhile since these places have had a relative existence in our communities. I remember when my mother would make a trip and bring back some butter croissants or cookies and that would be a treat and was mentally processed as such. I'm just young enough (mid 30's) to be a part of the junk food society and it's overwhelming influence on our diets and mental well being in terms of dietary habits. As I've grown older and taken a particular interest in our food ecosystem, I've become accustomed to the lost art of "real" baked goods and the craftsmanship it represents. Like any other craft, you have the folks that are passionate and artisan in the experience and culture around the category and you have the mass produced, industrial packaged crap that hits you at every turn of your life journey.

I propose one request to my fellow consumers of sweet goods. The next time you grab that pre-packaged  hostess snack cake or frozen muffin, choose instead to bypass their existence and honor a from scratch provision from one of your local bakers. Not only will this help your waistline, but you will surely taste the difference at many levels. Everything in our lives seem to be commoditized and dragged down to  convenience store quality. Real food and bakery products have made the ultimate sacrifice and expanded the bellies of millions of Americans every year. Those Hostess twinkies don't come from a kitchen with flour and heritage, they come from a food lab, removed of any baking resemblance and brought to your local grocer or gas station by a bunch of men and women sitting in a boardroom crunching the numbers and figuring out the profit of each unit you ingest.

A cost effective bakery

You make the call - what and who would you rather support. Over time we've got to realize that convenience can get us into real trouble regarding our health. Don't expect to have everything available at anytime. You want a great muffin - use your GPS and find the best local bakery and search for it. Don't be a slave to the food commodity mind scam.

Get to know your local baker. He might actually be kinda cool.

Me: C'mon down from off the shed beef. Beef prices: Um, no.

Soar like the wind beef prices, soar like the wind

Picture provided by (CNN Money)

Anyone thinking of opening a butcher shop this year? Probably not right. In February, the average retail price per pound for beef was $3.87, up 12.4% versus a year ago, according to market research firm FreshLook Data. The average retail price for a pound of chicken was up 3.9% in February versus a year ago, turkey was up 5.4%, veal up 6.7% and pork up 10%.

Sweet.

So, what is the deal with food inflation?

Come back down lil' food man

For many people, the thought of food inflation doesn't register in the at a high level in their daily lives. It's like my wife telling me the upcoming lineup for this season's Dancing With The Stars is. Meh, don't care. You hear about the pending inflation, watch a blip or two on the television and may see a headline in the money section of your newspaper. For those of us in the industry, it hits home, and this current inception that is lambasting our industry could affect every single one of us for years to come.

So, how does food inflation happen?

By definition, food inflation is exactly what it seems. Consumers (we) are now paying more for inflated food prices. In other words, if your monthly grocery budget was $500 a year ago, you are now likely paying closer to $600-plus, buying exactly the same products. Bummer. Food inflation is a worry for all of us because every segment of the population must eat. 450 lb. Guy in Prescott Arizona must have his 8 cheeseburgers, the Vegan in Berkley must have her medley of fresh greens for lunch and the malnourished villager in Africa must have his daily serving of grains.

While our friends over at federal reserve continues to assert that inflation is in check, its measure of inflation simply does not take into account higher food prices that have been continually rising. Thus, it is much more important to focus on the individual food prices - which we are all feeling currently.

Most of the major food commodities have been rising over the past several years. Corn, soybean, wheat, milk, coffee and cocoa have risen considerably.

Is food a commodity or is a commodity food?

Add higher energy costs that also impact the price of food and it's a handicap wrestling match.  In short, the food manufactures and distributors will pass on the higher costs to you - the buyer. These costs ultimately translate into the inflated prices that you are now seeing at your local grocery store.

So, what can you do?

Since these costs aren't going to stabilize anytime soon, here are a few things you can do to combat this commodity bull crap that has put a stranglehold on your wallet.

1. Eat less - Spring and summer are coming. Do you need to eat a half sleeve of fig newtons? Probably not. You want to look good in that speedo at the family Barbecue, so save a few newtons for a later date.
2. Start a garden - I know, crazy right? For the non-food versed folks out there that may not have been in on the secret - Lot's of food actually comes from the ground! Yes, it's true. It's also pretty cheap to start a garden and you would be surprised of some of the yields you get from some fruits and vegetables in a small area in your backyard.
3. Eat leftovers - Went to Olive Garden last night? Well, with that entree that you purchased, you could live off the leftovers for a few days, or feed a small African village.  Enjoy the tour of Italy at your own table with a glass of your own wine. Play the part, and act like you even cooked that fettuccine.
4. Consider beans and eggs for your proteins - Like many of us carnivores, we like to build a meal around a good chunk of meat. Unfortunately, this can get to be a bit pricey if you like grass fed or certain high-end cuts. Create a  “breakfast” for dinner  model– with eggs as the main course. Beans also provide a nice source of protein and can augment a smaller amount of meat in dishes like tacos and chili to bulk up the recipe with out increasing the cost per meal. We've done it a few times and enjoy going "meatless" on Mondays.

Like most industry's that buy-in to speculation and suffer the disheartening truth of being driven by speculation and commodity intensive dynamics - we are the one's to suffer. But, these days you can fight back with your fork on how you choose to combat this. Everyone has the ability to vote and you can do that right at home in your kitchen.