February Kitchen Thoughts

What will happen to the farmers who grow our food?

We are very lucky to have great fruit in winter as in summer.
I hope nothing destroys that privilege.

Bad things are happening all over our country. Not the least of them for many people: runaway grocery prices, headlined by escalating egg prices and shortages of eggs. Many new policies can impact what we will be able to purchase. Our country is both an importer and an exporter of food. The luxury of fresh vegetables and fruit in winter results from trade with Mexico and South America, where new tariffs may cause retaliation and thus abrupt price increases, and all the changes will have a big impact on American farmers. In the following write-up, I would like to explore a little of the impact of new government directives on US agriculture, and how they might directly affect a consumer like me.

An egg with black beans, avocado (had to be from Mexico!) and a tortilla (probably from US-grown grain).
In my kitchen and every kitchen in America our food will be affected by new policies.

So Much At Risk

Much farm policy that enables us to stock all of our kitchens is at risk. For example, tracking of disease outbreaks among farm animals is being cancelled by cuts at government health agencies: a threat to reliable meat, egg, and dairy production. Ongoing grants supporting energy efficiency and conservation are being withheld or cancelled. Reliance on immigrant farm labor is clearly being disrupted: fifty percent of farm workers are thought to lack legal immigration status. Foreign markets for farmers' produce are being disrupted, preventing stability in farmers' planning. The new budget (being passed this week in the House and Senate) includes cuts in programs like SNAP which buy farmers' produce; Congress has also failed to renew tax protections on farmers this year.

Driving west in 2022, we saw many wind farms, which obviously yield a profit for farmers, as well as supplying them with energy. The current administration wants to stop support for wind farms.

Funds for Next Summer’s Harvests Are Being Withheld

As farmers prepare for 2025 spring planting and eventual summer harvests, promised government funds to support their activities, including purchases of farm equipment as well as routine expenses, have been frozen by the new administration. The consequences: inability of farmers to implement their plans for the growing season. The USDA has not only frozen funds, but has prohibited release of any information about when or how the funds might be released. (source) 

Some cancelled funds were promised through conservation and climate programs, along with access to data sets that helped farmers adapt to changing conditions. This climate-related data also has been scrubbed from websites at the Department of Agriculture. Earlier this week several farmers’ organizations sued the Department saying that “the pages being purged were crucial for farmers facing risks linked to climate change, including heat waves, droughts, floods, extreme weather and wildfires. The websites had contained information about how to mitigate dangers and adopt new agricultural techniques and strategies. Long-term weather data and trends are valuable in the agriculture industry for planning, research and business strategy.” (source)

According to their lawyer: “You can purge a website of the words climate change, but that doesn’t mean climate change goes away.”

Threatened or actual defunding of farmers and removal of useful information will result in food supply issues in the coming months: “Farmers across the U.S. are struggling to make critical decisions ahead of the spring thaw, as billions of dollars in promised federal payments remain frozen by the Trump administration.” One discontinued initiative was $19.5 billion in agriculture-related conservation programs. Another funding freeze involved $3.1 billion for “climate-smart” farm projects. Some of these USDA funds are slowly being released, but the impact of the disruption is widespread. (source)

Fresh salad vegetables and canned tuna may be in jeopardy from import/export issues, too. A big salad like this is one of our frequent dinner entrees.

USAID Cancellation Impacts US Farm Profits

In another disruption of commitments to farmers: American agriculture supplies 41% of the food that’s provided internationally by USAID, which was abruptly shut down this month. This has resulted in immediate loss of tens of thousands of US jobs, and shutting down some welfare organizations as a consequence of cancelling food aid worth over $340 million. Commodity purchases now cancelled include rice, wheat, and soybeans. These farmers had relied on USAID as a place to sell their crops (source). The impact on farmers could resonate into our own food supplies: destabilizing our agriculture isn’t a very good idea. 

From an ABC News article titled “The USAID shutdown is upending livelihoods for nonprofit workers, farmers and other Americans” —

“USAID-run food programs have been a dependable customer for U.S. farmers since the Kennedy administration. Legislation mandates U.S. shippers get a share of the business as well. Even so, American farm sales for USAID humanitarian programs are a fraction of overall U.S. farm exports. … U.S. commodity farmers generally sell their harvests to grain silos and co-ops, at a per bushel rate … farmers worry any time something could hit demand and prices for their crops or give a foreign competitor an opening to snatch away a share of their market permanently.” (source)

Farmers and Tariffs

Tariffs are challenging to understand, but here’s a summary of what the increasing tariffs will mean for American agricultural markets: “Midwest farmers fear economic fallout as Trump’s shifting tariff policies reignite trade tensions with key partners. Many worry that new trade wars will further disrupt global markets, leaving them with fewer buyers and declining profits.” (source) 

Citrus Growers Depend on Immigrant Labor

Florida's citrus growers were just recovering from hurricane damage as they were hit by the Trump-tariff-generated threat of disruption in their Canadian sales, along with disruption in immigrant labor supply and abrupt interruption of promised government grants. 

California citrus growers are expecting a good season this year, though reliance on immigrant labor creates challenges. 30% of California citrus is exported, so tariffs will be an issue. California Mandarins like the one shown in my kitchen are becoming more and more popular, but also more expensive.

Cattle grazing as seen from the Interstate on our 2022 trip west. Cattle are another agricultural product that’s jeopardized. The US is the world’s largest beef exporter. Value: over $4 billion per year. However, we also consume imported beef, so prices may rise as controls are implemented.

Trump’s Promises?

From The Minnesota Reformer:

“Many farmers voted for Trump because he promised less regulation and greater prosperity for America’s farmers. The hard truth is that, like most of the folks who voted for Trump, farmers failed to do their homework about the reality of the new administration. All of this has occurred in the context of higher input costs and tight margins for virtually all crops.

“We are now living and working in an environment where the only constant is chaos. Chaos produces uncertainty, and that leads to loss of trust. The buyers of U.S. farm products are not going to deal with nations that cannot be trusted. There are plenty of options in today’s world for those buyers to bypass the United States. Why on God’s green earth would they put up with the insanity that we have in Washington now?” (Ben Palen, Feb. 17, 2025)

Higher Prices Coming 

The disruption of farm stability and agricultural supply chains, whether within the US or through imports, will have an effect on grocery prices and food availability for Americans, whatever their political views, and will especially affect those who are food insecure. For more examples, see “Trump’s Funding Freezes Bruise a Core Constituency: Farmers” in the New York Times.

Every meal we eat depends on both our own farmers and on imported food, often from Canada or Mexico.

In My Kitchen this Month

Participating in Sherry’s “In My Kitchen” is always fun, as I like to look back on what I’ve been cooking, and then to share what other bloggers from far-away places have in their kitchens. Sherry herself lives in Australia, and I enjoy reading about bloggers’ kitchens in Europe, Canada, Africa,  and many US states. The world is small and tightly connected. Disruptions in global trade may not now affect other places, but eventually there may be more consequences than just for us in the US. Attributing any single price or availability change to a specific policy or program isn’t straightforward, but I think all Americans are beginning to experience the result of the new administration’s craziness.

More Foods That We’ve Cooked and Eaten Recently

Sautéed fresh mushrooms tossed with frozen peas.

Ginger muffins in silicone muffin cups.

Valentine gift from Carol: a box of fantastic chocolates, including a white-chocolate mouse.
Climate change and other factors have vastly disrupted cocoa production and caused large increases in prices.

Our new kitchen knife with a magnetic holder.

New serving tray with a local theme.

Thinking of Other People

Please understand that though I write about my own fortunate situation, I am deeply aware that many Americans are suffering terribly from the increasingly dire food situation in our country. This photo from the New York Times highlights the desperation for food that many are experiencing. (source)

Photos of mouse and of cows shared with Eileen’s Critters

Shared with Sherry’s IMK and with Deb at Readerbuzz.

Photos © 2022, 2025 mae sander

Blackout

 

For more information on the blackout from see this PBS article:

What to know about the Feb. 28 economic boycott

Egg Report

 

At Trader Joe’s Ann Arbor, February 26, 2025

Today in the New York Times: “Why Is Egg Shopping So Unpredictable?” —

“Stores across the country have instituted egg purchase limits, but they’re more common at grocers known for low prices. On Saturday, the Aldi in Inglewood had a two-dozen limit. Trader Joe’s has imposed a one-dozen limit nationally. Costco is limiting customers to three 24-count packages of eggs at some locations across the country. Purchase limits help temper panic-buying, or spikes in demand caused by lower prices.”

Today in the Guardian —

“Trump campaigned relentlessly on the cost of living and made a big (and unrealistic) promise to bring down food prices on day one of his term. Now, it’s clear he has no realistic plan to lower the cost of groceries; eventually, even his most devoted followers are going to figure out that you can’t eat the culture wars. To riff on Macbeth again: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten the astronomical price of eggs.”

Remembering Jean Margat and his Mona Lisa Collections

 

Jean Margat invented the term Jocondologie. He first used the term in the May, 1959, issue of the French journal Bizarre which he wrote and illustrated, using objects from his Mona Lisa collections (shown above). I just learned that Margat died this month at the age of 100. I knew him as a collector of Mona Lisa objects, which he eventually donated to the Louvre in 2014. See this brief write up from the Louvre: “Kitsch.”

I corresponded with Jean Margat for a while, and exchanged a few collectibles and photocopies of Mona Lisa materials. This was in the 1990s, so of course all was by postal service, with letters and packages crossing the ocean very slowly. I am not at all sure that he ever adopted the Internet for his many Mona Lisa contacts, but I had lost touch with him by the time that could have happened.

Jean Margat was more seriously known for his engineering accomplishments, as shown in the following google page as it appears this week:

Mona Lisa in Paris

Thinking of Jean Margat and his Mona Lisa collection reminds me of all the time that I spent in Paris searching for  (or just observing) Mona Lisa appearances. I also remember the one time that I met Jean Margat. At his suggetion, we spent an hour or two over coffee at the famous Procope cafe and restaurant in Paris. He brought several large binders full of wonderful Mona Lisa images and objects to show me, and we enjoyed a conversation about his collections. Thinking of him, I’ve been looking over some of my old photos of Paris and Mona Lisa art. Here are a few examples.

A memorable mural on a wall in Paris in 2008.

Post cards for sale: I obtained many of my Mona Lisa cards by searching the post card stands
throughout Paris.

A Mona Lisa in a shop window.

A Mona Lisa magazine cover. I think Jean Margat sent me this image.

I think Jean Margat also sent me this magazine cover.

My most recent visit to the Mona Lisa. It’s way too crowded!

Blog post and photos © 2008-2025 mae sander

In My Life This Week

Source: Fiona Katauskas in the Guardian

Escape Watching

“Willy Wonka” — a very silly and watchable film from 1971.

“The Battle of Algiers” a very serious Italian film from 1967, which we had always wanted to see.
The colonial war in Algeria is mostly forgotten by now, at least by Americans (if we ever heard
of it in the first place). The horrors of war and politics never seem to change. 

Escape Reading 

Here are the books I’ve been reading during the past week, along with a quote from each that shows how the authors use food to create characters and atmosphere.

Ann Cleves: The Long Call. A good police procedural.

Quote from The Long Call — “The house felt different without Simon. Empty. Quieter. It wasn’t that he’d made much noise, except when he was cooking and those had only been good sounds: the rhythmic beat of a knife on the chopping board, the sizzle of searing fish in a pan, the rattle of pots. He’d given up drinking quite so much recently and so even those noises had been calmer, less frenetic.” (p. 333)

Alice Munro (1931-2024) has recently become notorious for being a hideously cruel mother.
Despite this, I decided to read some of her stories, which I didn’t find especially wonderful.
If they had to find a Canadian woman for the prize, I wish it had been Margaret Atwood.

Quote from “The Progress of Love” short story by Alice Munro — “I didn’t have a problem right away with Beryl’s story. For one thing, I was hungry and greedy, and a lot of my attention went to the roast chicken and gravy and mashed potatoes laid on the plate with an ice-cream scoop and the bright diced vegetables out of a can, which I thought much superior to those fresh from the garden. For dessert, I had a butterscotch sundae, an agonizing choice over chocolate. The others had plain vanilla ice cream. Why shouldn’t Beryl’s version of the same event be different from my mother’s?” (p. 44)

Every story in this collection of the best from last year seems better to me than the
stories I read by Alice Munro. Sad.

Quote from  “Democracy in America” short story by Allegra Hyde — “I turned onto my back, my hands behind my head, pretending to ponder Honey’s question. The rented room was above a local grocer and below us the register clanged with the afternoon rush, shrill with its clattering belly of coins, the swish of paper money, credit card beeps, as locals purchased pumpkin pie filling, mint ice cream, meat, for one of their culture’s holidays. This was the kind of American town I had come to see, but it had not yet shown me what I wanted to know.” (p. 146)

I keep trying to read fantasy and si-fi, but it rarely speaks to me.
Definitely this well-regarded novel did not speak to me.

Quote from Binti — “I stood up, realizing that my time of death was not here yet. I took a quick look around the giant hall. I could smell dinner over the stink of blood and Meduse gases. Roasted and marinated meats, brown long-grained rice, spicy red stews, flat breads, and that rich gelatinous dessert I loved so much. They were all still laid out on the grand table, the hot foods cooling as the bodies cooled and the dessert melting as the dead Meduse melted.” (p. 30)

Escape Eating (In Real Life)

Lots of Clementines and Mandarins.

I made Beef Bourguignon according to the recipe of Julia Child (which I know by heart).
We enjoyed it with a salad and some of Len’s bread.

A light dinner salad. Farro and arugula are under the apples.

Mugs from the past.

 Blog post shared with Deb at Readerbuzz — © 2025 mae sander

Hokusai Cats

Hokusai, "Tiger in the Snow" (1849)

Last week I posted some images of birds by the Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849). Today I'll add some images of cats from his remarkable number of woodblock prints, notebooks full of sketches, and various paintings. Hokusai was enormously productive throughout his long life: his work includes over 30,000 paintings, sketches, woodblock prints, and images for picture books.

First, you have almost certainly seen Hokusai's most famous work, which is widely reproduced and often parodied or imitated.

Hokusai, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" from 36 Views of Mount Fuji.

Hokusai’s Cats

Blog post by mae sander 2025, shared with Eileen’s Critters.