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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
 Posted - 08/27/2008 : 09:53:06 [Permalink]
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Alright, so this really bugs me. I lived for half a year in Florence back in 2001, and finally discovered what real mozzarella was. No, not that low-moisture mozzarella you typically see in grocery stores. I'm talking about fresh mozzarella. This is packaged in its own liquid, usually in a small carton, or sealed pouch:
Anyhow, in Italy, I was buying this for about €1. At that point, the euro and the dollar were trading about even, so I was essentially paying a buck for one mozzarella ball.
More recently, I stayed in Germany for a few weeks. And I could get a package for about €0.70 or so-- again, with the exchange rate as it is, about a buck.
But in the States? Forget it. The stuff costs $4 or more. For one mozzarella ball!! How can this be? I mean, obviously US dairy producers know how to make fresh mozzarella. So why am I paying 4 times the price for the same product?
When you convert it all out, I was buying a six-pack of a typical German beer for about $5.80. In the States, that same six pack might sell for a few bucks more. But of course, that beer is imported, and we have various alcohol taxes that Europe doesn't have. I imagine that when you factor those things out, the price isn't all that different. So why is fresh mozzarella-- which is made here, and not subject to any sin taxes-- so much more expensive??
VERY frustrating! |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2008 : 09:59:20 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Cuneiformist
So why is fresh mozzarella-- which is made here, and not subject to any sin taxes-- so much more expensive?? |
My guess? Because there just isn't a market for fresh mozzarella here. To compensate, cheese makers sell it as a premium niche product for gourmands who are willing to pay a little extra.
I have hope, though. I think gradually American shoppers are moving away from mass produced crap. At least, a sizable segment is increasingly demanding better, fresher food. Whether or how soon the cost will come down is anyone's guess. And of course if this recession keeps up everyone will be back to eating pre-wrapped slices of American cheese.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2008 : 10:15:52 [Permalink]
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Cuner.....
Hummer is right! I would wager that two-thirds of the Mozzarella sitting around in grocery stores across the country eventually gets thrown out. There is a limited market for it. Same thing is true for many premium products. They have to charge more to make up for the losses in spoilage.
You can purchase really fresh mozzarella at speciality Italian delis in major cities. The imported product is naturally more expensive than the domestic. I lived in San Francisco for several years, and it's pretty common in Bagdad by the Bay that has a high ethnic Italian population! |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2008 : 10:21:07 [Permalink]
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Not to mention than in Italy, a large proportion of producers produce Mozzarella this way.
In the US, only a small number of them, so the stuff has to travel a longer distance.
But, I guess, by increasing the demand for the product, you would increase the motivation for the producers to make the switch and, hence, decrease the price.
So, keep on buying the good stuff and share it around and make it discovered... ;) |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2008 : 14:53:53 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Hawks
I've got quite a few lying around the kitchen and I've thrown away masses of them. None of them have ever been used. This is such a waste of resources; I'd boycott them but I'm addicted to their product...
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I could use one... 
I've been walking to and from work, at least once a week. I estimate 2km one way. It's good work-out for my newly replaced hip joint.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2008 : 15:08:20 [Permalink]
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| I know your mozarella pain. It's one of the things I missed in the States. |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 09:39:34 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Hurricane Gustav looks like it's going to do nasty things to New Orleans on Monday. They are already under a mandatory evacuation order there. Let's hope that officials in other localities along the predicted storm track are as cautious.
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Well, it looks like they have their act together this time. That doesn't mean there won't be much grief and screw-ups on the government end of things, but at least they aren't standing around with thumbs up their ass. I just really really hope that the levies hold. Anyhow, bummer... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 17:50:17 [Permalink]
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Johnny and Sarry are down in Crescent City fiercely fighting the onslaught of Gustav by shaking thousands of hands, invoking lots of powerful Christian prayer, and doing their damndest to get some of the TV and media coverage that they're not going to get from the decimated Republican convention.
Dobson told his dittoheads to pray for rain at Invesco Field last week. God delivered with a vengeance, missing the target and the timing a little, but achieving precisely the desired effect - to the advantage of the Democrats! Hmmnnnnn! Old Chinese proverb-be careful what you wish for! Yep, I'm converting to Contrachristianity immediately because the empirical evidence is in - it works! |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 09/03/2008 : 18:20:55 [Permalink]
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THE SHROOM SEASON HAS BEGUN!
No, not those shrooms, alas, but others. My son-in-law's horse pasture has a fungal blossoming like an explosion of, well, fungus, and tomorrow morning I'm picking every delicious one of them. Already had some this morning with scrambled eggs for a late breakfast (was on the motorscooter and had no bag to take any more home). I'm not sure of the species, but it's one of the larger Fairy Rings. I've gotta get them picked quickly because Hanna is coming and those rains will encourage more fruiting so's I'll have lots more. The larger ones I'll dry and the smaller ones I'll can -- those that I don't devour right away.
This is similar to what I'm picking, although not the same.
But even more important, with the coming of these, the forest shrooms will be appearing, including some of those, which I'll leave alone as they are Amanita species (Death Caps). Unless, of course, I find Fly Agaric.
Amanita muscaria. Lovely, isn't it?
I think I'll have a bumper harvest this year -- heh, you tend your garden and I'll tend mine. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 09/03/2008 18:22:12 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
 Posted - 09/19/2008 : 16:32:56 [Permalink]
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| AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2008 : 13:55:55 [Permalink]
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| he; last night somebody mentioned a new store in town which has apparently a wide selection of imported cheese, including camembert as well as mozarella balls. Reminded me of this thread. |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2008 : 02:20:09 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Okay, this guy may be more badass than Ricky. After all, Ricky did get some scratches.
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I credit God for his remarkable survival. And blame God for the truck tipping over.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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The water cooler, part 3
