Chapatis for Peace

We bought wheat flour (atta) for nearly twice its regular price yesterday. I wondered why the sudden shortage in supply (remember the dal crisis a few months back?). The shopkeeper had no clue. Then I read Nitin’s post on the wheat flour crisis in Pakistan. I hadn’t heard of a similar crisis in India so perhaps United States relies on Pakistan for most of its wheat imports (in exchange for F-16s and pretense of fighting the war on terror?) And as Nitin predicts, the prices are expected to remain high. Perhaps this might lead the U.S to seek cheaper alternatives elsewhere. Until then we might expect to pay more for the luxury of hot chapatis served with liberally spread ghee.

In spite of the high prices, making chapatis from flour are still a lot cheaper than buying fresh tortillas at the local HEB Foods. Of course, the cost of kneading the dough and roasting them on the pan on an everyday basis is not included.  But in my brief experience, splitting that seemingly painful task between two people makes for a happy married life.

Tweet This“Chapatis for Peace” [Short URL: http://www.ipatrix.com/?p=2372] was published Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 11:19 am by Patrix, filed under Current Affairs, Food Drink, United States, and tagged as , , . Both comments and linkbacks are closed.

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  • http://www.suyogdeshpande.net/blog/ Supremus

    Uhh… you do get frozen chapatis in almost all Indian stores. They may not taste as great as freshly made, but are infinitely better than tortillas for sure.

  • bloghopper

    This post somehow reminded me of that pottery scene from “Ghost”. Corny, I know :)

  • http://www.ipatrix.com Patrix

    Supremus, Have had enough of those frozen chapatis and plus you don’t have much choice in this small college town not to mention their exorbitant prices. The tortillas at HEB foods are definitely much better (and fresh)

    Bloghopper, LOL! It would definitely be a desi equivalent of the Ghost scene. If the Yash Chopra factory is reading this, expect it in their next flick.

  • http://lekhni.wordpress.com Lekhni

    Frozen chapati customer too. Not to mention I learnt how to make phulkas quite recently :(

  • http://acorn.nationalinterest.in Nitin

    Patrix,

    The US has long been an exporter of wheat. But US biofuel subsidies diverted a lot of agricultural resources and foodgrain into producing ethanol. This contributed to the rise in international prices of wheat (and other foodgrains) due to the lower quantities in international markets. So it’s not the US import of wheat that’s contributing to this, but the skewed incentives created by the US subsidies for biofuel.

  • http://www.ipatrix.com Patrix

    Lekhni, homemade chapatis was one benefit of my mom’s visit last summer. I’m sure you cannot go back to the frozen stuff now.

    Nitin, I knew I had it wrong. Thanks for the clarification. I guess I have to balance my love for homemade chapatis with concern for the environment. I always knew that biofuels weren’t sustainable in the long run.

  • EC

    Ethanol combined with increased rates of farmland have driven up agri commodities which are expected to remain high going forward. Farmers have shifted from planting other commodities (wheat, rice ..) to corn, sugar cos of the subsidies and push given by the Govt. to ethanol as part of its energy policy.

    Tortillas are as expensive since prices of corn have skyrocketed up and is a national issue in Mexico :)

    Near home, India is facing a wheat shortage as well due to Sharad Pawar’s canceling of wheat imports since prices were ‘too high’ then. With elections talk in the air, the govt. will probably subsidise imported wheat – hence might not see the same scale of price increases as what you’re seeing

    - Elaichi Chai

    oh and Congratulations on ur marriage!

  • http://twilightfairy.rediffblogs.com Twilight Fairy

    I used to like tortillas better than plain rotis most of the time :).. especially a herb variety that used to be available in Helsinki’s stores.

  • http://www.ipatrix.com Patrix

    EC, Hey! It was nice hearing from you after a long time even if it was about import wheat subsidies :)

    Twilight, yeah! Being Texas and all, the Southwestern Tortillas are nice as well.

  • APB

    Look at the Cash prices for food grains now and a year ago. More Ag-inflation is on the way!


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