Inflation isn’t so bad if you are just willing to settle for less.
And on Thanksgiving, that means no turkey.
Seriously. The St. Louis Fed on Saturday tweeted out a blogpost about how much more affordable it is to eat a soy-based meal than a turkey based meal.
Here’s what the blogpost said:
Now for the main course: turkey (i.e., poultry) or tofurkey (i.e., soybeans)? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, roasted turkey has almost 3 times the caloric value and 1.5 times the protein value of an equivalent serving of fried tofu by weight. Between 1990 and the time of this writing, the average global price of poultry has been 6 times higher than the price of soybeans.
As of the third quarter of 2021, a hearty Thanksgiving dinner serving of turkey costs $1.42. A tofurkey (soybean) dinner serving with the same amount of calories costs $0.66 and provides almost twice as much protein. Keep in mind that this plant-based meal would be almost 3 times larger by weight than the poultry-based meal and may either keep you at the dinner table longer or provide you with more leftovers. Of course, our calculations here don’t include the time value, energy costs, and additional ingredients required to cook the meals.
The impetus behind this is Bidenflation. The price of turkey is up more than 24 percent from a year ago, according to the Department of Labor. The price of an average than Thanksgiving meal is up 14 percent, the Farm Bureau said last week.
Not to be outdone, NBC this weekend ran a segment advising Americans to consider giving up turkey for Thanksigivng.
“Perhaps forego the turkey,” said NBC’s Vicky Nguyen. “Some people think turkey is overrated. It tends to be the most expensive thing on the menu. Maybe have an Italian feast.”
Added bonus: you may lower your costs by driving away friends and family.
“If you tell everyone you’re not having a turkey, some guests may drop off and that will save money too,” Nguyen said.
So this is what progressivism has come down to in 2021: Americans should make do with less and settle in to the long loneliness. Sharing prosperity with our posterity is a thing of the past. Eat soy. Alone.