The Opposite of Food Stamps

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 5, 2010 4:00PM

Last week, our own Betsy Mikel took a stab at living on food stamps - or, more accurately, living on the dollar equivalent of food stamps - as part of the SNAP Hunger Challenge. With that fresh in our minds, Noreen Malone's article on Slate practically jumped out of our computer screens and smacked us in the face. She attempted the exact opposite project; instead of trying to save money, she tried to figure out just how much dough could be sucked up by a dinner for two from Whole Foods.

Partly a thought experiment, and partly a reaction against the proliferation of puff pieces glamorizing the life of a recessionista, the article is both interesting and horrifying. Interesting because, in a food porn sort of way, it's amazing to see the things that one can buy at what is, often, a neighborhood grocery store. Horrifying because of her total figure - $443.48. It's worth noting that she ignored wine, instead opting to make the most expensive "mocktail" (a combination of boutique tonic water and Pomegranate Acai Tart Cherry Juice) and find the most expensive beer. The salad alone cost $152, though this included a $40 bottle of olive oil and a $50 bottle of balsamic vinegar.

Malone admits that the dinner she created sounds kind of disgusting, but that wasn't really the point. As a foodie, it's worth a little pondering. Many of us have spent the last 20 years ecstatically watching the offerings in grocery stores expand and change. The doldrums of frozen, processed food as the only option, especially outside of cities, have fallen away, and good produce, local products and meat that is raised with some degree of care are available almost everywhere. But, as food becomes more of a status symbol and these ridiculous items are bought by more and more people who have no idea what to do with them, have we moved too far in the other direction?

Photo by Katie Scully