Brant
Gahanna
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Help Gawker come up with a new word to replace "hipster." Three rules:
1. It must succeed in evoking a widely understood and recognized subculture. The same subculture now referred to as "hipster."
2. It must be one word. Pithiness is key. The point is to be able to refer to hipsters without having to describe them, which is impossible.
3. "Hipster" is, in essence, a slur. It must have at least an underlying whiff of insult.
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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"Hipster" is, in essence, a slur.
What!? Since when?
Skinny jean wearing, dirty hair under a knit cap, single speed biker with a graphic tee smoking parliment cigs, drinking PB, ipod wearing, messenger bag wearing, self tragic, establishment loathing slacker; maybe.
But how is this worse than;
loafer wearing, prep school, condo owning, urban dwelling, corporate white guy in a Honda?
It's just a grouping.
And as such, unfair and condescending. But not a slur.
And if you can't make light of humanity, then it's a pretty boring world you live in, yah darn feminist, Politically correct, liberal, tree hugger.
sugarplumclarey
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From the Salon article:
Savory aromas wafted through the kitchen as a table was set with a heaping plate of Thai yellow curry with coconut milk and lemongrass, Chinese gourd sautéed in hot chile sauce and sweet clementine juice, all of it courtesy of government assistance.
This seems to imply that the problem people have (the writer?) is that if you like healthful, delicious, "exotic" (read: non-traditionally-American-Mac-n-cheese-type) food then you aren't technically desperate enough to qualify for food stamps. Or that if you went to college but you can't find a job, you are lazy and therefore not entitled to government assistance.
EDIT: I decided to remove my first post in its entirety because I think it was too personal. Sorry.
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Some states offer the option of seeds/plants for victory gardens as part of the "food stamp" package. Seems like a great idea and would work well in cities like Columbus with an active urban/community garden movement.
sugarplumclarey
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lifeontwowheels wrote >>
Some states offer the option of seeds/plants for victory gardens as part of the "food stamp" package. Seems like a great idea and would work well in cities like Columbus with an active urban/community garden movement.
You can use your food stamps to buy seeds in Ohio, which I think is really great! There are also lots of groups that provide seeds at low or no cost to needy families who want to eat better. Gardening is an awesome way to eat well for little cost, esp. if you have extra time from being un/deremployed :)
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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sugarplumclarey wrote >>
lifeontwowheels wrote >>
Some states offer the option of seeds/plants for victory gardens as part of the "food stamp" package. Seems like a great idea and would work well in cities like Columbus with an active urban/community garden movement.You can use your food stamps to buy seeds in Ohio, which I think is really great! There are also lots of groups that provide seeds at low or no cost to needy families who want to eat better. Gardening is an awesome way to eat well for little cost, esp. if you have extra time from being un/deremployed :)
Awesome, that must be a recent change? I don't recall it being available last I checked.
And for those without the time to garden, models like the Urban Farmers Market UAEA runs in the summer are another great way to break down the various cycles. Sell your surplus to your neighbors!
TaraK
probably at the coffee shop
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Hipsters and/or people who eat Asian cuisine with lemongrass and/or organic food in general = elitists in some way, right? I mean, who do they think they are? It's all -- the gay rights loving, the environmentalism, the lack of loyalty to meatloaf and mashed potatoes, the leftist food politics -- so un-American and unpatriotic.
And, on the other hand, it's just a matter of using one highly-triggering word: "hipster." Just slap on a different label, different effect. (i.e. "Mother of Two Murdered in Her Home" vs. "Prostitute Found Dead in Apartment" -- same story, two spins.)
Bristol Bar
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I’m probably gonna get scalped for this, but here we go.
Sugar, I know you hate asking for help, we all do, that’s good; pride is a good thing.
Just say thank you to the person behind you. All of our taxes make that food card possible.
Bear
The woods
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turbo ninja wrote >>
If it's so outrageous that people are deciding to spend their money on whole ingredients from local providers, the response should be to add these foods to the same list as booze, smokes, etc. I'd love to see the backlash when "fancy" items like rabbit or duck are prohibited but processed, fatty, high-sodium foods are allowed to stay: "If you're gonna get food stamps, we're gonna make damn sure you have to EAT like a poor person!"
If the available monthly funds are fixed, it's not like the taxpayers are getting ripped off because these people choose to buy $XX worth of grass-fed beef and fresh arugula instead of $XX worth of corn chips and Swanson frozen dinners.
Bunch of us headed out to dinner to Bangkok tonight, where to our surprise we ran into Warren Taylor of Snowville Creamery, who was there alone and joined us. At some point in the conversation I mentioned this article to Warren, and his response was surprising.
He said, "Did you know that you can only buy gallons of milk using food stamps? Not half-gallons?"
Blank looks. "No."
"Yup. Because it's cheaper. And because, supposedly, all milk is the same, and if people are spending public money they should have to buy the cheapest milk available, and that's milk that comes in gallons, not half-gallons."
(I haven't been able to confirm this for food stamps, but it's true for WIC, the assistance program for women, infants, and children, unless the WIC coupon explicitly states otherwise. That program also disallows cage-free or free-range chicken eggs, and anything other than one of ten cheeses listed.)
So there seems to be a bit of a precedent for capping the quality of the food that people buy with food assistance, or their ability to choose humanely-produced food -- even if the amount of that food assistance is fixed.
Core_Models
Columbus
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My sis went through some of this stuff post kids, and I believe WIC is just really specific because of the program design. Food stamps, on the other hand, she could get just about anything you can think of. I also remember them adding several of the area farm markets to the program a year or two ago, which I think is great.
I'd really love to see nutritional counseling of some kind becoming a larger aspect of the program though, that's the only gripe I have with it. I see lots of moms (my sis included) buying chicken nuggets and uncrustables and similar crap, that not only is more expensive most of the time, but a lot less healthy.
ETA: looks like WIC is undergoing some welcome changes too:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/regspublished/wicfoodpkginterimrulepdf.pdf
Bear
The woods
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Core_Models wrote >>
My sis went through some of this stuff post kids, and I believe WIC is just really specific because of the program design. Food stamps, on the other hand, she could get just about anything you can think of. I also remember them adding several of the area farm markets to the program a year or two ago, which I think is great.
Yes. I think Warren was almost certainly thinking of WIC -- the conversation wasn't all that specific about which form of food aid we were discussing.
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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rus
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Bear wrote >>
So there seems to be a bit of a precedent for capping the quality of the food that people buy with food assistance, or their ability to choose humanely-produced food -- even if the amount of that food assistance is fixed.
So the perception is, perhaps, that if one takes public assistance one should not be a gourmet or purchase boutique food.
columbusfoodie
West Side
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Bear wrote
Bunch of us headed out to dinner to Bangkok tonight, where to our surprise we ran into Warren Taylor of Snowville Creamery, who was there alone and joined us. At some point in the conversation I mentioned this article to Warren, and his response was surprising.
He said, "Did you know that you can only buy gallons of milk using food stamps? Not half-gallons?"
Blank looks. "No."
"Yup. Because it's cheaper. And because, supposedly, all milk is the same, and if people are spending public money they should have to buy the cheapest milk available, and that's milk that comes in gallons, not half-gallons."
(I haven't been able to confirm this for food stamps, but it's true for WIC, the assistance program for women, infants, and children, unless the WIC coupon explicitly states otherwise. That program also disallows cage-free or free-range chicken eggs, and anything other than one of ten cheeses listed.)
So there seems to be a bit of a precedent for capping the quality of the food that people buy with food assistance, or their ability to choose humanely-produced food -- even if the amount of that food assistance is fixed.
According to the foodstamp guidelines page at http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailers/pdfs/Retailer_Training_Guide.pdf :
Households CAN use food stamp benefits to buy:
• all food intended to be eaten at home. This includes the
four staple food categories mentioned earlier as well as
nonalcoholic beverages, snack foods, soft drinks, candy,
and ice.
• seeds and plants intended to grow food (but not for growing
flowers or feeding to birds).
Households CANNOT use food stamp benefits to buy:
• beer, wine, liquor, tobacco, or cigarettes
• foods that are hot at the point of sale
• food to be eaten in the store
• vitamins or medicines
• pet foods
• nonfood items such as tissues, soaps, cosmetics, or other
household goods.
I think the WIC program is a bit different because it exists SOLELY to make sure pregnant women and children get adequate nutrition above and beyond any food stamps that they're eligible for - and as wonderfully tasty as Warren's milk is, it still has the same amount of calcium that cheaper milk does, at a fraction of the price (Snowville Milk is what, $2.99 for a half gallon? I haven't bought gallons of milk in like, ever, but don't store brand gallons go for about $2.50ish?). Given a choice, I prefer Snowville because it tastes good, and agrees with me and my lactose intolerance because it's non-homogenized.
You get a lot more freedom with the food stamp program - it's a set amount, you have to buy foodstuffs, so there's a lot of leeway there as to what you can buy - you can buy 2x the amount of junk, or half the amount of healthy stuff. Easier to eat healthy when it's just you, not so easy when you're trying to feed a family of 5. Most of my friends and family who are on food stamps try to find a balance that's somewhere in between organic/free range and processed foods. In my household, at least, we've been buying a lot of our ingredients at Aldi/Trader Joe's/ethnic groceries, and cooking primarily from scratch at home. I do love that one of the allowable uses for the food stamp benefits are seeds - I think gardening, either community or backyard, is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to supplement one's food supply with healthy produce.
DCist
UA
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turbo ninja wrote >> If the available monthly funds are fixed, it's not like the taxpayers are getting ripped off because these people choose to buy $XX worth of grass-fed beef and fresh arugula instead of $XX worth of corn chips and Swanson frozen dinners.
The amount of food stamps you get is income and household size based. If one of those changes, your monthly amount can change. Most of the clients we work with have food stamps, and most of them dont use all of it (usually because they have smaller children who dont eat as much or something like that). Our clients have said they have so much extra money they SELL their extra food stamp money so they can buy other things/pay rent. So, I guess its a matter of convenience and preference regarding what people are buying, and if they can buy and use "better" food they should, but there are usually other barriers stopping them from doing so.
columbusfoodie
West Side
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DCist wrote >>
turbo ninja wrote >> If the available monthly funds are fixed, it's not like the taxpayers are getting ripped off because these people choose to buy $XX worth of grass-fed beef and fresh arugula instead of $XX worth of corn chips and Swanson frozen dinners.
The amount of food stamps you get is income and household size based. If one of those changes, your monthly amount can change. Most of the clients we work with have food stamps, and most of them dont use all of it (usually because they have smaller children who dont eat as much or something like that). Our clients have said they have so much extra money they SELL their extra food stamp money so they can buy other things/pay rent. So, I guess its a matter of convenience and preference regarding what people are buying, and if they can buy and use "better" food they should, but there are usually other barriers stopping them from doing so.
Not sure how this would work with the new POS-based cards, unless someone is going with the other person while they shop and pay for it in the end. If I were in that position, I know I wouldn't be giving my PIN number to anyone, because they could use all of your benefits. Most people I know who have leftover funds at the end of the month let it ride to the next month - the balance carries over. They end up spending much more money to eat in Nov/Dec. What I'm saying is that it all evens out, and most people I know, who are trying to feed their kids healthy food, don't have much leftover to begin with.
When I was on foodstamps back in the day (early 1990's), I got $105/month for just me, although I fed my grandmom on it too. Buying mostly processed food, I'd run out of money for food by the end of week 3, and week 4 was usually famine worthy, with our only meal of the day being a lunch at a soup kitchen (me) or Meals on Wheels (her). If I knew then what I knew now (namely: how to grow my own food and how to cook), I could have been eating like a queen...
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