I finished three dishes last night by myself. It wasn't that I was super hungry, it was the reaction to the food price hike reporting that I did yesterday right before the meal.
Soon after the National Bureau of Statistics released the new high of the CPI (consumer price index) last month to 5.6 percent, I appeared in Beijing's streets chatting up with grandmas to find out how serious the food price has affected their daily lives.
Standing at the entrance of Xinyuanli supermarket in the northeast of Beijing with a salted egg in hand, Kong Junying, 50, says she is very upset. She did not make meat dishes for tonight, her 18-year-old son, a meat-lover, was not happy. He sent his mom to buy a salted egg in exchange of a promise to eat.
“In the past, our monthly expenses on food is 300 yuan (USD40). Now it went up to 500 yuan (USD66),” Kong complains. The total income of the family from both Kong and her husband’s pension is 2,000 yuan (USD260). “We are still able to afford the food now. But if the price keeps going up, I think the government should allocate special food allowances.”
Everyday, Kong now walks half an hour to a farther Big Garden Food Market for a little cheaper bargain than the Xinyuanli Market that she has gone for decades. She is particular about the time too. “Noon time right before the morning market closes is the best time for paying the least. But it is still more expensive.” she says so while muddling her short hair: “I told my husband and son that since the price went up, we need to live with less food.” She removed her favorite vegetable cowpea from the food list since the price hiked. The portion of Kong’s daily food purchase has shrunk. She buys just enough for one meal. A typical meal will look like two cucumbers, two tomatoes and half a kilo of pork. She stopped throwing away left-over vegetables. There are days they will have to live without meat like today.
If you want to know whether I had meat, yes, but not much. That was the skinnest and most burnt pidgeon i have had.
