ASTRONOMICAL MEAT PRICES

May 7, 2004 at 12:05:22a.m.

It had to happen sooner or later! Yesterday we went to the bank and took out a second mortgage so we could buy some chicken and meat.

When we were growing up, skirt steaks were considered offal and were given away. Today, they are considered worthy of a gourmet and the price at our butcher this week was twelve dollars a pound. Yup, you read that correctly- twelve dollars a pound. We didn’t buy any.

We looked at the rib steaks both with bone in and boneless. Fuggedaboutit! The boneless was so expensive that our knees buckled and we had to grab onto the meat display case for support. Bone-in was not much better: over nine dollars a pound.

The first patties you see are the expensive ones, the ones that are marked “very low fat.” News flash boys and girls: you do not want a very low fat patty for your outdoor grill. A little fat makes it grill better. All the way at the end of the meat display was the lower priced patties,the ones you want for your summer BBQ”s. The price? Over six dollars a pound for the cheapest mix of chopped meat.

Our question: how many people (the elderly, the poor, the young with little cash reserves…) will stop buying kosher because the price is so high? Many years ago, the OU gave an award to the (then) Jewish owner of Empire Chicken for his contribution to helping people keep kosher. What was sad was that year, Empire raised their wholesale prices SIX times between Purim and Pesach. Funny, sometimes it seems as if they haven’t stopped raising them since.

Something has to be done. We have been in quiet talks with a government official. We hope to have something to report soon. Until then, tighten your belt, take out a loan, or raise and shecht your own! Our parents did that in the very early sixties. Some sage advice- don’t do what my siblings did. They used to go to pet the cow and feed it. When the cow was shechted, they couldn’t eat it!!

(RJR)