It was my mother-in-law’s birthday. We went shopping for food at No-Frills. Meandering in the aisles, we picked up blackberries, grapes, a bag of bell peppers, chicken, bread, and cheese. A small healthy dinner. When the cashier rang up the bill, it happened.
I was food shocked! Two and a half “ecological bags” of groceries: $200. What? Ok, so my wife picked up a few more things, but nothing like sirloin steak, or French wine. I kind of saw it coming though. My favourite whipping cream for making my much-loved latte’s (loved by my family anyways) was almost $10 a carton. Meanwhile regular table cream was two dollars cheaper. My family’s not going to find my coffee as tasty, but I’m not paying so much more.
I hadn’t been food shopping since I went to Ecuador where I got two bags of groceries and Italian wine for $26. The food we bought here at No Frills was healthy, but not fancy.
“Is this what people are going through?” I asked my wife. “Uh, yeah, of course.” She wasn’t shocked at the prices, just at my dumb questions.
“But no one says anything,” I said. “What do you mean?” She said. “I mean there’s no protests,” I said. “They might not protest, but they’re voting differently,” my wife replied. Even though I grew up here, I never could figure out the politics of Torontonians, so I stopped trying. People must be shopping now like they did in the 1930’s: spam and cabbage. Only it’s not the Great Depression. We seem to have plenty of everything. But at these prices, what were once common groceries are quietly getting out of reach. Like my whipping cream.
Looking around our neighbourhood, I know it’s much worse than that.
I now see parents with kids at the food bank line at St. Thomas Aquinas church. They have joined a lot of seniors in that line, and even younger people. These are not the homeless. Some of those seniors are neighbours on Glenholme. And the lines are getting longer.
I think we Torontonians don’t think we have a choice. We have to continue paying more or go to food banks because we have to eat. But I think it might be time to start being open to other food ideas. Like our neighbours to the south in New York City. They’re talking about public grocery stores for better prices.
Because right now, a simple, healthy dinner for a birthday comes at a shocking price.
