Where's the butter?!?

[Samurai_Jerk]

You could always put yoghurt on your bread instead of butter...

Cream cheese on my toast but I definitely need butter to fry my eggs.

[wagyl]

I don't use butter or margarine on my toast. The spread goes on, naked. Some of you might not be man enough to handle that though.

As far as cooking eggs, nothing beats the fat that has oozed out of the bacon. Finding proper bacon here is your next problem, though.

No products of the churning of fat separated out of the discharge of modified sweat glands of bovines in my house, thank you very much! Nor will I tolerate hydrogenated fat and oil preparations.

[matsuki]

I definitely need butter to fry my eggs.

I don't eat much bread here but THIS is what I use butter for every morning.

[Russell]

I definitely need butter to fry my eggs.

I don't eat much bread here but THIS is what I use butter for every morning.

Yes, when I fry eggs, I also use butter.

And I use it for baking bread. The dough rises much better than when I use shortening or oil.

And I put butter on French bread, topped with Gouda cheese.

And... (the list goes on)

[Russell]

OK, so the government invests 200億円 just to attract new dairy farmers.

Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to import that shit?

[wagyl]

Yes I can see that it is a ridiculous situation to spend money to encourage new dairy farmers when they are having difficulty keeping the ones they have. But maybe it does make some sense: I am not so much a slave to butter as many of you seem to be, but when these sort of issues arise her and there, maybe greater self sufficiency is not so stupid.

[dimwit]

What's with all the butter stuff anyways? Has everyone here turned so old that they are making cookies for the grandkids? I doubt I use up a pad in less than a couple of months. At any rate, a quick perusal of the local super didn't show any lack of butter, but we do have cows here, so it must be a regional thing.

People that don't eat butter are usually fags. Out of curiosity, though, what do you use in its stead?

If you say margarine, there will be blooooooooood

Honey or jam, but I do ocassionally use magarine because it is not less artificial than the Wonder Breadish slabs of preservatives that I am putting the spread on. Wasting butter on Japanese bread is kinda like using Cheez Whiz to enhance the taste of your caviar.

[matsuki]

greater self sufficiency is not so stupid.

Self sufficiency is definitely attainable and not really against it...except when you choose to prop it up with 5,000 farmers, each with only 10 cows rather than 100 farmers with 50 cows each. I know in some places space and the zoning clusterfuck makes this near impossible but there are plenty of areas where this is feasible.

[wagyl]

greater self sufficiency is not so stupid.

Self sufficiency is definitely attainable and not really against it...except when you choose to prop it up with 5,000 farmers, each with only 10 cows rather than 100 farmers with 50 cows each. I know in some places space and the zoning clusterfuck makes this near impossible but there are plenty of areas where this is feasible.

Zoning? Japan? Hahahhahahahahhahhhahahahahhhahhahaahhhahaha

[matsuki]

I mean the land use designation...just got too generous with the term. (though the block of residential homes, rice fields and refineries...with a convenience store says otherwise)

[wagyl]

Reading more about the Norwegian Butter Crisis of 2011, there are some spooky similarities (and shocking tales of 5000 Yen for 250g).

Once again, it is a tariff protected market to promote self sufficiency, with weather affecting supply, and management of the market by the central players too slow to react.

[Russell]

Reading more about the Norwegian Butter Crisis of 2011, there are some spooky similarities (and shocking tales of 5000 Yen for 250g).

Once again, it is a tariff protected market to promote self sufficiency, with weather affecting supply, and management of the market by the central players too slow to react.

Since when do Norwegians use Yen as currency?

And isn't the equivalent of 5000 Yen cheap in Norway, taking into account their price levels?

[wagyl]

Reading more about the Norwegian Butter Crisis of 2011, there are some spooky similarities (and shocking tales of 5000 Yen for 250g).

Once again, it is a tariff protected market to promote self sufficiency, with weather affecting supply, and management of the market by the central players too slow to react.

Since when do Norwegians use Yen as currency?

And isn't the equivalent of 5000 Yen cheap in Norway, taking into account their price levels?

I'm so very sorry Russell. In future I promise to make my writing much more accessible to my audience and include all prices purely in Norwegian Kroner. That will save everyone the burden of converting to make sense of it.

Things you can buy for 300 NOK:
two meals at an inexpensive restaurant
three combo meals at a fast food chain
two litres of domestic beer
nine cappuccinos
twelve loaves of bread
fifteen Kg of rice
almost 4 Kg local cheese
fifteen Kg oranges
two and a half bottles of mid range wine
three packets of cigarettes
a quarter of a pair of men's leather shoes
twenty litres of gasoline/petrol

and at the peak of the butter crisis, 250 g of butter.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ci ... &city=Oslo

[matsuki]

This lack of butter ruins my plans to start calling lemurs バターくさい！

Seriously though, still no imports?

[matsuki]

OK, so I was about to run out, all the local suuuupaaa are totally sold out....and the local 7-11 had 3 blocks. Sooooo if all else fails, check your local conbini!

[Mike Oxlong]

OK, so I was about to run out, all the local suuuupaaa are totally sold out....and the local 7-11 had 3 blocks. Sooooo if all else fails, check your local conbini!

That's a good pro tip. Done that when there has been a run on milk before a typhoon.

[wagyl]

OK, so I was about to run out, all the local suuuupaaa are totally sold out....and the local 7-11 had 3 blocks. Sooooo if all else fails, check your local conbini!

I presume that that past tense signifies that there is no longer any butter at that particular conbini

[matsuki]

OK, so I was about to run out, all the local suuuupaaa are totally sold out....and the local 7-11 had 3 blocks. Sooooo if all else fails, check your local conbini!

I presume that that past tense signifies that there is no longer any butter at that particular conbini

Exactly

[IparryU]

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/11/16/wheres-my-christmas-cake-christmas-celebrations-threatened-by-nation-wide-butter-shortage/

Where’s my Christmas cake?! Seasonal celebrations threatened by nationwide butter shortage

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Japan currently has a pretty severe butter shortage and it’s been going on for a long time. For months grocery stores around the country have been limiting customers to one box of butter at a time, and even then, people are paying hugely inflated prices.

Generally, Japanese cooking doesn’t really use that much butter, so what is all of this stuff being used for exactly? Cakes and cookies. With Christmas just around the corner, and the butter shortage expected to continue for the foreseeable future, a new and very important question has arisen: Will we still be able to eat Christmas cake?!

[matsuki]

Generally, Japanese cooking doesn’t really use that much butter

I keep reading this everywhere but then I keep hearing all the J-people around me bitching about not being able to find butter...so are there any legit statistics that actually indicate the quote is right? Maybe not in washoku but I see butter in most "Japanese cooking" nowadays.

[wagyl]

Generally, Japanese cooking doesn’t really use that much butter

I keep reading this everywhere but then I keep hearing all the J-people around me bitching about not being able to find butter...so are there any legit statistics that actually indicate the quote is right? Maybe not in washoku but I see butter in most "Japanese cooking" nowadays.

If the quote was "doesn't use any butter" I would agree with you, but I think "doesn't really use that much butter" is pretty right.

As to your question "are there any legit statistics," well, you may not be aware of it, but there is now an amazing resource called the internet where you can access data from all over the world. It is like you are in a reference library, any time of the day or night. There are these sites called search engines, which reference this data for you and make it remarkably easy to find. You have to use your judgement to filter the data, because it is not edited, but you can usually tell if something looks legit. I'm not sure, but maybe someone has told you about this internet and search engine thing before. Maybe you are just not capable to sit on a jury even in your own country, I don't know...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=butter+consumption+by+country
gives you http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/? ... onsumption

This data is by country, not per head of population, but you can use the same resource to find population numbers: I'll let you do that for practice at using this new internet thing.

Japan, population 127,090,000, uses less butter than Australia, population 23,665,600. That said, it uses more butter per head than Brazil, in fact 140% of the butter used by the average Brazilian.

I suppose your answer depends on whether or not you consider that Brazilians don't use much butter.

[IparryU]

we need a :bitchslap: smiley...

you have been quite feisty lately wagyl!

[wagyl]

we need a :bitchslap: smiley...

you have been quite feisty lately wagyl!

Only when I see a lazy shit.

Actually, I should thank Choko: I've never taken the time to look at butter use per head. The figures are fascinating.
I created a spreadsheet, and ignoring the EU-27 figures as a pain in the arse to calculate population, the results are as follows:

If you take the Japan butter consumption index as 100, the list is
NZ 832
India 663
Australia 624
Canada 459
Russia 442
US 424
Ukraine 423
Mexico 344
Argentina 169
Taiwan 139
Japan 100
Brazil 71

Who knew that the Australasian countries were such butterballs!? Taiwan is a surprise, too.

[Yokohammer]

... I created a spreadsheet ...

I realise it's not really any of my business ... but I'm beginning to think you might need a hobby that gets you away from the computer from time to time.

[wagyl]

That is confirmed.

Actually there are activities which keep me from the computer. The main problem is that work does keep me at the computer, and there are times when the workload is not enough to keep my curiosity fully occupied, but I still need to be nearby the computer.

The spreadsheet took about five minutes to whip up anyway. Properly calibrated snarky posts are worse time sinks.

[Wibble]

we need a :bitchslap: smiley...

you have been quite feisty lately wagyl!

Only when I see a lazy shit.

Actually, I should thank Choko: I've never taken the time to look at butter use per head. The figures are fascinating.
I created a spreadsheet, and ignoring the EU-27 figures as a pain in the arse to calculate population, the results are as follows:

If you take the Japan butter consumption index as 100, the list is
NZ 832
India 663
Australia 624
Canada 459
Russia 442
US 424
Ukraine 423
Mexico 344
Argentina 169
Taiwan 139
Japan 100
Brazil 71

Who knew that the Australasian countries were such butterballs!? Taiwan is a surprise, too.

The Kiwis love their butter, probably partly that they also produce a large amount of the world's supply.
I thought the Japan butter consumption over time is interesting - it really seems to match economic performance which doesn't seem to be the case so much for other countries. Is it thought of as a luxury item?
And I wonder just what happened in 1979 to nearly double butter consumption? Panic buying after misunderstanding the oil crisis?

[wagyl]

The Kiwis love their butter, probably partly that they also produce a large amount of the world's supply.
I thought the Japan butter consumption over time is interesting - it really seems to match economic performance which doesn't seem to be the case so much for other countries. Is it thought of as a luxury item?
And I wonder just what happened in 1979 to nearly double butter consumption? Panic buying after misunderstanding the oil crisis?

Ooh, you're right, the historical graphs are interesting. http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/? ... onsumption

The butterball Kiwis are only using half the quantity of butter they did 50 years ago. http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/? ... onsumption

The US data, provided by the US Department of Agriculture, raises an eyebrow or two, though. http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/? ... onsumption

[matsuki]

Well done Wags! Sorry for being said lazy shit but I was on the pilgrimage to your side of the island when I wrote that....and if it's any consilation, I wasn't exactly thinking straight this morning.....had a nasty case of BPPV this morning (I'm sure IPU is going to love the smell when he gets home tonight!), likely from Gomiuriland's premier rollercoaster....In all my years in hockey, I've never had my head banged around as bad as that shit. It's big, it's slow....and likely to give you a headache/whiplash....sounds like fun!! (coming from someone who loves roller coasters)

Back on topic...I guess the stats don't lie....but I guess it makes sense if you consider that many of the seniors (and kansai people ) aren't too crazy about "butter kusai" barbarian food. I wonder if the last 3 years, consumption going down is more a result of the lack of supply rather than demand though?? This year certainly is, no?

[Russell]

I thought the Japan butter consumption over time is interesting - it really seems to match economic performance which doesn't seem to be the case so much for other countries. Is it thought of as a luxury item?
And I wonder just what happened in 1979 to nearly double butter consumption? Panic buying after misunderstanding the oil crisis?

1979 was when Greji had his butter orgy...

[matsuki]

I thought the Japan butter consumption over time is interesting - it really seems to match economic performance which doesn't seem to be the case so much for other countries. Is it thought of as a luxury item?
And I wonder just what happened in 1979 to nearly double butter consumption? Panic buying after misunderstanding the oil crisis?

1979 was when Greji had his butter orgy...