Where's the butter?!?

[wagyl]

had a nasty case of BPPV this morning (I'm sure IPU is going to love the smell when he gets home tonight!)

To help those who, like me, thought that must be Baby Poo Projectile Vomitting or somesuch, it is apparently Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. Although, to get a smell which would disturb IPU, I'm not entirely sure.

Thank you, Choko, for giving approval to my curiosity-extending activities. I suppose it makes sense that Japan probably uses about a quarter the amount of butter that the US does. Explaining the Australia/New Zealand and US differential might be the very low consumption of shortening and lard and such fats in those first two.

[Russell]

No one wondering about India taking second place?

OK, I'll give it a try.

It must be the ghee.

[matsuki]

had a nasty case of BPPV this morning (I'm sure IPU is going to love the smell when he gets home tonight!)

To help those who, like me, thought that must be Baby Poo Projectile Vomitting or somesuch, it is apparently Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. Although, to get a smell which would disturb IPU, I'm not entirely sure.

When doing the positions that relieve the dizziness, it makes you insanely dizzy...and apparently the coaster did a number on me as I barfed each of the 3 times I performed the procedure. (I have never felt so sick in my life...it's like all the nausea you've ever had, condensed into a minute of pure hell) Of course I cleaned it all up an febreezed it but still, I can't imagine it smells nice in there.

Thank you, Choko, for giving approval to my curiosity-extending activities. I suppose it makes sense that Japan probably uses about a quarter the amount of butter that the US does. Explaining the Australia/New Zealand and US differential might be the very low consumption of shortening and lard and such fats in those first two.

Definitely reasonable conclusions.

[wagyl]

It must be the ghee.

I would agree, especially when you include smearing ghee on statues of gods. Interestingly, the graphs of use over time show an exponential rise in consumption over the last 50 years.

To confirm my thoughts about the religious use of ghee, I turned to wikipedia, and came across the following which made me snicker:

Moroccans (especially those of the Amazigh ethnic group, known to Westerners as "Berbers") take this one step further, aging spiced ghee for months or even years, resulting in a product called smen.

To try to return above the belt, I did learn something new from the wikipedia article, about dairy products in Japan originating from before the Nara period. So, made between the seventh and 10th centuries, is solidified layers of milk skin. The process by which this was done is not explained in the English language article, and the Japanese language article calls it a cheese, but describes the production method as making a stack of the skin that forms on milk when it is heated. You may have heard of daigo, or at least of daigomi, the cultural equivalent of ambrosia. This was a further processing and maturing of so, but neither the English language or Japanese language wikipedia articles give meaningful details of the processes.

[Russell]

The population of India grows steadily over time, though it is more linear than exponential.



So, it must be their increased incomes that guides their butter use.

Or their number of god statues has increased exponentially...

[matsuki]

No one wondering about India taking second place?

OK, I'll give it a try.

It must be the ghee.

It's all the butter chicken curry exports

[yanpa]

No one wondering about India taking second place?

OK, I'll give it a try.

It must be the ghee.

[anecdotal evidence warning] In the two weeks I was ever there, I must have been served about half-a-kilo of butter (not ghee) in total, as raw slabs dumped on the meal, so it doesn't surprise me particularly.

[matsuki]

Ahhh, butter from the sacred cow...

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

[anecdotal evidence warning] In the two weeks I was ever there, I must have been served about half-a-kilo of butter (not ghee) in total, as raw slabs dumped on the meal, so it doesn't surprise me particularly.

Might be regional, I haven't seen that much in the last week or so but Gujarat is also mainly vegetarian and strictly no booze.

[yanpa]

[anecdotal evidence warning] In the two weeks I was ever there, I must have been served about half-a-kilo of butter (not ghee) in total, as raw slabs dumped on the meal, so it doesn't surprise me particularly.

Might be regional, I haven't seen that much in the last week or so but Gujarat is also mainly vegetarian and strictly no booze.

This was Gujarat (Ahmedabad)...

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

I must be slumming it then. No surprise there.

[Wibble]

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?

Not so sure. In recent years, butter production was going up, but domestic consumption was going down according to the stats collected on that website.
I made a graph to make it easy for you to see the butter gap.


Whilst I'm graphing, here's Japan's butter consumption against GDP I mentioned earlier- terms out to have a correlation r value of 0.77, so not too shabby



Though it looks like big butter eating growth, it's nothing compared to cheese



A final cheese-related spurious correlation to put it all into context: US cheese consumption vs US deaths by becoming tangled in bedsheets (correlation 0.95); be careful what you eat


From http://tylervigen.com

[wagyl]

If you're not careful you'll be getting a comment from Yokohammer.

By big take-home from all of that is "Holy cow, 700 people die every year in the US by becoming tangled in their bedsheets! And this figure doubled in the decade 2000 to 2009!"

[matsuki]

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?

Not so sure. In recent years, butter production was going up, but domestic consumption was going down according to the stats collected on that website.
I made a graph to make it easy for you to see the butter gap.

While you're at it, care to add population to that? That's another factor that can be behind both consumption and production decreasing.

[Wibble]

While you're at it, care to add population to that? That's another factor that can be behind both consumption and production decreasing.

There you go. No charge. It fits with the rise, but not the recent decline so much.


I should probably add foreign resident population as well, maybe that is the reason - just be due to the arrival/departure of a few chubby antipodeans

[wagyl]

antipodeans

You are not only a no-hobby lazy-shit-enabler, but you are British-Isles-centric too.

[Wibble]

antipodeans

You are not only a no-hobby lazy-shit-enabler, but you are British-Isles-centric too.

Thank you!

[kurogane]

Now, now............nothing wrong with using the term Antipodean with sneering derision implied. Most Australians think it's an old Irish kinship term, so what they don't know won't hurt them.

For the record, I consider Wagyl an Honorary First Worlder, and I still haven't figured out where he's from.

[wagyl]

I still haven't figured out where he's from.

International Man of Mystery.......

[matsuki]

It's not where you're from but where you're going...and I have a good hunch Wags is going to....freeze his balls off come winter unless he installs some proper insulation and a wood stove in his place.

[wagyl]

It's not where you're from but where you're going...and I have a good hunch Wags is going to....freeze his balls off come winter unless he installs some proper insulation and a wood stove in his place.

It is not the destination, it is the journey, man....
Already snow at 1000m altitude today.

[Russell]

Japan Dairy Firms to Increase Butter Production to Cover Shortage

Japan's farm ministry said Thursday that four major domestic dairy companies will increase production of home-use butter in December by 33 pct from November to 1,846 tons in response to a shortage.

Japan has suffered a butter shortage this year due to a fall in output of milk that has been blamed on the falling number of farmers and the unusually hot summer of last year. The dairy industry's tendency to prioritize production of milk and cream, items that are more perishable than butter, has also added to the shortage.

In late November, the ministry urged the industry to respond to the shortage. Butter makers that will increase production are Megmilk Snow Brand Co., Yotsuba Milk Products Co., Meiji Co., a unit of Meiji Holdings Co., and Morinaga Milk Industry Co.

The companies will boost additional supplies in the first half of December, when demand peaks. A farm ministry official called for calm among customers, saying butter will be available in supermarkets by Christmas.

Link

Hmm, I did not notice the store shelves filling up yet...

[kurogane]

I still haven't figured out where he's from.

International Man of Mystery.......

I hope that is on your calling cards. BTW, it's almost cold down south here now too, dropping all the way to 17 degrees as it has.

Light that stove, stoke that fire y'all.

[matsuki]

In late November, the ministry urged the industry to respond to the shortage.

Cause the ministry knows best....

[Russell]

What's next?

Shortage of milk and cream?

[wagyl]

What's next?

Shortage of milk and cream?

I can definitely foresee cream having a lesser supply, but once again I saw cream reduced in price the other day due to it remaining on shelves until close to use by date. Since cream is the immediate raw material for butter, the only way I can make sense of that supply mismatch is that perhaps the butter producers can only process butter in a large batch, and if there is not sufficient cream to make a complete batch of butter then they sell that fraction quantity as cream. If that is not the explanation, the only other thing I can think is that someone is (well, that would mean all manufacturers are, in tandem) messing up supply in a big way (which might just be the simplest explanation).

Milk itself as the ultimate raw material suffers a slightly less severe impact: there is already more cream being produced (as a by-product of skim milk powder production, I suppose) than is necessary for the market.

[Salty]

I am waiting to see reports of cows having been stripped of their milk, just as happens to trees with fresh fruit just before harvest time.

[Mike Oxlong]

Airlift to ease Japan french fry shortage

Restaurants in Japan are rushing to secure supplies of french fries after shipment delays from the U.S., with one chain readying to airlift 200 tons of chips.

Giants of the fast food and “family restaurant” sectors, which serve Western style meals, are dependent on imports, Kyodo News reported, citing the chains and the Japan External Trade Organization.

But a dockworkers’ dispute on the U.S. West Coast has caused a months-long slowdown, creating a backlog and crimping imports to Japan.

The Japanese arm of McDonald’s has been having problems since mid-November, Kyodo said, while Royal Holdings, which runs several family restaurant chains, said it has a few months’ worth of stock, but was keeping a close eye on things.

Meanwhile, the operator of the Gusto chain said it planned to fly in around 200 tons of french fries to avoid running short, the agency reported.

News of the chip woes came with Japan already in the throes of a butter shortage that is threatening to ruin Christmas for millions of cake-baking Japanese housewives.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/busi ... y-shortage

[Coligny]

image.jpg

Not this shit again...

[wagyl]

millions of cake-baking Japanese housewives.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/busi ... y-shortage

I don't think (m)any of of the cakes are home baked.