The Diet Goes Green

NEED ENERGY?


Biofuels have certainly vaulted to the forefront in this country. Heck, I would imagine half of Iowa grows corn simply for the purpose of turning it into fuel. Fact is, it's worth more money to the mega-farmer to produce corn for fuel than it is to produce good eating corn (what would Orville say if he were alive today?). You wouldn't think that would bother someone in Indonesia, but you'd be wrong...and for them, maybe dead wrong.
We have proudly called the Midwest the "Breadbasket of the World," and for the longest time, this was true. We exported corn and soybeans to just about everywhere on earth. It got so that it was cheaper to buy those staples from us than to grow them in-country. Little did third-world countries know that the oil crunch would devastate their food supply. We now grow less soybeans and put more acreage into corn...not for food to export, but for fuel. The arable land in some third world countries has been taken over for factories and urban sprawl, meaning that growing their own grain has become nigh impossible, though they can use lead to paint toys for us by the millions. It's a good thing there are frogs in the world.
According to the BBC (the only news network sponsored by taxes instead of a corporation that controls the spin on the news) over one billion (think of Dr. Evil) frogs have been harvested worldwide as a food source in the last year. School lunches in Europe feature tasty legs, and high-end restaurants do as well. So far, no McRibbet has been marketed, and fish tacos still seem to be the only water-based life form in a taco shell; frogs, though, remain popular; in some areas of South America, frogs are liquified and promoted as an eneregy drink! Hey, it's no more icky than the derivative taurine in "Rockstar" and other things we drink here.
Indonesia remains the largest exporter of amphibians with over 5,000 tons sent out each year. The United States and France are the largest importers, according to "Conservation Biology" a magazine devoted to such things. Sadly, though, their researchers also report that one-third of all amphibious species are currently endangered, and a species like the red-legged frog has become extinct in this country due to over-harvesting. Thus, it seems, the frog population is following in the finsteps of the fishing population: overfishing has led to worldwide shortages and ecologists are screaming for some kind of controls to ensure the fisheries remain viable.
Restaurant fare? Energy drinks? What is next for the frog? I'll bet it won't be long before a worldwide shortage of hops has beer manufacturers looking to the frog as a substitute.