Honey

Ukrainians eat a lot of honey and can wax eloquent for hours on its myriad benefits. Recently a friend asked if I was interested in purshasing some honey from friends of friends who are beekeepers. Here's how our conversation went:

me: I don't think I want to buy any more honey right now, because I already have two liters, and it took me a full year to eat the two liters I bought last summer

friend: I don't understand how you can eat it so slowly--I thought you liked honey

me: I do! I put it in everything--in my yogurt, in tea, I even recently started putting it in my coffee... I eat it whenever I feel like it.

friend: Well I don't call that liking honey--I like honey and I eat a half liter per week

me: Wow, I would call that more of an obsession. and isn't that rather expensive? I would think the average Ukrainian family couldn't afford that.

friend: No, I think they could, I mean they eat it a lot of sugar... [does quick calculations] ...and it's only 7 times more expensive than sugar!

I chalked her remarks up to a natural desire to see oneself as non-elitist. Most Ukrainians complain constantly about rising food prices, when most of the time the prices are only rising a few cents (though, admittedly, they do rise fairly often). But the idea that anyone who wants to could switch from sugar to honey because it's only 7 times more expensive is beyond ludicrous. When I got home I calculated that at the price she pays for honey, it would cost $70 a month, which is over 25% of the average Ukrainian monthly salary, for each member of a family of four to eat the same amount of honey weekly that she does!

image stolen borrowed from here