Let Them Eat Pasta!

On the CBS show “Face the Nation,” the director of CDC in the States Dr. Julie Gerberding said: “if we asked Americans today how many people have a week's supply of food in the house, probably not very much people would be able to eat much more than pasta if they had to feed their family for a period time.” She was, of course, making a very important point, to be heeded wherever people live. What is interesting, to me, is the example she chose: pasta. Is it really so bad to have only pasta to eat for a week during a major disaster? Sure, it is boring and requires a large amount of the not so easily available clean water to prepare, but it is filling and versatile. Many leaders of industry eat nothing but paste for four or more years when they are in universities. To have a few pack of pasta and a few cans of sauces seems to be a reasonable pantry in the event of disaster. Dr. Gerberding must have some very good taste and a walk-in solar-powered cold room at home. For people with only small refrigerator and little cupboard space, a few bags of dry goods are all they can manage. I am not sure what Dr. Gerberding had in mind but pasta seems more reasonable than cake.