Pass the butter

While poorer nations around the world are struggling with food shortages and steep price increases for food, I've only noticed one oddity in our food supply: a sudden butter shortage.

This Asahi newspaper story says there's been a decrease in raw milk production in Japan and an increase in the use of available milk for drink and cheese production.

Butter was relatively expensive here anyway - typically $6 for a half pound. But a month ago, I started to notice empty shelves in the butter section, even in the big grocery store Nissin, which never runs out of anything.


You could still find some butter - French butter - priced at an astonishing $20 per pound!


I shopped around and nabbed six packages of Hokkaido butter from a local convenience store, which should be enough for several weeks. I think the price increases are here to stay, up to about $15 a pound for domestic butter.