People here in Norway have complained about the price of food for ages. Farmers likewise have complained a lot about their low pay relative to workload.

Some years ago I met some french folks who had recently landed a job here in Norway. They invited me for dinner which we prepared together, and I noticed they had gone to one of the food markets and gotten some quality ingredients. So we ended up talking about the price of food.

They mentioned that when they moved here they were shocked at how expensive food was. However, after a little while they realized that they spent way less in terms of percentage of their income on food compared to what they used to do in France.

In France they had spent around 15% on food, and if they did the same here then all of a sudden food here didn't seem more expensive than in France.

In comparison, most Norwegians spend around 5% of their income on food.

Farmers generally have the prices they get set by the government. From what I can tell what has happened is that we've gotten used to not spend a lot on food (relative to the french say), the government hasn't given the farmers a lot, meanwhile the "middle-men" has grown a lot and take a lot more of the pie compared to before.

For example, a while ago the government reduced the VAT on food from 25% to 12%, and while food prices in the shops dropped right away, it didn't take long before they had crept back up...

French farmers get a lot of subsidies form the state and the EU, and start violent protests when their standards get threatened.

I believe the SSB (Statistics Norway) numbers are more like ~10% for food and non-alcoholic drinks [1], it depends a lot on what you look at. Culturally the Mediterraneans have a very different relationship to food - but looking at Eurostat, we're basically on the low end of average [2]?

(Also, the VAT reduction in light of the recent govt-assembled expert panel arguing for the exact opposite as one of the best ways of taxing high-income high-consumption households without hurting lower income groups is... fun.)

--

[1] https://www.ssb.no/nasjonalregnskap-og-konjunkturer/nasjonal...

[2] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/D...

I used the numbers I recalled being quoted in the news at the time, which also matched my own food expenses. I assumed it was just food, while the SSB number includes non-alcoholic drinks as you say, and we're quite fond of sodas over here[1].

[1]: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-highe...

Romania is a clear outlier in that Eurostat source. I wonder why that is?

This graph will make things a bit clearer... https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/food-expenditure-vs-gdp

Right. Then import more slave labor to keep costs down. /s

That is literally what we've been doing in the UK for decades. It works!

So has Germany and any other wealthy nation. Locals don't want to work for poverty wages but there's a virtually unlimited number of desperate people worldwide willing to. That was my point.

High prices is acceptable reality. Unaffordable prices is when you get the problems. And there is quite a bit difference between those.