Newfoundland has a hard bread shortage, but why do they eat it?(www.cbc.ca)
32 pointsby empressplay3 days ago6 comments
  • 555562435 minutes ago
    Why not just make it yourself? It's just flour, water, and salt. It's far easier than yeast-based breads and easier than most quick breads, too. Two ingredient (self-rising flour and heavy cream) biscuits are about the only thing that's easier.
    • samirillian15 minutes ago
      > Proper hard bread couldn’t be home baked.
  • rob74an hour ago
    The article gives an interesting overview of the history of hard bread, but doesn't mention how Newfoundlanders eat it today. In a fish soup? With tea? Pure? Or all of the above?
  • bregmaan hour ago
    Without fish and brewis Newfoundland is just... a big rock.
  • lurk227 minutes ago
    This has nothing to do with this board's subject matter.
  • Simulacra2 hours ago
    Wow, this is actually interesting, I had not heard of people eating hard attack since the American Civil War. But looking at a map, it doesn't look that difficult to get to, so I'm curious why not just fly it in?
    • chocochunks2 hours ago
      Because no one else really eats it or makes it. AFAIK that Purity factory is the only one in Canada making it and outside of Newfoundland it's hard to find on a normal day even in the rest of Atlantic Canada. And when you do, it's the Purity version shipped over. It's very much a Newfoundland food.
  • charcircuit2 hours ago
    >Grocery stores across Newfoundland and Labrador have been struggling to keep hard bread in stock since a fire at the Purity factory in March put a crimp in the company’s baking operations.

    Is it really that hard to raise the price to keep it in stock?

    • inigyouan hour ago
      How does that solve the problem?

      I love how in economics, a shortage can be solved by increasing the price instead of by increasing the quantity. It really makes you understand that the field of economics uses stupid definitions of words.

      • charcircuit41 minutes ago
        If you are trying to slow down sales to the point that you are able to consistently replenish stock before the last batch sells out, raising the price will reduce the volume of hard bread being sold. At some point the volume should be low enough that it stops going out of stock.
        • wvbdmp37 minutes ago
          Just “having hard tack in stock” isn’t the objective to solve for, though.

          I’m actually skeptical this shortage affects people too badly, since the stuff lasts forever. Probably enthusiasts have enough in their pantries to last them through a temporary factory downtime?

        • inigyou32 minutes ago
          Well if the goal is to avoid you out of stock, just keep one more packet in the back room and never sell it.

          That clearly isn't the goal.

    • pjc50an hour ago
      You know what's really oversupplied in this subthread? One sentence contrarianism.

      (not that I haven't done it myself occasionally, but guys you really are not helping anyone here including yourselves)

    • close042 hours ago
      Raising the price doesn't increase the supply, it just selects who can access it. Most of the people will still not get it, just for a different reason.
      • mhluongo2 hours ago
        A higher margin increases the incentive for people to make more, though.
        • wvbdmp40 minutes ago
          Probably not, right? Demand is already there. The factory is already incentivized, it’s just damaged and needed time to get back to full capacity. A contender isn’t just going to spring up because prices are temporarily high.

          Even if you already had a factory that could easily be converted to this product, you’d have to factor in the switching cost, opportunity cost, shipping, marketing and regulatory stuff. This likely offsets the consumer’s willingness to pay extra during the shortage, and as soon as the original factory is back, they’re going to price you back out. They’re already operational, as per the article.

        • rcxdude37 minutes ago
          In the longer run, maybe, but if the factory is already working to rebuild then arguably that incentive is already met and it's more just the time it takes to get capacity back up, which is not as flexible with spending money on it as people would like.
        • inigyouan hour ago
          Would you make a hard bread factory if the price was higher? How high?
      • card_zero2 hours ago
        That implies that everything with a price is always out of stock.
        • bluecheese4522 hours ago
          It implies no such thing.
          • card_zero2 hours ago
            The presence of a price "selects who can access it", hence there's not enough stock to give it away for free. (Sometimes deliberately.)
            • wvbdmp39 minutes ago
              There’s plenty of stuff you couldn’t get rid of if you gave it away for free. You seem to be ignoring demand.
            • watwutan hour ago
              Wut? That makes no sense.
        • an hour ago
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        • squigz2 hours ago
          No, it implies that everything with a price and a supply issue will likely still face that supply issue even with a higher price.
          • card_zero2 hours ago
            Everything with a price has a supply issue.
            • squigz2 hours ago
              No, it doesn't.
              • card_zero2 hours ago
                Oh, OK.
                • squigz2 hours ago
                  I'm really glad we sorted this out.
      • charcircuit40 minutes ago
        It doesn't increase supply, but it slows down how fast the supply sells out. This allows there to always be supply available for purchase.