The Food Crisis has been spreading across the globe for a while now and it's finally starting to get the press attention it deserves. This article from the NY Times describes the anger that is starting to grow along with the hunger. Here's an excerpt that describes how some people in Haiti have started to eat mud patties:

In Haiti, where three-quarters of the population earns less than $2 a day and one in five children is chronically malnourished, the one business booming amid all the gloom is the selling of patties made of mud, oil and sugar, typically consumed only by the most destitute.

“It’s salty and it has butter and you don’t know you’re eating dirt,” said Olwich Louis Jeune, 24, who has taken to eating them more often in recent months. “It makes your stomach quiet down.”

The Economist offers some attempt at a solution to the problem, although they are quite vague with their recommendations.  First, they say the rich countries should immediately finance the UN World Food Programme with the $700M it needs (easy and likely to happen).  Then, everyone should stop the state-subsidized market distortions in the world food markets (very difficult to implement and much less likely to happen).

I don't know what the answer is, but for those of you who can get into your SUV, surf the internet, get Chinese food delivered, watch premium cable channels, drink Dunkin Donuts coffee, eat a sandwich at Panera, get your shirts dry cleaned, go to sleep on a pillow-top mattress, watch a 40-inch LCD televisions hanging on the wall, check your blackberry, take direction from your navigation system, breeze through tolls with EZ-Pass, watch movies on-demand, work out in a healthclub, listen to an iPod, or enjoy beers with friends, this might be a good time to put things into perspective.