A Buckeye in Bethel: Bethel Lesson 2: Tang is a food group.

Yes, you read correctly. That violently orange drink mix made famous by the monkey commercials is quite the commodity here in Bethel. According to the container, it provides 100% of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C and is also “a good source of Calcium”. And with the absolutely ridiculous prices of food here, we’ll pretty much take our vitamins any way we can get them.

Scurvy is a genuine fear here ladies and gents, and we volunteers take the threat seriously. Thus, we’re beginning to think of ways we can mix the Tang-powder into our every day cooking. Ideas so far include “Tang-seasoned salmon”, “Tang-flavored cookies” and “Chicken a la Tang”- if we ever get our hands on some chicken. Actually, the majority of our creative genius requires ingredients well out of the price range, so for now it’ll be rice, beans and some Tang. It’s a kick in a glass.

$68.15 for a turkey...

Looks like Bethel will be the place for me to kick that diet coke addiction...

To be fair, we do eat more than just rice and beans. My housemate Lou has recently made a delicious lentil soup with some of the veggies her parents sent the house and my other housemate Nora is a wiz at baking bread (we’ve found it’s way more cost effective to make our own). The Bethel Community Center participates in a program called “Full-Circle” that brings in produce from Washington to families who pay for a weekly box. The boxes are way to pricey for us to purchase our own, but if someone doesn’t pick theirs up by the weekend, the JVs are lucky enough to have it passed along to our house. Each box is a little different so it’s like Christmas each time we get a new one! The house has also caught and filleted 28 salmon that we’ve frozen for the winter. That adventure will be another Bethel Lesson at some point.