That's EXACTLY what I'm saying for basic commodities. Just go to your basic demand charts. You will get mnor variation - say for wheat. Why? Because there is a basic component of feed in much of the world where there can be switching - but it is minor. Daryll Ray has covered this subjec tn depth and you can go to his site and look in the archives.
Duriunng the Asian crisis the exporters told us the countries in SE Asia involved were buying less grain commodities because of the sudden poor exchange rates and grain prices plunged. They were lying. The record speaks for itself. Egypt during the last wheat crisis continued to import at normal rates. It's the way it works. China will too. Though they have reserves to tap if it REALLY gets bad. But consumption WILL continue.
You may have the luxury of eating steak at home rather than going out to eat, but that is a service related charge.
This is basic grain market principle. The complicating issue now is ethanol as an industrial/political product. You CAN classify ethanol as a widget and use industrial economic models to some degree (though politics screws it all up). Food is not a widget and will not follow an industrial economic model for consumption. Never has. Never will.
