"Higher food prices will push consumers out of the fresh produce section into the freezer or canned food aisles to re-evaluate other options that can be just as nutritious, " says Lempert.

Assuming, as seems likely, that the authorities are deliberately blurring the facts, and the pair are to be kept behind bars, a fresh struggle will now begin, out of view.

Even tough collards, if fresh, can be chopped thin and pan-fried in a few minutes, as opposed to the traditional southern methods of boiling the hell out of these.