The effect of climate change on posh food
"It's almost like rationing. I always think, 'is there another way to use this ingredient more fully, when there's such a limited supply?' On the menu now is an ice-cream made with banana peel." Lennox Hastie
There was an article in this weekends Australian Financial Review on how the drought was affecting fine dining, because of either the complete unavailability or the huge cost of seasonal ingredients. Examples given were of a box of eggplants previously costing $15.00, and now costing $45.00 and a box of peas $60.00 and now double that.
Obviously this would be pretty disastrous to your bottom line. What to do? Apparently not put up your prices, which I can see would be a bad thing, considering how much such places cost anyway.
Strategies quoted included swapping to native foods such as Warrigal greens, wild goat and kangaroo, and making use of every part of ingredients - as in the banana peel ice-cream quoted above. (I could not find a picture of this). But then I am not an Instagram user.
The climate changes quoted included the drought which is very evident here in Victoria and elsewhere as well of course. This results in either high prices, low quality or no product at all. Too much rain it seems is just as bad - and we have had a lot of that too in Australia in the north. Oyster beds are being wiped out by too much fresh water washing into the sea and the damage to farms has been immense.
I'm guessing that fine dining restaurants are possibly not able to adapt to such changes as quickly as more 'ordinary' restaurants. Those complicated dishes they serve take them ages to develop. People like Heston Blumenthal have labs where they experiment, and I have no doubt that most of the fine dining chefs do much the same. I guess it's all very competitive and you have to try and keep ahead of the rest in the fight to be the best restaurant in the world. And I bet that's what they are all trying to do. Or at least get into the best of lists on sites such as Trip Advisor or Zomato, not to mention Michelin stars.
Here are three such dishes, and actually, looking at them, I am wondering how much of each ingredient is needed anyway. Some of the bits are so tiny or merely decorative.
They always go on about the importance of using seasonal, regional, even local produce and food that is organic or raised with love. Now that the seasons are "completely out of whack", as Ross Lusted, another of the chefs quoted, says, they are finding it hard to adapt. To be fair to them, and to slightly go against what I was saying earlier about the time taken to develop a dish, most of the fine diners, do indeed try to be seasonal in that they may change their menu with each season - i.e. every three months. I know our local fine diner, Mercer's does for example. But even so probably most of them have at least one 'signature' dish that their regular customers demand remains on the menu. We were told at Mercer's, for example that they always have to have their 'Malaysian dancing prawns with candied walnuts, chili glaze and fried eggplant salad', on the menu whatever the season. So where do they get the eggplant from when it's not in season? And I have to say that it shows a complete lack of adventure on the part of their well-heeled regular customers that such dishes have to remain on the menu.
I guess it's different if you are a restaurant showcasing a particular national cuisine or type of cuisine. Then maybe you have to stick to a few tried and true favourites, although most of these kinds of restaurants do tend to have specials which change on a regular basis - a plat du jour, even if it's not necessarily of the day.
I wonder if the more ordinary restaurants are feeling the pinch too. I have noticed that generally speaking fresh food prices are currently higher than they usually are. But there is always something at a 'special' price, whether in the supermarket, where the supermarket is able to regulate the price somewhat, or in the market which is more vulnerable to the prices the producers charge.
As a home cook one is able to take advantage of what is currently cheap and available even without resorting to imported food - and I do very definitely avoid imported fresh food. I might buy imported stuff in tins, but never fish, meat, fruit or vegetables. Why would I need to after all? And surely smaller restaurants can do the same. There used to be restaurants in France that just cooked according to the day - what was available, what they felt like cooking. And hotels in particular should be able to do this too I would think if they want their guests to dine with them every day.
I do feel for restaurateurs, and also for the farmers who are very definitely struggling to adapt to climate change. For I am sure that climate change is at least partially responsible for their current difficulties. Not that Australia has ever been an easy continent to farm. I feel less for the fine diners, though I sort of understand that their product is more of an art form, an experiment, an adventure, than 'ordinary' food, but I think they are just going to have to be more adaptable to circumstance and price if they want to stay in business.
As for the more ordinary restaurateurs - well they ought to be able to adapt to circumstance more readily. Personally I would be very bored cooking the same thing every day, so you wonder why more of them don't change their menus more regularly.
And maybe with all those high tech ways of farming on the horizon or already in production it should soon be possible to guarantee a more reliable supply anyway.
Or else we shall be eating hamburgers that cost a fortune!
