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Crunchiness

Paul
2008-10-20 23:58:00 UTC

The credit crunch is everywhere these days. You can’t open a newspaper without being beset by “Ten ways to maintain your beauty regime using only household chemicals” or “Holiday destinations for the destitute”. Myself, I’ve got no money so I’ve got nothing to lose: the only effect the global financial crisis has had on me is that last week, when I went into the bank, the cashier called me “sir” and asked me if I’d like a candy. I asked if he could give me a better interest rate instead of wasting money on sweets, then I took the proffered Werther’s Original and completed the transaction in the resultant stony silence.

Only now the financial crisis has reached the food press as well. The demigodlike A A Gill devotes two thirds of his column to advice for restauranteurs during a global downturn. The Observer‘s Food Monthly supplement devotes five pages to the mystery of egg price rises. The Times has a two-page article on how overpriced organic food is doomed, or maybe it isn’t. No one seems to really know one way or the other.

On the one hand, it’s probably time for all of us to cut out the expensive dinners and the overpriced panini. On the other hand, we still have to eat two or three times a day, and one of the best ways to feel better during a depression—economic or mental—is a nice steak pie or a hearty stew. So maybe the quality of the food is going to become more important than the price.

What does everyone else think? Is it back to leftovers and lobscouse for us all, or will trendy eateries become even more of a status symbol than they already are?

Comments

Sandra Stewart \| 2008-10-21 00:36:34 UTC Hey Paul, I would love to know how to make a steak pie – since I’m an American and we know nothing of these meat pies that you Brits seem to like so well. I can, however, make a mean chicken and dumplings. I think that foodies will be staying home and learning how to cook foods from the absolute scratch – culling the wild yeast for sourdough bread. I think also a resurgence in home gardening will lead to foodies growing their own arugula in window boxes, etc… And what the heck is a lobscouse???
Louise \| 2008-10-21 08:11:56 UTC I’ve a friend who only really buys food from her local produce place – she says she’s seen no discernible change in prices (or at least she said so a few months back) and she wondered if the whole thing was a supermarket prices rise effect.
\| 2008-10-21 12:28:19 UTC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobscouse
Hugh \| 2008-10-21 16:47:08 UTC I’ve seen price rises at the Farmer’s Market recently, apparently as a knock-on effect of feed prices. Maybe 10 – 15%?
pajh \| 2008-10-21 17:26:00 UTC @Sandra: I’ve never understood the American obsession with only having sweet pies. Sweet pies are awesome, of course, but they’re not the only thing you can cover in pastry. Give it a go. Subvert the dominant paradigm. Get meat and vegetables (if you like) in some gravy or sauce, and put them into a pie. It’s that easy. Lobscouse, from which the word `scouse’ to describe Liverpudlians is derived, consists of whatever is left over from last night’s lobscouse plus an extra potato.

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Sandra Stewart \| 2008-10-21 00:36:34 UTC Hey Paul, I would love to know how to make a steak pie – since I’m an American and we know nothing of these meat pies that you Brits seem to like so well. I can, however, make a mean chicken and dumplings. I think that foodies will be staying home and learning how to cook foods from the absolute scratch – culling the wild yeast for sourdough bread. I think also a resurgence in home gardening will lead to foodies growing their own arugula in window boxes, etc… And what the heck is a lobscouse???
Louise \| 2008-10-21 08:11:56 UTC I’ve a friend who only really buys food from her local produce place – she says she’s seen no discernible change in prices (or at least she said so a few months back) and she wondered if the whole thing was a supermarket prices rise effect.
\| 2008-10-21 12:28:19 UTC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobscouse
Hugh \| 2008-10-21 16:47:08 UTC I’ve seen price rises at the Farmer’s Market recently, apparently as a knock-on effect of feed prices. Maybe 10 – 15%?
pajh \| 2008-10-21 17:26:00 UTC @Sandra: I’ve never understood the American obsession with only having sweet pies. Sweet pies are awesome, of course, but they’re not the only thing you can cover in pastry. Give it a go. Subvert the dominant paradigm. Get meat and vegetables (if you like) in some gravy or sauce, and put them into a pie. It’s that easy. Lobscouse, from which the word `scouse’ to describe Liverpudlians is derived, consists of whatever is left over from last night’s lobscouse plus an extra potato.