7 minute read
Rising to the challenge
Words: Madeline Woolway Photography: Basque Culinary Center
This year, an industry known for its vibrancy has come face to face with its biggest challenge — restaurants, cafes and bars across the world have had to close their doors. The global hospitality sector is diverse, with some challenges unique to specific venues and others felt by all. The widespread shutdown of societies has touched countries across the globe, and the culinary profession has been one of the hardest hit. But, if there’s a sector capable of adaptation, it’s the hospitality industry.
The dedication to morphing is apparent in the work of the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian, Spain. For the past decade, the institution has encouraged innovation in gastronomy, celebrating its ability to transform society. Even with the world in lockdown, the Center is pushing on with its mission. The institution brought together more than 1000 people to listen as previous winners, nominees and jury members of the Basque Culinary World Prize discussed their trials and tribulations along with their hopes for a post-pandemic world.
Hospitality stayed up late into the night to join the Basque Culinary Center’s Sasha Correa as she spoke to chefs over Zoom. Here, we share lessons learned.
10 internationally recognised chefs together for a virtual discussion. Over three hours, the live-streamed event tackled a pressing issue: the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on restaurants and the possibility of lasting change, not just for the industry but for society at large.
Joxe Mari Aizega, director of the Basque Culinary Center, led the discussion with a call to arms.
“Five years ago, we started walking down the path of the Basque Culinary World Prize,” he says. “There is no bigger challenge than the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the defining issue of our times, and with the culinary world disproportionately affected [compared to] many other sectors, it is right to seek nominees that reflect the active role chefs have as agents of social change.”
Basque-born chef Eneko Atxa of restaurant Azurmendi agreed, imploring those who work in the world of gastronomy to apply the talent they use in their restaurants to the challenge presented by novel coronavirus. “We can be part of the solution,” he says. “I understand gastronomy as a medicine, capable of strengthening our health, our spirit and our culture, but also our economy. That’s why we must take our knowledge and use it in this context to find solutions.”
It’s an attitude that was echoed throughout the talks, with each chef providing examples of the ethos in action.
In Brazil, chef and founder of non-profit Gastromotiva David Hertz pointed to an opportunity for change. Before the pandemic hit, the South American country was facing a twin crisis, with political and economic turbulence. “The people who are left behind in the favelas are more worried about losing their jobs than getting the virus,” says Hertz. “It’s impossible to lock down everyone in a favela … many restaurants are staying open to keep those families safe, which is an immense, enormous effort from the industry.”
Hertz founded Refettorio Gastromotiva in 2016 in collaboration with Massimo Bottura’s Food for Soul. The foundation doubles as a school for young talent who cook with what would otherwise become food waste. Meals are then distributed to those in need. In response to COVID-19, the initiative developed ‘solidarity kitchens’.
“We got an email from a student saying, ‘I lost my job, but I want to cook in the favela for the children that are not going to school’,” says Hertz. “So we are fundraising now to support our students to turn their houses … into solidarity kitchens. We give them food [and] we give them a salary, so they have support.”
In return, the students are using the skills learned in class to provide roughly 1200 meals per month to their communities.
Ghanaian chef Elijah Amoo Addo recounted a similar situation in his home country, where food scarcity meant a total lockdown was not practical. The national government chose an approach not unlike Australia's, with restaurants restricted to offering takeaway. While venues here have struggled to adapt to a delivery model, in Ghana, Addo says the technological hurdles of online ordering and delivery proved insurmountable for many. Within a week, much of the hospitality industry -- 40 per cent of the country's workforce -- were without jobs.
Ebru Baybara Demir
“Those who normally provide food, such as young waiters and cooks, have lost their jobs and have no economic support,” says Addo, who founded non-profit Food for All Africa. “Some cooks and chefs from restaurants that we used to take food from… now need food from Food for All. So we are working on giving them warm meals.”
The crisis has strengthened Addo’s conviction in his work as a chef, proving the importance of securing supply chains.
“What I learned from this experience is that it’s the result of inefficiencies within our food supply chain,” he says. “In Ghana, people are fighting COVID-19, but at the same time hunger is growing. For many people in my country, going hungry is worse than getting the virus. This is why the struggle is so hard.”
Elijah Amooo Addo
Concern about food supply chains was a common theme and one many chefs can help resolve. The pandemic has exacerbated social inequality and put further strain on global and local food supply chains already fractured by industrial agricultural practices and climate change. It has also revealed how vulnerable the restaurant industry is.
“This crisis exposes that there is no cushion, there is no safety net, there is no margin for error,” says Anthony Myint, San Francisco-based founder of Mission Chinese Food and environmental initiatives Zero Foodprint and Restore California.
Anthony Myint
Myint won the 2019 Basque Culinary World Prize for his work with Zero Foodprint, which partners with restaurants to reduce their environmental impact.
“One word I hear a lot of people say now, that I didn’t really hear as often before, is ‘resilience’,” says Myint. “Our individual businesses need to be resilient; our food system needs to be resilient.”
Through his projects, Myint is focused on challenging the industrial food system. “Our approach has been to focus on healthy soil and changing the system,” he says. “What healthy soil is creating is resilience in the face of climate change. We need to switch to that at scale so our food systems can be resilient because there will be future regional disasters as climate change worsens.”
Turkish chef Ebru Baybara Demir is at the nexus of both social and environmental issues. “Our global food supply chain structure has been challenged,” says Demir. “[The pandemic] has shown the importance of being sufficient as a country, of supporting all farmers and traditional farming, local systems and local production. It has shown us all that we need to create a sustainable ecosystem for sustainable food.”
Eneko Axta
The role of chefs, according to Demir, is not just to present perfectly plated dishes to customers during service — it’s also to work for the reliability, quality and sustainability of food. “Every chef should feel responsible for the safety of the food they serve their community,” she says.
The structural issues might seem difficult to overcome, but despite their warnings, each chef on the Basque Culinary Center’s roster delivered a message of hope.
“It’s a really unfortunate financial moment, but I think if we imagine what the industry will look like one year from now, it might not be as negative,” says Myint. “Chefs are always leaders, whether it’s of their own businesses, a community or a system. One silver lining to this moment is that there’s a little bit of time to figure out what is really important and why you are in this industry.”
Addo believes the work of chefs resonates far beyond the kitchen. “We help people to express love to their families through our food,” he says. “We are so concerned with feeding those who can pay for our food. We are so concentrated on making money. I believe it is about time serving society becomes one of our guiding principles.”
It’s a clear message and one that’s clearly reverberating throughout Australia’s hospitality industry — let’s hope it’s one that lasts beyond the pandemic.
