When the post-Covid reopening began, I wrote some articles encouraging us to pack those restaurants, bars and food houses that had suffered so much from the repercussions of the closure. This, then, was an urgent action in self-defense, since we need them both personally and for the health of our streets, neighborhoods and towns.
Well, since intelligence is the ability to adapt and considering the current circumstances... where I said I say, I say Diego. But before the guild sends someone to break my legs, let me explain myself. Because what I'm saying is that maybe now it's time to go a little less, but better.
The situation is this, a chain of circumstances that we have already discussed on other occasions has led us to the current period of inflation, with the consequent loss of purchasing power. As if the misfortune were not enough, the costs of the hotel industry have risen as much or more than ours. Namely; rent, energy, food…
Supplies are more expensive and most of us can spend less, but, with the pandemic lockdown still fresh in our minds, the data reveals that we continue to want to go out more. The result of the equation necessarily gives a lower budget per person to distribute among more drinks. I sincerely believe that going around there does not benefit anyone.
Eating the same thing for less and keeping restaurants viable is squaring the circle. And the solution of optimizing costs by offering equal quality is sometimes difficult, but other times impossible.
I mean that there are always alternatives, substituting for example dishes made with equally excellent, cheaper products. No matter how much the eggs have risen, a fetén omelette is still much more affordable than a bad sirloin.
But what cannot be and is also impossible, I repeat, is to buy the same at a lower price. The same eggs from well-raised hens and the same local extra virgin olive oil now cost more. And that is not the fault of the restaurateur, nor the farmer, nor the farmer.
The consequence, in many cases, can lead the consumer, consciously or not, to serial offers from establishments without personality that do not take into account values such as the origin of the ingredients or the quality of the service, thereby impoverishing the productive system. of proximity as the general prestige of the place, in addition to the gastronomic experience.
Because when we don't care about eating worse, we all lose, but the main victims are the body and spirit of those who don't care about the fat with which the bravas have been fried with the white label jar sauce on which it is based. your diet.
So can't we enjoy? On the contrary, that's what it's about, instead of daily bad bravas with free acidity dessert, five days of luxurious varied salads at home prepared in a jiffy and dressed with extra virgin olive oil for each memorable bravas - but not for subsequent digestion - in the place that deserves it. Less is more.
But at home we don't socialize, they will think. And socializing is vital. Indeed, let's go out every day, let's not lock ourselves up. Let's have a drink with friends at the bar, walk around and go to shows with them. If we work outside, let's look for the best cheap menu houses near work. Let us know how to value each appetizer, each tapa, each ice cream and each sandwich. However popular whatever we take, let us consider it, savor it and pay what it is worth. Let's take care of our tastes and our health by recognizing the work of the waiter, the cook, the fisherman or the cheese artisan.
What it is about now is to prevent the good ones from closing, also in self-defense, because the point is not to eat more, but better.
That's what gastronomy was about, right?
