> Josh Saltzman, owner of the DC sports bar Ivy and Coney. Ten years ago, Saltzman charged $3 for fries; now it's $6 – and Saltzman's margins have declined. Saltzman has a limited number of suppliers, and they all get their potatoes from Big Potato, and they bundle those potato orders with their other supplies, making it effectively impossible for Saltzman to buy his potatoes from anyone else.
I understand there will be a demand for French fries from consumers, but you don’t have to serve them. This is something I appreciate about Greek cuisine. There are so many wonderful foods spawned from input constraints. Sugar was a luxury in Greece during the 20th century while honey was more readily available, so you see many desserts sweetened with honey. The Lenten and nativity fast call for essentially a vegan diet, so there are numerous recipes that don’t require animal products and are cheap to make. Eggs and lemons were readily available, so they created avgolemono soup, which is a modest, yet delicious dish.
The overall American cuisine seems unwilling to adapt. The tricky bit is, that’s probably correct from a business standpoint. I’ve heard, “If we don’t sell hamburgers at airport restaurants, they’ll fail.” from a consultant in the airport terminal industry. It’s as if we’ve grown to expect seasonal fruit and vegetables year round as a mindset for our cuisine. Surely, there’s room to be more flexible with what we eat, which would allow business owners to serve food based on what’s readily available and cheaper for them to serve.
Now if absolutely every type of food is experiencing price gouging, that’s hard to get around. But I think there’s some middle ground, which requires serving different food items.
I understand there will be a demand for French fries from consumers, but you don’t have to serve them. This is something I appreciate about Greek cuisine. There are so many wonderful foods spawned from input constraints. Sugar was a luxury in Greece during the 20th century while honey was more readily available, so you see many desserts sweetened with honey. The Lenten and nativity fast call for essentially a vegan diet, so there are numerous recipes that don’t require animal products and are cheap to make. Eggs and lemons were readily available, so they created avgolemono soup, which is a modest, yet delicious dish.
The overall American cuisine seems unwilling to adapt. The tricky bit is, that’s probably correct from a business standpoint. I’ve heard, “If we don’t sell hamburgers at airport restaurants, they’ll fail.” from a consultant in the airport terminal industry. It’s as if we’ve grown to expect seasonal fruit and vegetables year round as a mindset for our cuisine. Surely, there’s room to be more flexible with what we eat, which would allow business owners to serve food based on what’s readily available and cheaper for them to serve.
Now if absolutely every type of food is experiencing price gouging, that’s hard to get around. But I think there’s some middle ground, which requires serving different food items.