For those of us who have agonized over what the pandemic has done to the country, last week was pretty dismal. I had a different story all set for this week, and then my friend Susan Kelley said she’d be interested in hearing what I thought about the future of restaurants. I agonize over that, too, so here goes.
We’re Entering The Hunger Winter
If you’re a history buff, at some point you find yourself reading up on and watching documentaries about World War II. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve been mentally comparing the food world’s struggle to what people went through during the war.
Americans often don’t realize that Canadians and the British were mired in the war for more than two years before we got in. Or, that Asia was rife with conflicts that pre-dated the attack on Pearl Harbor, and that the ramifications of the war continued for years after.
We think everything began on Dec. 7, 1941, and ended with Japan’s surrender.
That wasn’t true, nor is it true that COVID-19 only started when someone here got sick. Countries all over the world were wrestling with what to do well before Michigan instituted its stay-home order the second week of March. New York State was later than we were, and some states never even put restrictions in place.
I was upset this past week when Bob Woodward’s excuse for not releasing his tape of Donald Trump was that “nobody knew anything about” COVID on Feb. 7. Lots of people knew about it. There were travel limits. If you listen to the BBC on NPR, there were reports every day about Asia.
When it became clear that the pandemic was spreading here, I knew two things: this would not be over quickly. But, it was temporary.
The WWII analogy kept going through my head — and not the three-year, victorious American version. The lengthy, Canadian and British version, and what happened to our friends in Greece, the Middle East and Asia after the war ended.
I began looking for comparisons to where we are now, and that led me to read about the Hunger Winter. We very well could be entering it right now, for food producers, restaurants and for us customers.
Let me explain.
How Holland Suffered
The Hunger Winter took place in 1944-45, centered in The Netherlands. By this point, Rome was liberated, and the Normandy invasion had taken place. Britain had survived the Blitz, but the Baby Blitz in 1944 caused devastation, a reminder that the Germans were not going to give up without a fight.
In the fall of 1944, the southern part of Holland had largely been liberated. The northern part was not, and that was some of the most valuable agriculture land in Western Europe.
The Dutch government in exile appealed to agricultural workers to go on strike, thinking that might drive out the occupiers. The workers did. The Nazis retaliated by cutting off food and supplies to the entire country.
More than 20,000 people in Holland died of starvation, and the supply lines were not eased until the end of the European war in May 1945. For decades after, people in the Netherlands suffered from illnesses related to the Hunger Winter, Audrey Hepburn among them.
While the Hunger Winter was going on, the Dutch knew that the allies were working to end the war. They weren’t forgotten. But they also were stranded, waiting.
A stranded industry
I feel like that’s what people in the food world are facing with COVID-19.
We know that there is work underway on a vaccine — the kind of invasion that medicine needs in order to defeat the virus.
We know that with all the efforts taking place globally, that it’s only a matter of time before a vaccine is ready.
We know that sensible people are doing what they can do to fight the spread of COVID-19 — masks, hand washing, social distancing.
We know that restaurants and bakeries and groceries have implemented many measures, and are using plastic and paper menus and wrapping items individually to maintain sanitary conditions.
We know that cities everywhere have blocked off streets and given over parking spaces and set up terraces so people can dine outside.
But there’s still so much that isn’t in the industry’s control, and we are living through it every day.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says Americans will have to hunker down this fall and winter, and so will the food world.
Dining outside — until we can’t
Last Thursday, I met Susan in Brighton, Mich., for lunch at The Wooden Spoon.
Susan lives in Okemos, next to East Lansing, and I live in Ann Arbor, so Brighton is a perfect half-way spot. Before COVID, we got together every couple of months for lunch to get caught up on each others’ lives.
Susan is the creator of the very popular royal fashion site, What Kate Wore, so there’s always some discussion of the Queen and William and Kate and the little Cambridges.
This time, Susan wanted to dine outside, and I did, too. We both help look after elderly people, and we both feel that it’s safer to eat en plein air than to sit inside a restaurant.
We were one of only two outdoor tables, although there were people dining in. All the staff wore masks or face shields. We sat socially distanced. It was a not a warm day, and one of us might have otherwise suggested we sit inside, but that wasn’t an option for either of us.
We were waited on by a manager, who told us that the restaurant had closed for about five weeks during shutdown, re-opened for carry out, and had been serving guests again since June.
They’ve done a nice job with their patio, and it’s easy to envision people dining and drinking outside as long as the weather stays decent.
But, then what? Heaters only work on days with decent weather. It’s going to rain and snow and be generally nasty, at least up north.
That’s the big question that food places everywhere face.
The CDC report on indoor dining has to make restaurant people nervous. Basically, it says that complete safety is not possible inside a restaurant, regardless of all the steps that it might take.
"Direction, ventilation, and intensity of airflow might affect virus transmission, even if social distancing measures and mask use are implemented according to current guidance,” the authors wrote.
In other words, just as restaurant life is getting ready to move inside, the CDC is warning that inside might not be safe.
Dining inside a restaurant is going to be a conscious choice. Some people won’t think twice; others won’t leave the house.
Very shortly, if they haven’t already, restaurants will find out which category their clientele falls into.
Five suggestions
I know that smart restaurant owners are already facing the fact that this is going to be a tough, tough winter.
I’m sure they are thinking now about how they are going to shift their focus from indoors to other ways they can reach their customers and hang onto their business until a vaccine is widely available.
Even with everything they’ve done, I have five ideas for improvements, which I wrote about in this story at Forbes.
They fall into these categories: packaging, editing the menu, communicating with customers, straight talk about tipping, and special deals.
I want the restaurant industry to get through this upcoming Hunger Winter and come out in some kind of recognizable shape. I wouldn’t count on this Congress or administration to send tens of billions of dollars in aid before the election. That may have to wait for 2021.
I really think survival is going to depend on ingenuity.
It will be months before this is over, and post-COVID normal may never look like 2019. But, like the Dutch in WW2, you’re not forgotten.
We may not want to come in the door, but we’ll come to the door, or ask you to come to ours.
CulinaryWoman Of The Week: The Travel Godmother Who Named Us
As people hear about the newsletter, they’ve said to me, “CulinaryWoman is such a great name! Where did you get the idea?”
Meet the woman who came up with it. Evelyn Hannon, who died in May 2019, was an Internet pioneer who founded JourneyWoman, the site that offers advice to women who travel.
She began blogging in 1994, and was one of the first people to recognize the power of a Web community. Remember, this was a time before many people had internet at home, and some were just getting personal email addresses.
A friend introduced me to Evelyn’s monthly newsletter, and I interviewed her for a couple of New York Times stories. We finally met in Toronto, and became fast friends. You can read more about that in this Medium piece.
I confided my love of food writing to Evelyn, and she suggested that I contribute some stories to JourneyWoman. “We can call you CulinaryWoman,” she joked.
As food writing became more a focus and less a hobby, I asked Evelyn if she would mind if I officially took on the name. She gave me her blessing — and even dubbed me an honorary Canadian.
Every time I type the CulinaryWoman name, I think of her, and all the inspiration and information she gave to her readers. It’s an honor to follow in Evelyn’s footsteps, and dub her an honorary CulinaryWoman of the Week.
PS: JourneyWoman is prospering under the guidance of Carolyn Ray, and you should definitely subscribe to the newsletter and follow its accounts on social media.
A Cookbook From A Familiar Baking Face
Benjamina Ebuehi
If you watch the Great British Bake Off, on PBS or Netflix, you will remember Benjamina Ebuehi. While she didn’t win the title in 2016, Benjamina did some beautiful work with her baked goods. And now, she’s out with a cookbook that focuses solely on cake.
The New Way To Cake is a little different than other cake cookbooks, however. Benjamina’s recipes have a real focus on interesting flavor, whether spices or nuts or herbs. And they go beyond traditional cookbooks, mainly because Benjamina comes from a different type of background than many culinary graduates.
A native of South London, she has an economics degree from the University of Leicester. She is a freelance writer and food stylist who is also working to help disadvantaged women, through baking.
In this book, you’ll find recipes like Plum & Black Pepper Cake, Masala-Chai Carrot Cake and Caramelized Plantain Upside-Down Cake. I’ve read through them and they don’t look complicated, and they definitely look interesting.
The link is to Bookshop, which distributes orders among local bookshops. Or, get it from your favorite place to buy books.
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You can get in touch with me at mamayn@aol.com. Stay healthy, wear a mask, and see you next Sunday.