Food and Country - Surviving during Covid-19

 FOOD and COUNTRY

Directed by Laura Gabbert Producers: Laura Gabbert, Ruth Reichl, Paula P. Manzanedo, Caroline Libresco

Run Time: 99 min.

International Premiere at Hot Docs - May 28, 2023

Just as the Covid-19 pandemic started to shut down the world in March 2020, director Laura Gabbert and famed Food Writer Ruth Reichl got together to tell the stories of the Restaurants that were forced to shut down.

You don't know how important things you have are until they are gone.  

The shut down of the Restaurants had a ripple effect like we have never seen before.   It wasn't just about the fact that you couldn't go to restaurants anymore, it was about the workers who worked in those restaurants that weren't getting paid and how they were going to continue to support themselves.  Then there were the farmers who were not able to sell their products to the restaurant industry to support their farms and families.  The whole supply chain started to crash down like a jenga puzzle.

The new word became PIVOT if the industry was going to get through this pandemic.  Reichl and Gabbert tell the stories of the people that had to think outside the box to survive the changing times.

Reichl speaks to many restauranteurs such as Marcus Samuelsson, celebrity chef and owner of Red Rooster and other restaurants about the loss of his businesses and what he had to do to survive.

Also profiled in the film is Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, Waters pioneered the Farm to table and was acutely aware of the effects on the farm community.

Other restauranteurs featured included,  Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas of Alinea, Reem Assil of Reem's, Brandon Jew of Mr. Jiu's, Minh Phan of Porridge + Puffs.

Farmers featured included: 

• Will Harris White Oak Pastures
• Bob and Lee Jones Chef’s Garden
• Angela Knuth Knuth Farms
• Bren Smith Greenwave
• Steve Stratford Stratford Angus
• Karen Washington Rise and Root Farms  

It's important to hear their stories because without them the rest of the world would not be able to have food and survive the Global shutdown.

Farmers had to change the way they were farming and restauranteurs had to work through take-out and delivery and create grocery packages for their staff and community.  

They all did whatever it took to support and feed people so that everyone could make it through the storm.

This is an important story that everyone should see to know what the impact was on these strong people who wanted to save their communities.

I have a lot of respect for food producers because it's not an easy job.  Long hours and little pay and most of the time people take it for granted that they will be there to do the work for us.

Part of the film was told through Zoom calls due to the travel and other restrictions so it's a very intimate peek as if you are listening in on a call with a friend.  It's a look into the sustainability of food production and the food industry as a whole.

Please see this film, it's filled with empathy, grit and hope which is what the World really needs.

Restaurants Canada Show 2023 Trends

 I keep apologizing for not writing as often as I used to but I have cut way back on events and outings since the pandemic started, but one event I can't miss when it happens is the Restaurants Canada Show #RCShow. It was held at the Enercare Centre in Toronto from April 10-12, 2023. 

 It is at the top of my list of trade shows I love to attend.  It's a Food Industry Professionals version of heaven in one place.  It's like a wedding show for food professionals.  Everything you need in one place.

I love going because it's well organized and always has the information of where things are going in the industry.  Plus I get to hang out with my friends wandering around sampling food and drink and running into people we know so that's always a plus.

This year I ate less and took home a bit less swag than usual but that was ok.  I felt good when I left,  not over stuffed and overloaded and exhausted the way I usually leave.   It's a bit of a marathon doing the whole show.  Me and my friends normally only have 1 day out of 3 to do the show so we try and cover as much as we can in one day.   It's impossible to sample everything and I always miss things when we dart back and forth through different aisles but I try and see as much as I can.

This year I took the TTC there so I wandered around for about 45 min before meeting up with my friend.  I got a bit slowed down because she was networking.  I usually try and plow through and see everything and taste things that look interesting.  So I know I missed a lot of food samples this year.

What I did notice was clearly dominating the Show this year was technology of all kinds.  It felt like the show increased the number of aisles with technology over new food trends.  The whole middle section of the show was filled with all sorts of technology.  There were moving robots all over the place.  I am starting to see them at restaurants now.

There was a lot of POS tablet type of technology for ordering food.   That's not so new but it is becoming the way of doing things.  The other new trend is sustainability.  There were all kinds of new applications for ordering,  for dealing with packaging with reusable containers that are tracked with an app.

Straws of all kinds were everywhere.  Lot's of different packaging.   Packaging is one of my pet peeves.  Why can't every product be packaged with the least amount of packaging and the most sustainable resources.   Vegetables don't have to all be wrapped in plastic at the grocery stores and have you shopped at Costco and seen the ridiculous amount of excess packaging.  

Once of the other tech demos we checked out was an industrial oven that steams and is also convection.  It pretty much does all the work.  You just push a preset button for what you want to cook and then walk away until it beeps.  A plus for small kitchens that have to multitask.  A lot of big companies and institutions are using these ovens from Hendrix.

I didn't try any new food.   There was one pickled dish that was compressed.  I had shrimp and dumplings from Mr. Jon Dim Sum a friend Mary.  It was delicious.

I also enjoyed the Mushroom Risotto from Spatula,  founded during the pandemic by the 6ix pack Chef Wallace Wong and others with the concept of everything prepared by Chefs in one frozen package that you just heat in a pan and mix with at Spatula that they give you with the first order.  I don't even like mushrooms but the risotto was delicious.  I have been wanting to try their food for a while because it's a great concept for people that are busy and don't have time to shop and prep food.

The first thing I ate in the morning after running into my friend Matt Dean Pettit in the Pop Up area that he and his team curated and ran was the Cheese biscuit that he said was from Blackbird bakery.  He suggested the Powerplant coffee but I went with some tea so I could get through the show with less pit stops.

I had a delicious Cubano sandwich,  some fresh out of the oven pizza, fried pepperoni, Waygu beef, Kanafi, gnocchi, a popsicle, spoonful of gelato and a Strawberry point oyster.

Me and Mary met up with Natalie and her friend at the Seedlip booth.  So we basically took over their cozy and very comfortable little lounge area.  I really want that seating for my balcony now.  Seedlip is a non alcoholic spirit but it's one of my favourites because the flavours are spicy and citrus.  I had the citrus one with the slice of dried orange as garnish.  It is so refreshing.  I think we sat in that area for about an hour.  We wanted more resting places like that at the show because it's exhausting.  I walked 15,000 steps that day and that's a lot for me since i spend most of my day in front of a computer.

There was a lot of non-alcoholic spirits, beers and wines.  Sustainable options and anything you could think of to drink.   I also had to stop to get my other favourite Pluck Tea with the butterfly pea and lemon juice iced tea.  

One interesting thing I picked up was dehydrated orange, lime and pineapple that you can put in cocktails.  I also grabbed a lime powder and interested to trying that on something like mango salad or even with shrimps or avocado.

Now back to the technology.  I have been thinking about our fast advancing technology and I am very split on how I feel about it all.

On the PLUS SIDE:

• On the one hand some of the technology will help businesses complete tasks that they struggle to find human resources for.   
• It will reduce repetitive strain injuries and workplace accidents and time lost for health reasons.
• It will help businesses doing thing faster and more consistent.
• Jobs that are high risk to humans can be done by a robot.

On the NEGATIVE SIDE:

• We will lose a lot of human connection.
• Jobs with no experience will be lost
• There may be a barrier to unskilled workers
• It may be difficult for newcomers to get work.
• Most jobs will require a lot of technical advanced training to get the job.
• Less job opportunities because many jobs will be replaced by technology.
• What happens when the technology fails or is hacked by criminal activity?

I tried Chat GPT yesterday to see if it could write a Biography.  I kept regenerating and got a half a dozen different versions and there was a lot of made up information that wasn't true.   So it's not at the point where it's perfect and there isn't a need to fact check and re check details.

There is also the issue of who owns the intellectual copyright?  When you post a photo from someone else and put copy from someone else and add music from multiple artists who gets paid and who gets the credit?

I think we need some boundaries on some of these technologies and maybe a some regulations as well.

We all know people that have been scammed over the phone or email etc.  How will you know what's real and what's fake in the future?

Something to think about the next time you see advertising and check out a website or business.

For more info about the show: https://www.restaurantscanada.org/