Let shopping and eating local stay on menu after lockdown
The eating and consumer habits we’ve developed during the coronavirus crisis should be the new normal, says Rosalind Erskine
I’m waiting slightly impatiently for the food to be plated up and served. It’s a threecourse affair made up of ceviche, risotto and citrus posset. But I’m not in a high-end restaurant, I’m at my dining room table with my work laptop to my right and a makeshift gym to my left.
Food and variations on cooking and eating have been one of the main distractions at the centre of lockdown. From scrolling through splendid sourdoughs on Instagram to tweeting about cakes, many of us are finding comfort in cooking and balance in baking. It’s no real surprise that grocery sales of flour were up 92 per cent in the four weeks to 22 March compared to the same period last year.
It’s not just what we’re eating and making – how we are shopping has changed too. Since being advised to only head to the supermarket for essentials, many of us have sought to buy from what’s on our doorstep. I’ve been signed up to a local veg box delivery for 18 months now but have, in the past few weeks, been adding ever more from their online shop to my weekly order . I’m not the only one – data from the Food Foundation shows UK veg box sales have increased by 111 per cent in the six weeks between the end of February 2020 and mid-april 2020.
To help with demand and offer an alternative to supermarket deliveries, new online outlets for local producers have sprung up, such as Edinburgh’s Romaine Calm. Latest suppliers include Perthshire’s Great Glen Charcuterie and Bross Bagels. Not only is our spending supporting local businesses, it’s bringing quality, seasonal produce home – something lost amid the global variety on supermarket shelves.
For those less keen to cook, the past week has seen more and more businesses reopening. Edinburgh favourites such as Harajuka Kitchen, Leftfield and Honeycomb & Co are back, and even fine dining is available. Tasting menu king Nico Simeone is making his way into dining rooms in Edinburgh and Glasgow with his Home by Nico four-course delivery, Mother India is starting a pre-order service and Glasgow’s Ubiquitous Chip can bring their classics to your door.
Which brings me to my dinner, a restaurant quality affair easily taken out of its takeaway containers and cooked at home courtesy of Cail Bruich, an award-winning restaurant in Glasgow’s west end.
Wanting to offer support and a need to get back to some kind of normal appears to be what has prompted these reopenings, as Asif
Ali, general manager of the Mother India Group, explains: “We initially closed our establishments before social distancing guidelines were issued by the government, and have remained closed for two months, taking into account the health and safety of our customers and staff. Our decision to open up now was due to customer demand.”
Rachel Chisholm, co-owner of Edinburgh’s Leftfield, has reopened in response to similar demand. “People really miss bistros and restaurants. In our recent customer survey 75 per said they would come back to restaurants as soon as it was safe to do so and if they were assured all government regulations were being followed. In the meantime, as long as people want us and we can operate safely we will produce restaurant quality platters full of locally sourced goodies and sell organic, biodynamic wines for collection. It’s been so good to feel busy and hopeful again for the first time since that awful week before the official shutdown.”
While we navigate our way through this pandemic, finding a comfort and focus in food, let’s not lose sight of what’s on our doorstep post-covid. It’ll be tempting to rush back to big supermarkets for convenience, but I hope we don’t forget the small teams that delievered our weekly supplies and treats that made lockdown life that little bit more bearable.