What do we lose when we lose our favorite ingredient?
What do we lose when we lose our favorite ingredient?
Our relationship with food can be fleeting in the age of climate change.
We all have favorites.
A favorite movie. A favorite album. A favorite outfit.
These things are permanent in a way. The way you experience them might change depending on the context, the record might warp or you might get a hole in the jeans, but they are fairly fixed. They only really morph with wear and time.
Food is different. It’s kind of like live music.
The same way I remember seeing Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl in May 2018, I remember eating at Husk in March 2016. Or the lobster mushrooms I got from a vendor at the Venice Farmers Market in 2018. You have to remind yourself to remember that moment often because you can never replicate it in the same way you can re-listen to an album.
Sure, I can try to make Husk’s cornbread. I can even use the recipe that Chef Sean Brock used, but it won’t ever be exactly the same.
Paul Simon might have strummed a guitar chord a little different that night. And Chef might have been a bit heavy handed with the salt. Or the cornmeal I get might not be as coarse. The ingredients that we use are never static.
But what if some of our favorite ingredients don’t just change but disappear?
Enter (and exit?) Risotto
My great shame is that I’m not a very good cook. I am easily frazzled in the kitchen. What should be a simple meal for my wife and I often turns into a catastrophic mess.
However, I have learned to cook a passable risotto.
Maybe I was inspired by all of the years of watching chef-testants attempt and fail at making risotto on Top Chef. I think I thought that if I was going to learn to cook anything, I should make it worthwhile. It is also a laborious dish that rewards effort and attention rather than unique skill or creativity.
I became so confident in my risotto the last couple of years that I branched out from Bon Appetit’s ‘Best Risotto’ recipe. Inspired by the Costardi Brothers, I began to experiment with some of their inventive takes on the classic Italian dish. And I got very specific about the rice I cooked with.
Likely fueled by climate change, a drought devastated the Po Valley in Italy’s arborio and carnaroli crops in 2022.
“Only carnaroli and other similar varieties have a varietal genetic trait that allows them to absorb seasoning, aroma and condiments and to create traditional risotto. It’s different from all other rice varieties in the world.” - Filip Haxhari, a researcher at Ente Nazionale Risi in The Guardian
It was the worst drought in 200 years and persisted into 2023.
“In this area, the problem has always been to keep the water away. It has never been the other way around.” - Alberto Lasagna, director of Confagricoltura Pavia, a local branch of the General Confederation of Italian Agriculture in The Guardian
The impact of the drought is that farmers are switching to more resistant crops like maize. And in the process, we might be witnessing the shift of entire food cultures and possibly the death - or at least evolution - of a dish like risotto.
And it’s not just a discussion on the fringes of the food system.
Chef Sam Kass, who led the White House kitchen when President Obama was in office, has hosted four-course meals built around endangered ingredients including at COP21 in 2015.
“The reality is this is starting to play out right now.” - Sam Kass
It begs the question - what happens when we lose our favorite ingredients?
Do the dishes they make evolve into something else? Do we switch to another ingredient? What does that mean for recipes passed down in families for generations? Or a star chef’s menu with a signature dish that would cause riots if it left the menu?
More importantly, what else will I cook if I can’t get my hands arborio or carnaroli?
Desert Menu
You may not partake, but at least take a look.
Who gets the gold medal for eating? - According to the organizers of the ongoing Paris Olympics, they are sourcing 80% of ingredients from within 250km (about 150 miles) of the Games and increasing the amount of plant-based ingredients. Organizers have a goal of making it the greenest Olympics ever.
Behind the Scenes of Omnivore - Legendary food thought leader Mark Bittman had Chef Rene Redzepi and Executive Producer and Roads & Kingdom’s founder Matt Goulding - the forces behind Omnivore on Apple TV+ - on his ‘Food with’ podcast recently.
Kamala in the Kitchen - Recently elevated Democratic Presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris has been cooking up a storm on the campaign trail so far. Harris reportedly browses cooking websites and reads cookbooks to unwind.