The first all-virtual edition of the thought-leadership event series, #50BestTalks presented by Miele, streamed live around the world on Wednesday 14th October as part of the 50 Best Recovery Summit. Catch up on the reflections on and predictions for the fast-changing restaurant sector shared by chefs Clare Smyth, Julien Royer, Garima Arora and Camilla Marcus
The coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns and restaurants closures across the world, protests for equity and representation – 2020 has shaken the gastronomic world to its core, leaving many cooks, foodies and hospitality workers wondering what’s next. But it has also been a year marked by innovation, resilience and openness to positive change, as cooks across three continents outlined during #50BestTalks: Rewriting the Menu.
Watch the full event #50BestTalks: Rewriting the Menu, presented by Miele:
From the beginning of the pandemic, chefs and restaurateurs had to shift their focus temporarily away from the kitchen. “The number one target, number one responsibility and number one priority as a chef and as a business owner is to keep all your employees in work,” stated chef Julien Royer of Odette in Singapore, which was named The Best Restaurant in Asia, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, in 2019 and 2020.
For Royer, this meant creating a takeaway concept – Odette at Home – that allowed him to keep his team employed during Singapore’s circuit-breaker, while also delivering elevated versions of comforting recipes to homes across the city-state.
With travel restrictions in place across much of Asia, chef Garima Arora of Gaa in Bangkok, Thailand, also found herself having to rethink. “I’m a champion of Thai local ingredients, local techniques, local this and local that, but I think we forgot about our local client base,” said the Indian cook who was named Asia’s Best Female Chef 2019. “Restrictions on travel awoke us to realise we weren’t paying attention to our biggest local asset: our guests.”
To cater for her re-discovered local clientele, Arora took a brave step: having previously decided to move Gaa to a new location, she took advantage of the pandemic to come up with a fresh concept. Gaa is set to reopen by the end 2020 in its new space, along with a casual Indian canteen and wine bar that will stay open throughout the day, creating an accessible experience for Bangkok natives.
The pandemic also threw another issue into sharp focus, especially in the US: is food inherently political? “The independent restaurant industry employs more people in New York than airlines do nationwide, and airlines received a bailout in week one [of the lockdown], while we are yet to receive an industry-specific bailout,” said restaurateur Camilla Marcus of West~bourne in New York. “Food, being global and a fundamental need, shouldn’t be political, but unfortunately, I think it is.”
The chefs debated the changes, challenges and opportunities brought on by the coronavirus pandemic
Marcus, who recently had to close West~bourne’s physical location because of the financial effects of Covid-19, is however adamant that restaurants will come back stronger due to the unique role they play in society. “Restaurants are the anchors of the human experience,” she added. “They contribute to the culture, the vibrancy, the safety and the magnetism of every location.”
When considering the long-term effects of the pandemic on dining out, the chefs agreed that restaurants cannot be replaced by virtual or takeaway experiences. “Why do we cook for people?” asked The World’s Best Female Chef 2018 Clare Smyth of Core by Clare Smyth in London, UK. “Because we love to entertain people, we love to see the smiles on their faces, we love to make people feel special, to hear laughter in a dining room. Ultimately, takeaway won’t replace this, but it could sit alongside it as a different kind of experience; a higher-end offering to normal takeaway.”
Arora chimed in saying that restaurants are “the last nondigital front”, while Royer also highlighted that “a restaurant brings people together regardless of religion, colour of skin or nationality. The communication goes beyond cooking, beyond feeding people. When something we took for granted for years was taken away, we missed it so much.”
Marcus, Smyth, Royer and Arora further discussed the accessibility of fine dining, the impact of take-aways on sustainability, the rise of homecooking across the world and the importance of protecting ethical and sustainable producers in the current climate. To discover all their insights, watch the full event – #50BestTalks: Rewriting the Menu, presented by Miele – on YouTube or Facebook.
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