What The Gulf Oil Spill Means for the Foodservice Industry – Mushroom Clouds and Fish Soup.

A few weeks ago there was an environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico that made the Exxon Valdez oil spill look like a few dark drops in a very large bucket. The BP deep-water oil rig explosion on April 20^th is being called America’s Chernobyl, not just because the extent of the consequent ecological damage is being estimated as the worst in human history, but also because the disaster has thoroughly exposed the corruption and rot at the core of the United States economy. On a smaller scale, the restaurant and food service industries are in for one heck of a bumpy ride

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Unfortunately, the worst part is that there is really no telling what the long-term effects of the spill will be. The seafood industry is already reeling, with a ten-day offshore fishing closure by federal officials, starting on May 2^nd. This covers Louisiana waters at the mouth of the Mississippi river to waters off Florida's Pensacola Bay. Chef John Besh, of Restaurant August and long-time Louisiana produce proponent, wrote in an article for The Atlantic, that he expects his supply of Gulf shrimp to be cut in half, that is, only if he’s lucky. Considering that, in 2009, Louisiana exported nearly 4.6 billion dollars worth of shrimp and oysters to Canada, there will probably be plenty of less lucky people.

Although Besh’s numbers may be a little on the pessimistic side, you should expect all seafood prices to skyrocket, no matter where they’re coming from.  Not necessarily because of a genuine lack of supply, but a perceived lack of supply will have prices jumping (P.E.I. oysters are already set to rise charges). Also, as Louisiana is a huge port, you can expect any produce that usually docks there to have to compensate for the added cost of docking elsewhere.

Additionally, be prepared to field questions regarding the safety of the shrimp, crab and oysters currently on your menu and in your house.  Remember, seafood that hit the market before the closure is perfectly safe to eat. Besides which, the waters west of the Mississippi River are still open and represent more than three-quarters of Louisiana seafood production. A great concern is the media misrepresenting the situation and convincing people to boycott seafood in general. Make sure you do your part to allay fears and maybe we can keep the nuclear fall-out from this Chernobyl under control.  

Working with Gluten-Intolerance - The Wheat Wasteland.

In 1922, T.S. Eliot wrote that April was the cruelest month of the year but, no offense to the great poet, it just happens to be my favorite. Besides the promise of summer, April offers two great holidays to keep us occupied: Easter and Passover. And since Passover, among other things, concerns a huge dietary restriction, it seemed like a great time to discuss the Gluten-Intolerant Guest as part two of my series on staying allergy conscious.  

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There are several different strains of the gluten-constrained breed, and, according to this LA Times article, the ranks are swelling fast: The doctor-diagnosed Celiac, the self-diagnosed Celiac, the Wheat-Sensitive and the Carb-Free. Yet, with a little planning, it’s easy for the restaurateur to come up with one common, economical system to deal with any gluten-related contingency. Considering that you’ll be well re-paid with free advertising on sites like the Gluten-Free Restaurant Awareness Program (which will even send you helpful info free of charge) and the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, it’s entirely worth it.

Obviously, I’m not recommending you close up the bakery and go totally gluten-free. I’m just saying that an occasionally over-looked component of the food service industry is the effort to make people happy. Moderating our tendency to declare: “Take it or leave it!” might just help us in the big-picture sense of the long run. So, with that in mind, here are a few helpful hints at satisfactorily satisfying the gluten-intolerant, courtesy of Gluten-Free Cooking For Dummies:

-       Line cookware with foil and bam! Sterilized for gluten-free work.

-       Think of arrowroot, cornstarch or tapioca starch before you automatically reach for the flour. All of these work just as well as thickeners (and in some cases, better!)

-       Cornmeal or Masa can double as a breading in the fryer, plus they have a better flavor and a neat texture to boot.

-       Be wary of crumbs. Even 20 parts per million of gluten can make a celiac sick, so that means thinking about using typically un-food related areas of your kitchen to plate their dish and turning off the convection feature on an oven or toaster to avoid gluten-y dust.

-       Finally, be aware that gluten, like radar traps, can lurk in some surprisingly places. Amusingly, Passover Matzah is actually on the list of gluten-full items…and less obviously, so is soy sauce, malt vinegars and couscous. Here’s a small list of surprisingly unfriendly foods and here’s a more comprehensive list of banned items, if you'd really like to pore over it.

Dealing with Allergies – Put on the Ritz, but Hold the Cracker, Please.

Once upon a meal, somewhere out there in the restaurant-wilderness, a picky eater decided to ‘save time’ and pretend to have an allergy. Pleasantly amazed by the server’s understanding looks, and exhilarated by the careful exorcism preformed by the kitchen on the hapless ingredient, this picky, and as it turns out, loudmouthed, eater decided to spread the word. Flash forward to 2010 and servers are constantly faced with supposed allergies, which, nine out of ten times, are just the labels finicky diners give to their dislikes. Sadly, this has led to a backlash against the truly anaphylactic, those who aren’t just “breaking out in chives” as journalist Ruth Samuelson put it. I say sadly because, when treated with the appropriate care, fastidious customers can become the most loyal (and lucrative) of patrons.

So, with that in mind, consider this post the first in a series on staying allergy conscious, both in the front and back of the house.

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Most restaurateurs see an allergic customer as a hassle, an annoyance, someone better left at home but surprisingly…the allergic customer sees us the same way! A diner with a sensitive palate can rarely enjoy a simple meal out, always having to rigorously barter with the staff, often watch their companions eat while the kitchen fixes an inaccurately prepared dish and even, for the very severely limited, face unpleasant physical reactions. If you can prove yourself to be as accommodating to these tables as you are to any other, well, there’s a whole community out there just waiting to shower you with business! So, what to do?

First, you should check out FAAN, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, and their comprehensive program on welcoming guests with food allergies. Second, you should read this article about how a frustrated father couldn’t find a restaurant that would cater to his allergic sons and then, you should review your restaurant on his brainchild, an online guide to allergy-friendly restaurants across the United States. Finally, you should tune in next week for the second installment. Or at least…that’s what I would do!

The Soaring Costs of Hazardous Food-Handling – Up, Up and Away!

Salmonella, Listeriosis, Norovirus: The microscopic villains of the food service industry. Make the wrong move and these no-goodniks will give you sick customers, bad press, recall edicts and expensive legal hassles. As if you weren’t already concerned about the negative consequences of unsafe food handling, take a look at this article published recently in the LA Times. According to a new study by Georgetown University, the health-related costs of food-borne illnesses come close to a whopping $152 billion…a year. The study was released in an effort to push a food safety bill that would increase U.S. inspections, fund research and force the American food industry to ramp up record-keeping efforts, a bill which has stalled since last November.

But bill or no bill, making a heroic effort to keep supreme control over the food safety of your establishment is a smart choice. Fight BAC®! Fight bacteria that is, with these four key techniques as established by the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety program Be Food Safe:

                                     - Clean carefully
                                     - Separate to avoid cross-contamination
                                     - Cook to appropriate temperatures
                                     - Chill in a timely fashion

Remember, we professional foodies genuinely know what evil lurks in the hearts of romaine, so it’ll always be one of our most important tasks to keep those nefarious pathogens at bay.