Food World Problems
Lately there has been an ongoing dialogue in my head about food choices. I bake a lot at home, so I’m well aware of how much basic ingredients cost. Ever since B briefly embarked on a low FODMAP diet, I’ve really embraced baking with organic spelt flour. Currently, spelt is more than twice the price of plain wheat flour and true free-range eggs are almost $1 per egg, for starters.
When I eventually open a bakery one day, I’d like to continue using the best ingredients I can. A friend remarked that my ideals will probably have to take a backseat once I start having to think in terms of how to run a viable business. Maybe that’s true. Maybe that’s why someone once asked me if it was really that important that his business continue to use organic, pesticide-free flour, after he started looking into how much it was costing. Maybe that’s why I’ve seen a popular cafe in the city use caged eggs (displayed in plain sight, in their open kitchen). Or why some clearly-not-struggling restaurants would choose to not use free-range meat.
In a city where most people have the mindset that Asian food should be cheap, bread should not cost more than $X and cakes need to be cheap and colourful in order to appeal, I wonder if I’ll be able to bake for a living, doing it the way I prefer to, and still sleep well at night.
