According to a recent report (perhaps we could find another that stated otherwise), the current crisis will reinforce the consumer’s tendency to choose healthy products and obtain them safely. In other words, we want to strengthen our body with healthy food and not take risks when purchasing them, that is, having them delivered to our home.
As the report does not make reference to gastronomy specifically, but rather to food in general, this mentioned trend may well refer only to the purchase of food for the home. The effort of quite a few haute cuisine restaurants around the world to adapt to the circumstances and serve their dishes to take away is commendable, even more so when that effort involves depriving their creations of the scenography of the establishment and the magic of the service. But this is nothing but a specific resource for an exceptional situation. A complement at most. Because gastronomy is something else. It is above all an experience. Like the one we experience when we go to a restaurant in good company, or when the aroma of freshly baked buns from the bakery on the corner captivates us, like an irrepressible call.
Gastronomy, by definition, is contrary to confinement, as the concept itself involves sharing and enjoying with others. Cicero said that ‘the pleasure of banquets must be measured not by the abundance of delicacies, but by the gathering of friends and their conversation.’ And if we add the chef’s art to all this, the experience is well worth taking some risk.
