This article was also published in the Financial Times.
Whether the current outbreak of foot and mouth disease in southern England will have the same significant, long-term consequences for chefs, restaurateurs and their customers as the 2001 outbreak it is still too early to say. But while the most obvious repercussions then and now may be for meat eaters as a result of the ban on the transport of livestock and the closure of abattoirs, this current outbreak is taking place against a background that is equally dismal for vegetarians. And one that has resulted in the most improbable event I have ever heard of: fish being seen swimming through one of the best wine cellars in a British restaurant, a sight that ultimately and most surprisingly brought great relief to the restaurateur in question.
It is of course the recent floods in England that are adding an extra dimension to the problem of foot and mouth disease. They will have long-term repercussions and may undo many of the close working relationships which so many British chefs have been making with local farmers and growers (as so many others in the US, Europe and Australia). What is particularly damaging about them is not just that they happened but where they happened – in the large, rich agricultural areas of south Yorkshire, the Vale of Evesham in Warwickshire and on the borders of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
The increasingly close association between chefs and their producers has resulted not just in numerous farmers being cited on menus but also in whole carcasses of lamb, beef and pork being delivered to a growing number of restaurants’ kitchens. This allows the chefs not only the benefit of lower costs by butchering the meat themselves rather than paying others to do it but also access to some of the less common, but often tastiest, parts of the animal which commercial abattoirs invariably discard. And because they have been doing the butchery themselves, there is the added benefit of offering lower prices to their customers. While the ban on any movement of animals on the hoof is in place, this will affect supplies of pork and lamb initially and subsequently beef, which is hung for longer. There may be some relief for venison, most of which comes from Scotland, if the outbreak is contained in the south of England.
Equally gloomy, however, is a recent report that Vernon Mascharenas sent out to the 250 chefs in and around London whom he supplies with top quality soft fruit, vegetables, herbs and salads from Secretts Direct in Surrey. It begins ominously with the news that they have just managed to pump out 24cm of rainwater from one of their main glass houses although not before all the crops, predominantly baby salad leaves, were ruined.
It then goes on to state that potatoes could not be lifted for a week during which they may well have developed rot. Brassicas have been particularly badly hit with only very limited supply of cauliflower and broccoli in store. But what concerns Mascharenas most is not current shortages but future supplies. “The main problem looking forward is the damage to those young crops which have not developed a strong root system; many of them have simply been washed away. We are working as hard as we can to replant damaged crops but it will be a race against time to see if we manage to get everything replanted before the season slows down.” And while he ended on an upbeat note with news that having eaten the first of this year’s apples he can report that they are much better than he had expected, it is not looking good for pea lovers, with 80% of the country’s crop destroyed, or next year’s strawberry harvest as so many plants have been lost and there is no time now to replant for next year.
Remarkably, Baba Hine, the chef/proprietor of The Corse Lawn Hotel in Gloucestershire, one of the very worst affected areas, has managed to keep her sense of humour afloat despite the current adversity. She laughed as she explained how they were initially able to stay open when the floodwater cut off the mains water supply thanks to the water in the swimming pool and how her staff had carried over 400 buckets from the pool into the hotel for the benefit of the BBC and Sky News correspondents staying there to cover these very events. Then they had to close for five days.
But any trace of laughter vanished when she described how the pond in front of the house overflowed into the two wine cellars full of over 15,000 bottles which her late husband and son had lovingly collected. “There was just a gap of half an inch between the water and the top of the cellars but within 48 hours the waters receded. I got a visit from Health & Safety immediately afterwards and at one point they were trying to argue that all the wines had been contaminated and would have to be condemned. But fortunately several wine professionals came to the rescue and testified that the worst damage would have been to the labels rather than the contents and they relented. I did see fish swimming about down there so the water must have been clean.”
Heavy rain in July can also have serious consequences on the number and price of the grouse which will now be appearing on British menus (although the shooting season starts on August 12th most chefs prefer to wait a few days so that they can be hung properly before cooking). But here at least there is some good news according to Richard Townsend, MD of Yorkshire Game.
“I think it is going to be a good year as the rains particularly in Yorkshire do not seem to have had an adverse effect on the brood size. All the reports I am getting point to a brood ration of over three young to one old bird which is good although the conditions are patchy. One estate in Invernessshire which bagged 2,000 brace last year won’t be shooting at all this year but it is looking good across the Pennines and the Scottish Borders. And grouse, hare, rabbit, and the pheasant and partridge which follow are not affected by the current ban.”
Townsend’s was the only upbeat voice I heard in a week of talking to numerous chefs, restaurateurs and suppliers. The uncertainty is disturbing as is their concern about the combined impact the floods and the foot and mouth disease will have on prices. Hine, although more anxious about those nearby who have had their houses flooded, is concerned about how she will lure her customers back while Mascharenas knows that he will have far fewer ‘over-winter’ vegetables such as potatoes, onions and brassicas to sell later this year which he believes instead will have to come from Eastern Europe.
The voices may be glum but the spirit isn’t. Restaurateurs, chefs, growers and farmers share, I have learnt over the years, the same extraordinary high sense of optimism which, after this summer, they will all need in abundance.