I have been a bit busy lately. I accepted a part time job as a cook in a bio restaurant cooking for lunch, what  is, as you might know, supposed to be the principal meal in France :-)

There is one thing worth mentioning on this blog about this activity, and that touches the basic issue of most of my messages: economies of scale.

That is: it is difficult under present economic conditions NOT to make use of economies of scale. Trying to maximize economies of scale goes against the heart of sustainable farming. Ploughing with a large tractor compacts the ground. A large distribution network increases the number of transport  kilometers incorporated in food. The specialization of labour makes the farmer losing sight of the interconnectedness of the ecosystem on his farm. The reduction of farmers within a certain region reduces also the number of experiments being done on daily basis that tests the adaptability of the methods to the regional conditions.

Now cooking:  economies of scale have brought us the miracle of kitchens without cooking. It is more a kind of assembly. I believe it was Mc Donalds who first made this concept into a success. Or was it the Russian soup kitchen? It is hard to deny that the taste of food is suffering. But what the heck: it is not too bad, it is way cheaper, control can be done more systematic, and it is quick! If it is only taste: it would have been an issue for elitists. But I am afraid it is not. Now the economies of scale of farming and the food industry is of course closely linked, or already one and the same. A large scale, AFFORDABLE, restaurant can hardly deal with a lot of suppliers. It makes the system too complicated and risky. So it tends to avoid small-scale farmers, unless these farmers manage to unite their marketing channels. Which is for THEM a very complicated issue. In practice it doesn’t happen. Small-scale farming is therefore supported by well intended, mostly well to do, citizens. Who motivate their choice mostly by arguments of taste and nutritional value.  These are not my most important arguments, I find them hard to proof, which makes it difficult to identify myself with our most important supporters!

My quest in my kitchen is to OPTIMISE economies of scale up to a point it is not jeopardizing the sustainability of the farms that are supplying our restaurant. But under present economic conditions it is, like small-scale farming, in fact an impossible job, dependent on well doers and clients that happen to like our menu so much that they are willing to pay the “value added”.  So, here I am pealing my potatoes, carrots and onions everyday for a 40 people crowd or so. Thinking about a piece of equipment that our local vegetable shop back in the 70’s already invested in: a potato pealing machine…
 


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