Pandemics are weird — both predictable and unpredictable at the same time.
In hindsight, we all should have seen this coming. The world has gone through this before and scientists warned for a long time that we were overdue for another outbreak.
But we were still caught off guard, and now everything that unfolds is new and unexpected.
Of all the strange consequences of this bewildering spring — for me, at least — the close connection between “dining out” and food production is one of the most unexpected.
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I had never given this connection much thought before, and if I had, would probably have just assumed that the same types of food would always be in demand no matter where they were consumed.
But that — as farmers are learning — is not the case.
As Western Producer reporter Sean Pratt wrote in a couple of stories in last week’s paper, cooking at home instead of eating in restaurants is having all sorts of unexpected consequences for food producers.
For starters, we eat far more meat than grains in restaurants and far more grains than meat when cooking for ourselves. Who knew?
This is compounding problems for livestock producers already reeling from slowdowns and shutdowns at meat processing facilities and the very real threat of animals — particularly pigs — piling up on the farm as plants struggle to process them.
But it also bodes well for our crop farmers, who are looking at the prospect of increased demand and a boost in prices.
The implications for farmers go far beyond that, however.
Bacon and eggs are expected to be in less demand because they are used so much in restaurants. Cream is also being used less because coffee shops are closed.
Even canola oil might be in trouble because restaurants aren’t using a lot of frying oil right now.
On the bright side, the pulse industry expects an increase in demand because consumers are expected to have more time to cook at home, which means they might be more receptive to trying food like lentils and chickpeas.
The big question, of course, is whether these changes might become permanent once the pandemic ends. Will we discover that we actually like cooking at home?
Who knows, but one thing I definitely know — we’re sure not hearing a lot of whining about gluten right now.
