I am chaotically waltzing through my thoughts, my anger, my sadness, my disappointment and a broken heart that keeps breaking more and more, and that I would like to patch up with gold like old Japanese pottery. Yet, I believe most artisans of kintsugi, just like the entire gastronomy sector, are closed, bankrupt, covered in a mountain of debt, or in the middle of yet another turnaroud strategy, doing whatever it takes to keep their business afloat.
Free tests. Expensive tests. Tests sent by mail. Not enough tests. Vaccines. Maybe next year. More vaccines. Not enough vaccines. New lockdown. End of lockdown. Extended lockdown. Gastronomy can open. Gastronomy should close. Gastronomy, but only outdoors. Gastronomy, but only take-away. No alcohol. Scotch eggs. Burgers. Frying oil. Utter dismay. A group of millennials sharing a bottle of wine and a few beers on the stairs of a museum. Millennials, right, they’re guilty of everything and already breaking the damn lockdown rules too. Everyone should stay at home. Should. What-should-I-do!? Doors shutting, deliverymen filling their square backpacks. Steam and condensation. Soggy pizza. No-longer-crispy fried chicken. Spilled ramen. Cold burgers. Sigh. When the hell will we be able to go to a restaurant again!?
Fine dining forcefully turned into fast food. What is freedom anyway, if artists cannot pursue the beauty of their art? And what is art nowadays if not some patty pressed in between two pieces of cooked dough? Pressed and pressed and pressed harder, choking away any chance of its artful expression shining through… Government money. Some. More. Less. A little. At least a little. Not enough. A general apathy that spreads faster than the virus itself. New rules, old rules, changing rules.
Restaurant lovers, gourmets and gastronomes, begging to get to taste that food again before our favourite artists are forced to close forever. Shouting and crying: an industry is dying! And this isn’t even news! In other news, McDonald’s reported a revenue of $5.42 billion during Q3 of 2020.
