The Sad Pragmatism of Inflation-Era Cuisine
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Question of the Week
What are your best tips––at this time of rapidly rising prices––for cutting costs in ways that meet your needs while depriving you of as little pleasure or convenience or comfort as possible? OR, looking back on your life, what do you consider to be your most wasteful spending?
Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com.
Conversations of Note
Summertime editions of this newsletter fretted repeatedly about the coming winter as ongoing effects of the pandemic and geopolitical turmoil (especially the war in Ukraine) triggered global inflation. Now Thanksgiving is almost here––Americans should expect a 28 percent increase in turkey prices––and around the world, all those early predictions of a tough winter are becoming reality.
In Britain, where there is still a cultural memory of World War II rationing and postwar stretches of economic hardship, food and cooking “have long been associated with upward mobility and aspiration,” my colleague Sophie Gilbert observes. That may explain the apparent sadness of the chef Jamie Oliver as he makes a new television show, Jamie’s £1 Wonders, about how to cook on a budget as energy and food costs soar across Europe and beyond.
In her estimation, the show succeeds by eschewing the expectation that celebrity chefs will indulge our culinary lifestyle fantasies and instead attempting to give the audience something more practical, like a recipe for a sweet-potato curry with chickpeas and frozen spinach that can be cooked entirely in the microwave, “which he
