Smoked Trout Dip & Thoughts on Supply Chains

Been thinking more than usual about how food (and other stuff) gets to our doors.

Our supply chains are in crisis. After the initial toilet paper and pasta shortages of the early pandemic, surely we would’ve figured some stuff out, right?

Nope. By most accounting, it’s gotten worse. Livestock killed and wasted due to labor shortages at slaughterhouses. Food prices up 32.9% since last year, way ahead of inflation and wage growth. Viral (and awesome!) “we all quit” signs in front of thousands of restaurants. It’s a mess, and it’s going to start impacting what’s on the shelf and in our cupboards.

But there’s good news: short supply chains are resilient supply chains.

That’s nothing new. But as somebody who got into ‘eating local’ for other reasons, it’s exciting that something I like doing is also something I should be doing.

So here’s a simple smoked trout dip with a fish my neighbor ordered from a guy who catches and smokes fish in the lakes around Berlin (he also has a shop by Freybrücke in Spandau). I deboned the fish and did it up very Midwestern-like in a dip, with dill, capers, pickles, mayonnaise, and cream cheese.

And in an unintended twist that shows how hard it is for individual action to make a difference anyways: the crackers here are from Mondelez (Nabisco), a multinational with $27B revenue and operations in 160 countries 🤷

Mondelez’s US workforce is currently striking after the company increased healthcare costs and decreased overtime pay (even after a record-setting year of people buying more of their products while cooped up at home — everything from Milka bars to Oreos).

It’s a messy and confusing topic, filled with awkward inconsistencies like this feel-good eat-local trout ending up with crackers from the biggest of big food. But it’s something I think deserves more attention from us as eaters and shoppers, beyond frustration when stuff is out of stock at the supermarket. It’s also the topic of my most recent newsletter for @foodhackglobal if you care to read more 👀