The kitchen in a time of COVID-19 coronavirus

First off, I hope everybody is safe. These are strange, scary times, upsetting all of our routines and challenging everything we take for granted.

Among other things, it is refocusing the way we think about food. Sure, we think about ventilators and reproduction rates and RNA and lockdowns and relief packages but one thread running through nearly everything is food. Stay at home except to get food. All business should shut down except those that sell food. When schools close down, how do the students that depend on school breakfasts and lunches survive? Local Philadelphia celebrities have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Philabundance, a local charity that specializes in surplus food distribution.

The past few days have reminded me how lucky I am to live where I live. As you may surmise, I’m a resident of Philadelphia and I live in the neighborhood of Bella Vista. It’s a neighborhood of mostly row houses immediately south of Center City, what we call our downtown. My house is a block away from a Whole Foods Market, and two blocks from Acme, a traditional supermarket. It is also about a ten minute walk from Philly’s famous 9th St. Italian Market, 15 minutes from the Headhouse Square Farmer’s Market and about the same from a series of Asian supermarkets and specialty stores. Finally, there’s the Reading Terminal Market, about a 20 minutes walk in the other direction.

That’s a luxury in normal times but these days, it is simply a blessing. Of course we’ve seen evidence of broken supply chains and hoarding, but with all these choices available we can usually get whatever we need since we have so many sources. Our routine has been to walk to the Italian Market for basic fish from Darigo’s Seafood, produce from the sidewalk produce vendors, and Italian specialities like olives, pasta, sundried tomatoes, and the like from Claudio’s. Put all that away and then head to Acme and Whole Foods for things that aren’t available in the Market, like aluminum foil, yogurt, milk, sparkling water, wine, and so on.  Last Saturday we went to Reading Terminal where we got a couple of Cornish hens, some fish that isn’t available at Darigo’s, fancy mushrooms, and more fruits and vegetables from Iovine Brothers, the best produce store/market/stand I’ve ever seen.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing 12 feet of empty shelves at Whole Foods one evening, I’m not surprised that the big supermarkets seem to have more trouble keeping things in stock than the more informal purveyors. We haven’t noticed any difference in the offerings of the Market vendors or at Reading Terminal, while both Acme and Whole Foods are having trouble staying stocked. To be fair, the Market vendors never carried toilet paper, frozen vegetables, frozen pizza, or pre-packaged macaroni and cheese but those items don’t take up a lot of space on our shopping list, either.

Having all these sources has one other significant benefit that comes into play in these times. It makes it easy to get what you need while maintaining a proper 6’/2m social distance. With two full-scale supermarkets and a market district that stretches over four blocks, and an indoor market occupying an entire city block, there is plenty of room for customers to spread out while buying their red snapper, green beans, shiitake mushrooms, low-sodium tamari, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

My observation, too, is that around here people are taking this seriously. I see images of people in airports, beaches, basketball courts, coffee shops, and Walmarts jostling against each other or acting as if nothing has changed, but I don’t see that on the streets and stores around me. At Reading Terminal last Saturday, there was a long wait at Godshall’s Poultry but the dozen or so people waiting kept at least 6′ away from each other and I saw no impatience. People shopping at the produce vendors in the Italian Market respectfully give other customers their space while waiting their turn to grab that giant fennel bulb that beckons to them.

This isn’t just limited to food shopping. There are lots of people who take their babies and dogs out for a breath of fresh air but give wide berths to the other baby/dog walkers, pedestrians, and bicyclists so as not to violate the 6′ personal cone. And as we all pass, there’s an inevitable smile and a “whatareyagonnado” shrug.

For those of you who favor a more rural lifestyle, I’ll give you that Philadelphia is a lot more dense than the countryside, and that means that are a lot more people who are potentially infectious. All you have to do is to look 80 miles to the north to see how bad the situation can be. New York is about as dense as you can get and it is clearly the area in the U.S. that is in the most serious trouble.

Here in Philadelphia, though, most people here really are following the instructions to stay home and doing the best they can. Part of that approach involves shutting down restaurants and severely restricting takeout establishments, that means that more people are spending time in the kitchen.

That’s where we’re going next.