New York is used to being the repository of everything good there is to eat in the world: Scottish langoustines, Tasmanian crabs, Campagnan burrata, Spanish ham — you know the drill. But the global gravy train may be over for a while or at least slowing down. A well-researched piece in The Village Voice lays out the causes of the current price crisis (the Euro exchange rate and the Iraq war are connected to it) and the choices facing the city’s chefs. Do you charge an arm and a leg and keep the luxe ingredients or have a competitive price and give truffles the heave-ho? Nobody seems to have gotten to the bottom of it yet, but we’re betting somebody is willing to pay blood for (Umbrian olive) oil.
