The ban on buying potatoes from Englandwhich has meant a increase in the price of this basic dietary product of the Canarian population, has also caused the island’s restaurant sector to suspend the production of Russian salad or potato omelette on their menus in order to prioritize the few tubers they get to accompany dishes or in stews.
The lack of potatoes in the market due to restrictions on importing them from United Kingdom Without local production being able to cope with this situation, it has driven up the price of this product, which has directly affected restaurants.
Among them, the manager of the El Puente de chicken roastery The Gran Canarian palmsAntonio Hernández, who regretted that there was no notice from the authorities “so that one could have been storing a little earlier.”
“We’re going to see how long this lasts, because if it continues for a long time it’s going to be a disaster for everyone,” said the hotelier, who added that the potatoes are arriving “in dribs and drabs and as if they were gold.”
Beyond the chickens and their potatoes to accompany, in their establishment they also They offer potato omelettes or Russian saladbut he makes it clear that, if he sees that he doesn’t have enough, “I would only leave it to sell it with the chicken and I would stop making the omelettes and the Russian salad.”
A “STAR DISH” THAT IS LAME
At the El Nervioso restaurant, in Los Rodeos, Tenerifetheir signature dish and the reason why hundreds of people come every week as a pilgrimage are the ribs with potatoes and pineapple, so they are worried about what may happen to the tuber.
The manager of the restaurant, Nena, has admitted that the potatoes are currently “very expensive”, but that beyond the high price, the worst thing is that they are not found as easily as usual.
“We are struggling, from one place to another, to be able to have the potatoes, but things are annoying,” explained the hostess, who always looks for products of “the best possible quality” for her signature dish, which generally happens for acquiring pineapples and potatoes from the country.
For the moment, they have been able to buy potatoes on the island, but it is clear that if things continue as they have in recent days, “we may have to reduce the portions” they offer to customers.
THE EGYPTIAN POTATO
Other establishments have chosen to look for potatoes in the foreign market, but in countries other than the United Kingdom, as was the case of Tasca El Aljibe, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which has gone to the Egyptian to be able to maintain the product. on their plates.
The manager of the tavern, Carlos Guedes, has criticized that it is “a real nonsense” that a kilo of potatoes can cost up to four euros in the market, especially when they could be bought for eighty cents a short time ago.
“It is a shame that potatoes are being brought from Israel and Egypt, and in fact I bought 600 kilos of potatoes from Egypt the other day for 1.30 euros, even though they are not very good and the price is not cheap either” Guedes indicated and then highlighted that this vegetable “is the nutritional base of a canary”, so any change in its cost affects them “very much.”
ACCOMPANY WITH RICE OR SALAD
In the absence of star accompaniment in the tables Canary Islandscertain restaurants are going to approach the routine of other regions, as is the case of Latin America, and will add rice as a complement to their dishes, or will do so using salads.
This is the case of the Hermanos García menu restaurant, in The Palms of Gran Canariawhose manager, Jorge Rubio, is looking for “something different” to accompany his dishes, although he has lamented that he can no longer “use much” of vegetables, because the price is rising “in everything.”
“In a restaurant like mine, where the basis is the menu, we have to make twists and turns, we have to be superheroes to find a way around it,” said Rubio, who has assured that there will be some things that he cannot maintain any longer, such as the Russian salad or avocado, “because we try to have very tight menu prices” to reach their target audience.
With the scarcity of potatoes in the market, and the exorbitant price of what little there is, he has already had to use shipments of frozen potatoes to fry, which he will begin to use if the situation does not change, while the wrinkle ones are already They disappeared from their warehouse.
He Sector of the restoration They hope that this situation will pass quickly and that the normality that they have lost due to a small insect that decided to infect an entire shipment will return as soon as possible.
