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Paper short abstract:

Are pickles and root cellars only Instagram images of sustainability or could past ways of preserving and storing food offer stability for restaurants in uncertain times? Departing from an early-stage project, this paper explores food storage, preservation, and sustainability in Swedish restaurants.

Paper long abstract:

For almost two decades, the New Nordic Cuisine and trends of preservation have influenced Nordic gastronomy. Pickles, pantries, and root cellars have been revived. The ideals are closely connected to local and seasonal conditions, self-sufficiency, and craft, but also to food culture. The past few years, however, the Swedish restaurant sector have faced challenges with the uncertainties of the corona pandemic, increase of food and energy costs, in addition to maintaining qualified staff. Sustainability ambitions have had to be negotiated (Carrillo Ocampo et al 2021).

The past rational of “storage economy”, i.e. preserving and storing food for one or more years, was a way of managing uncertainties in the agrarian society. Theoretically, the rationale of the storage economy could minimize transportation and energy consumption and offer a form of crisis preparedness and stability for restaurants. Yet little is known about the challenges and opportunities restaurants face when practicing such preservation and storage methods. Furthermore, while Swedish higher education in culinary arts offer courses in food culture and food history, little is known of how this knowledge and competencies are applied in the sector.

This paper will present an early-stage project which aims to explore the opportunities and challenges of upscaling a form of storage economy in the Swedish restaurant sector. Are pickles and root cellars merely an Instagram friendly imagery of restaurant sustainability or are the practices of storage economy viable on large scale? What norms and structures influence how restaurants deal with questions of sustainability and thus uncertainties?