Sourcing Ingredients: a fun Journey and Balancing Act

Moving to a new place also means finding new suppliers for different ingredients. This is always difficult because you got used to where to buy what, and the weekly routine, at least for me, is based on when and where I buy ingredients. However, it is also an opportunity to discover new things by exploring the surroundings. There is often a surprise here or there, from farms and factories that sell directly to consumers, over niche specialised stores, to fish and meat industry. Farmers' markets also vary quite a bit from city to city. Its nice to discover new favourites.

When it comes to cooking food from different cuisines, which I like to do, you feel as you have just figured out where to source all the required ingredients and then you move to a different place, starting all over again. The fun comes back when discovering all the new ingredients that are now available.

It is not always possible to find certain ingredients locally. Anyone living close to a hydrocolloids supplier or an importer of speciality ingredients from a specific country? Sometimes the challenge of finding an ingredient at all, can be fun. When it comes to things like tea and coffee, I have found suppliers that I like and trust their quality. It's hard, if not impossible, to find new local ones with the same passion for their products.

While getting the best ingredients possible awesome, don't try to fall into the rabbit hole of chasing for it all the time and for everything. This video from James Hoffmann summarizes it well in the context of learning on how to taste coffee:

"While the highs get higher, on average what you eat and what you drink will get worse and it will get worse because you'll see all of the flaws, all of the mediocrity in a way that you didn't before."

In the case of coffee, his solution is simply to drink it and accept it when it is the only option available. This could be in the office, on the train, at the airport, or even in a café when coffee is not the main focus. Coming to the conclusion "Without ugliness there cannot be beauty. If everything is special, nothing is special.", with which I wholeheartedly agree. For some categories of food or drink, I try not go deep into into them, which is difficult for me, as I love to learn about it. Sometimes, two classifiers are enough: does it taste good or not? Furthermore, it is important to remember that taste is pretty subjective.

Cost is also a major factor to consider. Chasing the best ingredients easily becomes expensive. I don't mind paying more for significantly better quality, and increases in suitability as well. What I do mind is paying a lot more for mediocre products at their price point, even if the quality itself might be a bit better. This concept also applies to going out for food. An example would be tomatoes. When they are in season, it is worth paying more for local produce at the farmers' market. On the other hand, I don't see the point of markups on basic products such as salt, sugar and many more, especially when they don't make or break a dish. Returning to the topic of tea and coffee, there is a decent improvement up to a point, but after that, you are paying for something else. Often, it's location, marketing or rarity. Because of that, ordering from trusted suppliers by post is sometimes a better choice than buying locally, where "locally" is a bit of a stretch in my case anyway. Same applies to most luxury goods, such as wine and spirits.

My guiding principle in day-to-day life is to find a middle ground and work within a fixed budget. Some of you may remember the story about me optimising breakfast. Not every meal needs to be fancy or made with the best ingredients. I strive to make each meal a good version of what it is supposed to be. This approach works pretty well so far.