In an article in the Spring 2021 issue of Gastronomica, John Broadway discussed what he termed the “hypocrisy of hyperlocality” and critiqued hyperlocal restaurants that cater exclusively to well-heeled, globe-trotting customers.
Hyperlocality facilitates an escalation of exclusivity for haute cuisine. The last big trend, molecular gastronomy, lost its luster among global tastemakers after its assimilation into the mainstream; immersion circulators are now available at Target. Something new had to be found, and what better way for elite consumers to showcase their worldliness than championing irreproducible food from geographically disparate areas?…The few with access get the added benefit of virtue, signaling that their conspicuous consumption is done in the service of promoting sustainability through rediscovering endangered ingredients and cuisines. The combination of chefs’ virtuous intent, consumers’ globe-trotting, and the experience’s inaccessibility for ordinary people is a potent one for generating social capital.1
Broadway raises important questions about not only...
University of California Press