Pakistanis take their food very seriously.
It's an understatement to say that our lives predominantly revolve around it. You want to celebrate? You treat your friends and family to food. You want to show people around your city? You take them out to the best eateries. You want to sulk? You round up your closest and meet at a cafe. You want a break from life? You head to your favourite dhaba.
One of the greatest privileges we splurge on is also the only form of entertainment in the country: think food festivals, new eateries, pop-up restaurants, home-based food businesses, roadside cafes and so on. The thriving food culture doesn't seem to be dying... yet.
Unless you've been living under a rock, Pakistan’s current economic situation should not come as a surprise. The rupee has plummeted to a record low; the concern has gone beyond living room talk and buying power has been affected. Pakistanis' woes now also include battling high inflation with stagnant wages.
In a bid to reduce food imports and boost the local industry, the government has slapped a
sizable duty on import goods and as an added measure, so that nothing is exchanged under the table, the ministry has also amended
import policies which now state that imports must come with ingredients printed in Urdu and accompanied with a Halal certificate.
In simple terms, the government has cracked its whip on import regulations due to which many restaurants that rely heavily on imported goods are now finding it hard to work under the new levies. Add inflation to the mix and you've landed yourself in a pickle.
From importer to consumer, the whole supply chain has been affected; prices have gone up considerably and suddenly, the safety net Pakistanis found in the country's food culture has snapped.
"Everything is screwed up. Completely out of order," Sarah Aziz of Karachi's fine-dining eatery D'Alma tells me.
The restaurateur imports ingredients for special flavours in her Portuguese-inspired dishes, but due to the amended policies she's worried she won't be able to source from abroad for long.
"There will be a time when we will have to give them up [imported goods] and find local substitutes, but they won’t do justice to the food we serve."
Salman Naqi of Chop Chop Wok seconds Sarah. He feels the country's agriculture industry lacks the variety and quality of food products needed for his Pan Asian eatery. "Plus, we serve different international cuisines, particularly from countries from the Far East. In order for us to stay authentic and true to our cuisine, we have to rely on imports."
"We have localised a couple of ingredients, but we haven’t reached far," he adds.
The concern is a shared one as I speak with other restaurateurs and chefs in the country; import duties, though potentially beneficial in the long run, have presently confounded people in the food business.
"It's primarily due to imported food items that the industry uses, namely cheese, fries, sauces, etc [because of which prices] have gone up significantly," says Ammar Mohsin of Lahore's popular eatery Rina's Kitchenette.
Luckily for them, the switch to local materials has proved beneficial. "The mozzarella cheese we use in our pizzas is locally made and it's good cheese as the quality of buffalo milk in Pakistan is amazing. Shaan Foods launching Dipitt sauces has been a great addition. Overall, the significant move within the industry is to go local."
"Prices of all products have increased, including utility prices and the cost of goods that are transported, which is also why we are trying to work with 100 per cent local produce to support our industries."
Smaller businesses that operate from home are no strangers to the existing state of affairs, as Mirza Askari of the famous Shama's Bakery (the one behind the sinfully delicious Nando's chocolate cake) tells me that the company champions the use of local products, but shifting away from imported goods has not been smooth sailing.
Even dhabas are feeling the pressure. The Social Hub's partner Adil Anver says that going local has not been favourable, especially when it comes to replacing products like Nutella, which has a cult following. "A customer will never opt for a local chocolate spread paratha over a Nutella paratha."
A ripple effect
The new circumstances have rocked the boat, and not just for the food service industry, importers are in disarray as they try to deal with the new levies.
I get in touch with food importer Omair Chawla for his take on
the current events and he explains that though the call to go local is a move all governments should enforce, "putting a non-tariff barrier by asking all products coming into the country to have Urdu labelling is a wrong step, and the only objective seems to be to reduce imports" as the production of separate packaging for Pakistan has led to increased costs.
Additionally, he believes import tariffs will not have a major impact on the total import bill because finished food imports in Pakistan are predominantly for products which are not produced in the country, or the quality produced here is so poor that despite imported products being twice the price of local products, consumers still opt for the former.
Comments
Post a Comment