Letter 150 The relaxed country is known for its rich restaurant and bar culture. What will happen if its hospitality industry crumbles? The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week’s issue is written by Besha Rodell, a columnist with the Australia bureau.
During a week when the news has been so bleak, when we’ve heard about the deaths of colleagues and artists and beloved educators, when much of the world’s population is in lockdown, the closing of a pub might not strike you as a tragedy. And yet the news that my local pub was going out of business finally undid me. After weeks of gritting my teeth as my own work dried up, my husband’s new business shuttered, my son came home from school indefinitely, and my best friend lay with her newborn in a hospital where no visitors were allowed (including her husband), I relented and crumpled when I heard about the pub. My grief is about more than just a place in my neighborhood to grab a beer and a parma.
It’s true that this particular pub became a touchstone for me and my family when we were adjusting to our move from the United States to Melbourne, its weekly trivia nights a dependable and fun way for us to connect with our new community. Whenever visitors or new friends were around on a Wednesday, trivia night welcomed them into our fold with good beer and banter and a fire roaring in the corner. On weekends, my husband and I played pool in its slightly shabby barroom, chattering to the owner, who became a friend. So, my sadness is for that friend who is losing his business, but it feels bigger than that, like it encompasses all of the owners and workers out there who are losing their livelihoods.
It represents my intense anxiety about what our cities will look like when we come out of this crisis. In recent days I’ve heard stories about inflexible landlords and collapsing business models at every conceivable venue: iconic, world renowned bars; restaurants owned by famous chefs; my beloved neighborhood pub. The hope that take-away and delivery might save even a fraction of these operations is optimistic. And for a city like Melbourne (or Sydney, or Hobart … you get the idea), the loss of our hospitality industry is almost unthinkable.
As a country, we have increasingly built tourism on our strengths as a food and drink destination. Not only does food and drink support hundreds of thousands of workers, it makes our cities the livable, wonderful, delicious places that we call home. The economic and health crisis unfolding in Australia and around the world is bound to become a cultural crisis down the line. In an email chat, Anthea Loucas Bosha, the chief executive of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, told me that the crisis “will affect us for years to come and, in turn, change us forever.
President Trump told of “hard days that lie ahead” as his top scientific advisers released models predicting that the U.S. death toll would be 100,000 to 240,00...
” This phenomenon is taking place globally. Last week, Pete Wells wrote about what might be needed for New York City restaurants to survive, and the opinion section ran an op-ed by a group of chefs and restaurant owners headlined, Will We Have an America Without Restaurants? Either of these pieces could have been written about Australia, with a few minor changes. I started writing about food because I love to eat, yes, but also because I love the industry that makes dining possible.
Our corner pub is just a pub, but it’s also the thing that made moving across the world bearable. It’s where I met treasured friends, it’s where I found community. It is one of thousands of such places that are gone and may not come back. What will we look like as a city, as a country, as a culture, if that industry cannot be saved?
I hope we never find out. What aspects of Australian culture do you fear for right now? Let us know at nytaustralia@nytimes. com.
Here are the week’s stories: Man Pleads Guilty to New Zealand Mosque Massacre. An Australian white supremacist charged with killing 51 worshipers at two mosques in New Zealand last year changed his plea to guilty in a surprise move. Shutting Themselves Inside to Avoid Being a Burden to Others.
“When Australia had just a few coronavirus cases, Lee and Colin Lee decided to self-quarantine to keep resources available for younger people.”
“We’ve just got to share what’s there,” Mr. Lee said. Western Universities Rely on China. After the Virus, That May Not Last.
In Britain, the United States and Australia, the coronavirus could blow huge holes in the budgets of universities that have “become addicted to one source of income. ” Can’t Get Tested? Maybe You’re in the Wrong Country. Decisions and blunders made months ago have caused testing disparities worldwide.
The science, it turns out, was the easy part. I. O. C.
and Japan Agree to Postpone Tokyo Olympics. The decision came after swelling resistance from nations and athletes to holding the Games amid the pandemic. What I Learned When My Husband Got Sick With Coronavirus. Our world became one of isolation, round-the-clock care, panic and uncertainty — even as society carried on around us with all too few changes.
The Dos and Don’ts of Online Video Meetings. From setting a clear agenda to testing your tech setup, here’s how to make video calls more tolerable for you and your colleagues. How to Get More Sleep Tonight. Sleep has never been more important.
Here are our most concrete recommendations for getting some. Last week, we wrote about the anxiety over the coronavirus and asked what dilemmas you were facing. Here’s one reader’s response: The coronavirus-related dilemmas I face are never-ending, always changing. As a freelance lifestyle journalist, the whole concept of what I do — that is, report on lifestyle-related stories — has ceased to exist.
Right now, clear instructions from the powers-that-be are welcoming and reassuring — these times we are all weathering are downright scary, and ambiguity is heightened more than ever. Should I apply for one of the coronavirus stimulus packages? Do I forgo the trajectory I’m currently on as a freelance journalist and pick up unrelated casual work to support myself and my partner? Will things ever be the same again?
These questions might have seemed somewhat melodramatic just one week ago. But it seems that the world of self-isolation and W. F. H.
is just the new reality for the foreseeable future. When will it end? -Josh Bozin Enjoying the Australia Letter? Sign up here or forward to a friend.
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