Sunflower oil prices threaten to extinguish mouth-watering delicacies like fried squid and zucchini on the menus of Greece’s taverns and restaurants and French fries in the national food, the wrapped souvlaki and the top favorite among Greeks “Pita-Gyros.”
Owners of taverns, restaurants and souvlaki grills are seriously considering to remove these products from their menus under the financial pressure, media report.
As they say, the cost of frying these products is dissuasive.
Fried zucchini and squid are a must at a tavern by the sea to accompany ouzo or a cold beer…
If gastronomy owners continue to include such food in the menus, they will be forced to increase the prices, which will result into a decrease of their customers.
“Today we’ve ended up to buy sunflower oil at €32.50 for the 10 liter bottle that used to be bought for €14.50,” the owner of a restaurant in Halkidiki told state broadcaster ERT on Thursday.
“Most of my colleagues want to remove anything that has to do with fried food,” the man added.
Given the current prices, sunflower oil has become prohibitive for the sector the man said adding “either the prices have to fall or we have to find an alternative in order to keep frying.”
He stressed that it does not make any business sense to sell a product causing financial damage.
“If we raise prices in the menus, people will not be able to cope as wages remain the same,” another restaurant owner.
Other media reported that catering sector is considering to replace the French fries and potatoes baked in the oven.
President of Halkidiki Chamber of Commerce, Giannis Koufidis told GRTimes that owners of taverns, restaurants and fast food find it difficult to find sunflower oil.
He confirmed that they are considering to removed anything fried from the menus and replace French fires with baked ones.
SOUVLAKI WITH NO FRIES
Another sector under immense pressure due to the sunflower oil is those selling the national food, the souvlaki and thus the top on the list of its variants, the Pita-Gyros.
A complete Pita-Gyros consists of bites of meat grilled in a rotisserie, tomatoes, onions, garlic sauce and french fries.
According to media, the price for a Pita-Gyros is expecting to rise by 20 to 50 cents and reach up to €3.20 in Athens.
Souvlaki grill owners are considering to remove the fries from the Pita-Gyros and other so called “wrapped” souvlaki sorts to keep prices at an affordable level.
Following an increase of 12% last summer, Pita-Gyros is currently sold at 2.60 to 3 euros.
Last week there were reports that it was sold for 4 euros in downtown Athens.
This means that the cheap meal for a family of four could soon cost over 30 euros if one adds soft drinks and french fries.
The government has taken some measures to prohibit “fictitious shortages” in sunflower oil and other products, and supermarkets have set limits to purchase of vegetable oils, flour and sugar, however, who knows if such measures will work.
PS I can recall that duering the economic crisis, souvlaki went up just 10 cents, only that the pita and consequently the filling was smaller, maybe 1/4 less than the size we were used to.
Pls, excuse a person from the north, but how come you dont use olive oil? There are so many kinds of olive oil, you dont have to use extra virgin. When I fry potatoes I use olive oil, it gives a very good taste but maybe there are problems with frying a lot?! Or is the price of olive oil ever higher???
olive oil is not for deep frying + price is double
Thanks, now I understand 🙂
olive oil actually is the best for frying (as it is the most heat resistant); second best is peanut oil, which, for mysterious reasons, is not available here in greece (at least not on rhodes where i live), but it’s just a little bit less expensive than olive oil. sunflower as well as soya oil are the worst for frying (strong heat producing toxic substances within).
fry less, fry better??
mm, actually olive oil is one of the _least_ hest resistant oils. when cooking with it one must be very careful to keep the heat as low as possible. the cheap oils are often more resistant.. then some of the most heat resistant oils are actually coconut and palm oil, and then animal fats like lard and butter.
but olive oil anyway is much more expensive and you can only really use it once or twice for frying, whereas oils like sunflower oil , they keep those deep fryers going for hours over and over again with the same oil.
At home we only fry with olive oil but it requires a great deal of care in the cooking and you don’t reuse it. and we can only afford that because the oil is from our own trees and we do all the labor ourselves.
I enjoy french fries when away from home but having them as baked fries is just as good tasting and better for health. Also, I eat zucchini, souvlaki, etc. at home with rice and enjoy them just as much as french fries. This is no big crisis.
It is a big crisis. Even if you don’t care about this one particular thing, it’s the start of something much bigger. Wait until there’s no zucchini, or rice, or souvlaki
Olive oil smokes at a lower temperature.