Water Wars: Bottled v. Tap, or WHAT?

Tap v. Bottle: Two Giants Vie for Title of King of Hydration

All this hoopla over “tap versus bottled” water is getting on my nerves. And it’s getting on my nerves for a very good reason: Mario Batali. I have nothing against Mario personally. He seems like a nice enough guy, and he is fun to watch on Iron Chef. But the article in today’s NYT Food Section really rankled me.

Bottled-schmottled

Yes, water is the next big thing, the red-hot liquid commodity from which millions are being made. Perrier and Evian have known it for years, but slow thud-thinkers that we are – doh! – we only recently became mad for “Designer Water”. How many ways ARE there to dress up WATER: H20 – the stuff of life on Planet Earth, the thing we seek on Mars but pollute right here where we live?

Bottlers say: It’s healthier! (v. costly); Tap-Drinkers Say: It’s got a huge Carbon Footprint (v. stupid)

A Movement Afoot

So, those restaurateurs who purport sustainability and local supply chains and who have long been on the so-called edge of sustainability – not to mention sanity – have been pooh-poohing bottled water for quite some time. Serving filtered tap water in re-usable carafes is the cool-thing-du-jour. (Mind you, that’s what we used to all do, back in the day.) Yes, out on the West Coast, home of the goddess Organica, tap water has been red-hot for a few years now. What about right here in the gustatory capital of the Free World? What are we doing? Evian, displaced by Fiji, which itself is now pedestrian, has many, many competitors. Marketing agencies have gone into overdrive trying to get us to choose their precious brands. And then there is Kona Nigari, perhaps the most expensive water bottled, although Bling H20 costs more due to the bling embedded in the bottles. We are only just now waking up and saying, "Huh?.

A Big, Fat Foot Weighs In

So now, Mario Batali’s partner at Del Posto, Joe Bastianich has proclaimed,

“Filling cargo ships with water and sending it hundreds and thousands of miles to get it around the world seems ridiculous. With all the other things we do for sustainability, it makes sense [to serve tap water].”

WHAT? Del Posto is hardly the Poster Child for Sustainability. How can this kind of comment be made when Mario Batali is serving up lunches for 6 at the bargain price of $100,000 (YES, $100K) to the “privileged” among us? I am sure those “privileged” few will be more than happy to take a cool bath in Fiji Water right before their Humpback Whale fillets and Condor Egg Tartlettes. Conspicuous consumption on this grand a scale need not be bothered by the pedestrian notions of sustainability or environmental concerns, and certinaly not the provenance of water.

Awash In Our Narcissism

I guess it really should not rankle me so that on the one hand we can cry out for sustainability and the environment and on the other hand cry out for the kind of exclusivity offered by a 100K$ lunch (for 6 people). But it does. And here’s why: It seems that we the hoi polloi must take care not to squander resources and supply because the privileged among us somehow deserve that great big slice of the pie. We will stick to our tap water and our local seasonal greens and root vegetables, while they will fly halfway round the world (passing on their way precious airfreight of endangered species), to have their $100K lunch. They deserve it, as much as the mirror deserves applause for having favorably reflected them.

Nauseating.

Tags:   conspicuous consumption, Del Posto, H2O, Joe Bastianich, Mario Batali, sustainability, trends, Water

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Posted on 5/30/2007 ( Permanent Link )
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