The food intellectual community (e.g. Michael Pollan and Alice Waters) and fast-food industry leaders (e.g. Burger King’s John Chidsey) view rising food prices, especially in basic commodities, as a potentially good thing for their respective culinary evangelizing.

In a Wall Street Journal interview this week, BK’s Chidsey, who has earned industry respect for strengthening the market position of the second-leading hamburger chain, had this to say about fast food’s resilience against “fast-casual” restaurants:

“If you look in the fast-food hamburger space, it is unfortunate for the greater economy as a whole, but we benefit from the pressure people feel from a disposable-income standpoint. People who cannot afford to go to Applebee’s, cannot afford to go to Chili’s, we are the beneficiaries of that squeeze. It’s very hard for me to imagine that the economy could ever get so bad that somebody could not afford to go buy a Double Cheeseburger from McDonald’s or a Whopper Jr. from us for $1. If you go to the grocery store, I really challenge you to find something for under $1.”

Chidsey, who also recently announced the development of stylish, Whopper bars for small retail spaces, obviously is quite confident about his assertions, especially given his confidence in the fast-food industry’s capacity to respond to changing customer demands and needs. For February, McDonald’s reported sales were up 11.7 percent over the comparable period last year. From its report:

“February comparable sales increased 8.3% in the U.S. as McDonald’s market-leading breakfast, Premium Roast Coffee and everyday value offerings continue to fuel performance.”

For Burger King, U.S. and Canada sales in the most recent fiscal quarter were up more than 4.2 percent, the 15th straight quarter of sales growth. Earnings per share increased by 29 percent, to $0.36.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the food spectrum, Pollan and Waters say the time clearly has come to pay the piper given the long-running tradition of hefty government subsidies for growing cheaply commodities such as grain, sugar, corn and livestock in large corporate farms. In an April 2 New York Times article, Pollan was quoted:

“It’s very hard to argue for higher food prices because you are ceding popular high ground to McDonald’s when you do that … [but] higher food prices level the playing field for sustainable food that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels.”

Alice Waters, founder and owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, was even more blunt:

“Make a sacrifice on the cellphone or the third pair of Nike shoes.”

It certainly is too soon to tell who is right although the Consumer Price Index for fresh produce recently indicates that consumers may benefit, pricewise, from purchasing from local growers or farmer’s markets. The CPI index for that category actually is lower than last year. Chad Midgley, the gentleman farmer from Bountiful who has been occasionally featured in this blog, has read the signals with a wise sense of opportunity. A regular fixture at the Downtown Alliance’s Farmer’s Market each summer, Midgley has managed to sustain an active weekly presence each Saturday at The Avenues Bakery in downtown, weather permitting, selling a wide range of produce and fresh eggs from his true free-range chickens. He ends his weekly email missive to his ever-increasing customer list with this statement:

“We see everybody either going Wal-Mart crazy or Wild Oats crazy. Quoting an All-Organic Heirloom Seed Catalog named Baker Creek Seeds. it says, ‘We see corporations like Wal-Mart taking a large share of the new organic market. These huge corporations work fervently to DILUTE the Organic rules and make them meaningless. This makes it all the more important to support local food instead of COMMERCIAL Organic food that has a major chemical footprint in shipping, and is usually mass-produced much the same as conventional methods.”

And, as for Chidsey’s assertions about restaurant preferences, they should be considered suspect. If, indeed, we are in a recession, tell that to restaurant owners who still report consistently active traffic to their locations, especially on weekend evenings. Certainly, Takashi’s phenomenal sushi restaurant in downtown shows no abatement in business (as do other solidly respectable establishments). Evening dinner service at Takashi’s always opens with an enthusiastic line of customers waiting patiently to be seated.

Quality does matter, and I leave with a highly enlightening example from John Piquet, co-owner of Caffe d’bolla who recently featured this on his blog:

“Jesus, as is (hey-soos) [real name unknown] is a former veteran who’s lost most touch with reality and is a semi-transient artist who has been coming to our caffe off and on since our opening year.

“Much can be learned about the truth of recession and how it relates to discretionary, or luxury, spending when you examine Jesus.

“Jesus does not have a lot of discretionary income, in fact, he has little income at all. He receives a monthly check from the government, but most of his time is spent walking about talking complete nonsense and occasionally selling hand drawn artwork at the park for about three to ten bucks a drawing.

“Compare Jesus to the overspending Yuppie or general young idiot. You have someone with a livable income who has spent well outside their means. Luxury items to them may not be a big deal, but the house they couldn’t afford is, as well as their other mis-management of money habits.

“Jesus has a usual routine: He quietly mumbles his order, an Americano–16 ounce, and sometimes gets two while he sits out on the patio and draws, mumbles about people chasing him with electric griddles (I kid you not!), or both.

“He could walk anywhere and get a cup for a buck fifty or less, but with his limited resources he comes here. And as someone else was standing in line asking about the Americano, he brazenly mumbled, “best coffee in the city.”

“Those who have less, spend it more thoughtfully, and actually they increase the luxury, but decrease the frequency. Recession. Bullshit. For those who have little money, spend wisely, like Jesus.”

John’s post reminded me of M. F. K. Fisher’s classic books, The Art of Eating and How to Cook A Wolf, which really drive this sentiment home. Fisher summarized the legacy for those who have lived through such grim times when she wrote: “… butter, no matter how unlimited, is a precious substance not lightly to be wasted; meats, too, and eggs, and all the far-brought spices of the world, take on a new significance, having once been so rare. And that is good, for there can be no more shameful carelessness than with the food we eat for life itself. When we exist without thought or thanksgiving we are not men, but beasts.”