BERLIN—For 25 years, Theo Jost served the German Christmas dish of goose in his restaurant near the Black Forest. The birds were fresh, reared by farmers in northern Germany. But this year he took the dish off the menu because rising costs all along the supply chain would have doubled its price compared to last year.
“I said to my son: ‘We can’t expect our guests to pay 60–70 euros ($62–75) for a serving of goose,’” Jost told Reuters.
That would be beyond the budgets of Germans looking to cut back on non-essentials amid a cost of living crisis fuelled by rising energy prices. They surged as the world emerged from pandemic lockdowns in 2021 and have been pushed yet higher in the stand-off between gas-rich Russia and the West….