I mentioned that last month the bakery and produce shelves in Tesco were bare, no doubt due to Orkney’s ferries’ inability to sail in inclement weather. Which was true. But as you may have noticed, the rest of Britain is in an uproar at the moment, because produce shelves are bare, most obviously, tomatoes, all across the nation. (As well as tomatoes, there is a shortage of leafy vegetables, cucumbers, and beans, just to name a few.)
There’s a variety of reasons why there is a vegetable shortage here: everything from the weather in Europe and North Africa, to the war in Ukraine and its impact on power generation, to reduced farm labour here in the UK, to . . . . Brexit. That’s the biggie. As a result, major grocers are limiting customers’ purchases, and the prices of many items have shot up.
Late last week the less-than-admired Environment Minister came up with a solution for Brits: eat turnips instead of tomatoes. As you can imagine, this did not go down well with the general populace, and some of the backlash has been quite funny. I come from a turnip-loving family (Blackadder fans will consider that an intriguing statement), but even I see what a stupid comment that was.
And, funnily enough, as of this morning, English grocery stores are now reporting a shortage of turnips. Oh dear.