We’ll Learn to Cook Creatively

As supermarket stocks dwindle and out-of-season fruit and veg becomes harder to come by, we’ll make do and amend our recipes

The pandemic is a reminder of the delicacy of our food needs, says Professor Tim Lang, founder of City University’s Centre for Food Policy and author of the well-timed book Feeding Britain: Our Food Problems and How to

Fix Them – which sold out with the pasta.

Panic buying has become a tabloid trope, but data shows that customers were largely picking up just a few extra items. That small change in buying habits was enough to upset the apple cart of the big chains’ “just-in-time” model, in which supermarkets display almost all of their stock and top up with daily deliveries. This keeps costs low but is ripe for disruption.

We won’t enjoy such a wealth of food options for much longer. “Some things will go short,” says Lang. Dry goods will be less affected, but fresh produce – much of which comes from Europe, or further afield in Africa – could be hard to get without a global movement of goods and migrant workers to pick it all. Despite our benign conditions and fertile land, Britain is dependent on the fruits of other countries’ labour year-round. “Seasonal” could soon literally mean seasonal, and “tropical” could once again become truly exotic.

Supermarkets may carry a smaller range of more reliably replenishable lines, from UK manufacturers where possible. Weekly fruit and veg delivery boxes could become a staple of our shopping, through a get-what-you’re-given ethos. But apart from “leave it to Tesco et al”, there’s no real plan, says Professor Lang. As he argues in an open letter to Defra, supply chains should prioritise nutrition and horticulture should be doubling or trebling planting. That would also help to create jobs and meet climate change goals. Otherwise, it’ll be business mostly as usual – comfort food for some, not sustenance for all.