Keeping Britain Fed
Ade Adepitan on celebrating the essential workers keeping our supermarket shelves stocked during lockdown
WEDNESDAY / BBC2 I’m interested to see this one-off, in which Sara Cox and Ade Adepitan chart the essential work going on in our supermarkets during the pandemic. We chat to Ade to find out more.
one of us will forget the scenes of panic buying that took place as news of the coronavirus pandemic broke.
Shelves were empty of loo roll and pasta, but since then an army of farmers, suppliers and supermarket staff have worked around the clock to make sure there’s enough food to eat, as Ade Adepitan and Sara Cox discover in BBC2’S new documentary Keeping Britain Fed.
While Sara finds out what goes on in one supermarket during 24 hours, including the vital task
Nof restocking, Ade visits factories and depots as well as a farm in Kent.
‘How our food gets on to our plates is something I’ve previously taken for granted. But the people who make these supply chains work and who have dealt with the increase in demand are far more important than we could have imagined,’ says Ade,
47, who, here, tells TV Times more…
You speak to people working in our food supply chains – did the panic buying take them by surprise? It did and it took them several weeks to catch up with demand. They told me there was always enough for all of us if we’d shopped sensibly.
They weren’t expecting people to panic! This programme demystifies our food supply chains and shows us how they work, as well as what happens when they’re put under pressure.
Tell us about some of the other people you meet…
I chatted to workers in Morrisons in London’s Wood Green and it was fascinating to learn about what it’s like working there during lockdown. We take these people for granted but they’re essential workers and without them the whole country would be stuffed! They’re just trying to make sure the country keeps ticking, but they’re also facing danger and a lot of them have had colleagues go down with COVID-19. They know the risks but they also know how crucial their jobs are.
Behind the beans: Ade finds out about food supply chains
Were there any stories that stood out for you?
I visited a farm in Kent and spoke to a girl who’d lost her job in sales and marketing and decided to get a job picking fruit. She talked about the shock of doing such physical work, but knew that if someone didn’t do it, then we wouldn’t get our food. One farmer I spoke to was taking on furloughed workers and in just one day he hired a former investment banker, a fudge maker and a construction worker. It just shows how much the pandemic has changed lives!
Was there anything else that really surprised you?
I was just flabbergasted by the fact that we bought up the country’s entire supply of flour! Warehouses and distribution centres usually only store enough to meet demand because food is perishable. It was bizarre. Flour isn’t the first thing I’d be thinking of stocking up on. That would be Mini Eggs and wine!
What has been your own experience of food shopping during lockdown?
My local Waitrose in west London has allowed essential workers and those with disabilities to shop at certain times. My wife [singer Linda Harrison] asked me to go shopping and she was fully expecting me to be out there for hours but I was home in 45 minutes with everything on the list. She was really surprised, but I was like, “Well, the local Waitrose allowed me to jump the queue because I was in a wheelchair!”
Do you have any local shop worker heroes?
There’s a shop at the end of our road and the lady who works in there has been great. I’m quite partial to yams and plantains and when the lockdown happened there was a real shortage of them to begin with, so she kept some aside for me! I think lockdown has also helped me to become a lot closer to the people in my community. I used to just mind my own business but now I’m chatting to everyone. I feel like
I’m in my own soap opera!
What’s been the impact of lockdown on your job?
Actually it’s been a bit weird to see my diary so empty. A big chunk of my work is travel-related, and not being able to leave the country has made things a bit complicated. So what you will see is me doing a lot more Uk-based stuff. People are going to need to watch out because they’ll have me knocking on their door – asking for flour!
WITHOUT THEM THE WHOLE COUNTRY WOULD BE STUFFED!
Hannah Davies