Let them eat turnips? The salad crunch is on and Brits have had quite enough, thank you.
Turnips #Turnips
THE MARGIN
Lettuce begin.
A food fight has been raging for days in the U.K., with blame laid at the feet of the weather, climate change, the war, even Brexit, as the island economy faces a shortage of tomatoes, leafy greens, peppers and cucumbers. And the locals are getting cranky.
In Europe’s vegetable garden — Spain’s Andalusia region, which is responsible for a chunk of the country’s exports — tomato production is reportedly down 22% in the first few weeks of 2023. Similar troubles have been reported for cucumbers and eggplants after a bout of warm, then cold weather hit crops, with northern Africa seeing similar issues.
Higher energy prices, that have been dogging the U.K. economy for months, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, have led to less production by U.K. and Dutch glasshouse growers, according to the FT. And supermarket Tesco is among those confirming that temporarily are limiting “3 items per customer on our tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.”
The hangover: Energy crisis has left Britain’s pubs feeling hammered
Which brings us to a turnip in the tensions from U.K. Environment Secretary Therese Coffey, who on Thursday suggested Britons eat that in-season veggie instead of tomatoes, which led to a “Let them eat turnips,” comment by Labour MP Ben Bradshaw.
Thus, Twitter decided to feast:
Unfortunately for the U.K., it appears the problems might drag on as the government also warned Thursday of another month of shortages. Add to that a warning from U.K. leek growers — should salad lovers care to get creative — who say their supplies may be drained by April, thanks to a shortage of rain.