Shortage of tomatoes in the middle of February

[Stillcountingbeans]

Oh how my great-grandmother would have laughed!

www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/21/asda-morrisons-ration-tomatoes-peppers-fruit-shortages

There are some good seasonal veg choices on that bbc list someone posted above. Problem is, they aren't available. They're not celebrated, or purchased. In countries such as Italy, they have less choice but better quality and big, enticing displays of it.

You aren't going to see big enticing displays of celeriac, salsify, purple sprouting broccoli, different types of cabbage and cauliflower here, unless maybe you go to a posh supermarket.

In season now are Jerusalem artichokes, radicchio, celeriac etc. I'd buy them. My local supermarket doesn't stock anything like that. It has normal orange carrots. It doesn't even have bunches of carrots where the carrots are smaller and sweeter and have the tops attached. This is why our winter produce is so boring. I could go to the greengrocers but I can only go on a weekend and it is about 10 miles away and I don't choose to spend my time doing that on a weekend.

And how are the homegrown pineapples and mangoes coming along?
All of this back-to-the-40s we can supply our own food stuff is making me laugh. We haven't been self sufficient in food for a very long time.
By 1939 we were importing 60% of our food, it's not a new thing. This is why the u-boats sinking merchant ships was such a disaster and there was rationing.
Even the stuff we do grow is rotting in the ground because we've sent all of the seasonal pickers home.
Remember last year when thousands of pigs were destroyed because there was a shortage of abattoir workers?
No wonder we got Brexit. We can't survive on our own...we almost never could.
Sanctimonious nonsense about eating turnips is unrealistic.

The UK imports food, always has always will. Nobody is making an argument for self-sufficiency, it is not doable.

Nobody wants to go back to the 1940's and the sufficient calories of 1947 after the end of Lend-Lease. Well maybe the Tories who insisted that after Brexit 'Britons will have “enough calories” to survive'.

We do need more robustness in our food production, supply chains and seemingly our kitchens. Famous chefs have been touting the 'eat seasonally' line for decades. It is a line that appears to have fallen upon deaf ears.

Fresh tomatoes in February are a nice treat for Sunday afternoon tea, they shouldn't be the mainstay of our diets. We shouldn't be shocked when there are supply issues.

The irony is that in order to eat turnips, I'd have to head to a Michelin star restaurant.

Fresh tomatoes in February are a nice treat for Sunday afternoon tea, they shouldn't be the mainstay of our diets.

Tomatoes for Afternoon Tea ☕️?? I'd rather have scones with strawberry jam!

Lettuce tomatoes and cucumber will now be luxury items in one country in Europe.

There's absolutely nothing 'luxurious' about imported bland tomatoes and cucumbers!

It has been suggested that Britain could indeed be self sufficient in food:

www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/can-britain-farm-itself-2

This is not to say that we will never have tea, coffee, spices, citrus etc., of course we will continue to import these as luxuries as we always have. Instead this article is taking about staples and basics.

One of the biggest hurdles is patterns of land-ownership, lack of social housing in rural areas, and therefore lack of a sufficient farming labour force.

Don't say that. My husband is bring me some home from Bosnia tomorrow and I'm really excited.

There's nothing luxurious about basic staple fruit and veg we've all grown up eating.

It's the price which will be luxury level due to the state of our Brexit economy.

You may remember that Brexit economist Patrick Minford said that Brexit would be the end for British farming.

Judging by government policy, that is the plan.

Pre-Brexit we were always able to weather small supply chain hiccups, but we're not able to do that any more. Brexit trade barriers make us more vulnerable and exposed when "weather" happens, and also reduces our ability to buy our way out of trouble with our rich country spending power because Brexit is making us less prosperous every day we continue with it.

I assume that's what all this seasonal talk is about. People knowing it's because of Brexit and not wanting to face up to that.

I wasn't thinking in terms of Brexit at all, but I guess the biggest impact of Brexit on farming is the lack of cheap labour.
We can't approach food security without addressing the labour and rural housing issues.
We can't address food security and our carbon footprint without looking at the amount of food we fly in by air or import in refrigerated lorries.

When economic times are hard, imported salad in February is a luxury, if it is available at all. People will have to get used to the choice between spending more or eating seasonally.

I think we should make the economic times better so people don't have to.

We don't have to be on this downward trajectory

It's the price which will be luxury level due to the state of our Brexit economy.

The price will only increase if demand outstrips supply. If we refuse to buy imported tomatoes then the prices won't rise

Interestingly, at our local Waitrose this morning there were lots of packs of today with yellow 'reduced' stickers...

Pack of tomatoes (sorry)

Well I went to Aldi this morning and there were loads, obviously salad dodgers round our way! It was limited to 3 packs, but thats fair.

Limiting will change it a fair bit as it will limit businesses bulk buying first thing

Why would we refuse to buy imported tomatoes?

That depends on your diet. I eat them much more than potatoes

@verdantverdure
Why would we refuse to buy imported tomatoes?

Because they taste rubbish in the middle of winter.
Because of food miles and climate change.
Because they are more expensive in the middle of winter.

Why would we refuse to buy imported tomatoes?

Because they are tasteless and flying them to the UK produces carbon.

Honestly, freshly picked tomatoes from local farms in the summer taste SO good!

I would never dream of buying tomatoes in the winter.

The only tomato based dishes I make in winter use tinned tomatoes.

Ok, but that's not going to happen.

Year round salad is part of our culture that most of us have grown up with.

That's why everyone is so shocked at the empty shelves.

Because we've never had this before.

Well, I'm nearly 60, and was not very well off as a child, so I do remember endless carrots, swede, cabbage and parsnips in the winter. It was pretty grim to be honest, we ate the veg that Grandad grew on the allotment. And without imported things, frozen and tinned veg it does get pretty boring.

Year round salad is part of our culture that most of us have grown up with.

Yes, but how about varying the salad ingredients throughout the year? Maybe British grown roasted butternut squash and feta salad instead of imported tomatoes and cucumbers?

Stillcountingbeans · 21/02/2023 18:26
Funnily enough I saw on the TV the other day that they are now growing tea plants in Cornwall.“

Tregothnan Estate has been growing tea for about 20 years. Very good it is too. They grow dinosaur Christmas trees, too 😁

I guess, because it's not what we've grown up with, or what we want.

Lettuce, cucumber and tomato is salad to us.

I am mindful of seasonal eating and food miles but Spain and the Netherlands aren't that far away, imports are half our food supply for a reason, and until we become "East Germany in the 80s" I think I'm still free to buy and eat the usual British basic staple foods we all know and love.

We love butternut squash. But it's not salad. I'm not putting it in a salad sandwich.