No more than three tomatoes and three cucumbers per person, and the same goes for salads and peppers. Rationing decided by some supermarkets. There is no shortage, but bad weather in Spain and North Africa has reduced harvests and therefore exports; and across the Channel, soaring prices are not helping producers. In London, the population is not yet ready to do without these summer foods.
With our correspondent in London, Marie Boeda
Not a tomato in this Tesco Capital, the UK’s largest supermarket chain; a few cucumbers and peppers above which a sign asks customers to leave some for others.
Gabrielle goes to the fruit and vegetable stand, she looks for the tomatoes. “ I eat it all the time she says. I plan to buy some today if there are any. I use them in all my recipes every day. But it doesn’t matter if I don’t buy one once. »
Richard, a sandwich in his hand, will do without it today, but he has no plans to change his diet: ” It’s true that we are used to having everything we want when we want all the time. It’s a challenge. Sixty years ago, you had to eat what grew locally. »
Tomatoes for Easter
Theresa Coffey, Secretary of State for Food and Agriculture, tried to explain it to Parliament. “ We must cherish the specialties of our country” she explained. And to praise turnips, a local and seasonal production while consumers are looking for lettuces and tomatoes… ” Eat turnips “, So, this is the solution, mocks a Labor MP on Twitter.
Don’t panic, according to the country’s largest tomato producer, ” we’ll go from starvation to feast in one fell swoop “. There rising energy prices delayed greenhouse plantings, but UK tomatoes will be back just after Easter.
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