Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Food & Drink => Topic started by: Jaded on 18 February, 2023, 12:28:41 pm
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Not a cucumber to be found.
I believe tomatoes are in short supply too.
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That is your evening ruined
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Riding the green lizard?
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Cucumbers are pointless watery green tubes, but tomatoes are serious.
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Cucumbers are pointless watery green tubes, but tomatoes are serious.
Indeed...
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Philosophy is wondering if a Bloody Mary counts as a smoothie.
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Cucumbers are pointless watery green tubes, but tomatoes are serious.
I think D would agree with that.
I like cucumbers and have had no supply issues, though have pickles for these, and whim.
AIUI Tomatoes have quite a lot of glutamic acid, which makes them serious (umami) cookery flavour enhancers.
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Cucumbers are pointless watery green tubes, but tomatoes are serious.
No cucumber = no tzaziki.
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To be fair, we really shouldn’t be expecting to have tomatoes and cucumbers in February anyway.
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Mangel-wurzels and cabbages for all.
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Saved by Waitrose...
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No tomatoes in Morrisons yesterday - picked the last 2 packs up from Aldi. Issues with deliveries from Spain apparently
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Auntie reports Tomatogeddon…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64712361 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64712361)
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None in Sains or Trose tonight. Brexit bastards.
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No tomatoes or cucumber in that Tesco they have in Durham.
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I had a tomato with my tea today. I don't even like tomatoes that much. I call it "duty salad".
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I picked up one of the last packs of toms in Sainos last night.
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I shall treat this shortage of (spits) salad with equanimity.
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So whats going on here?
All the main media (TV and print) say its because of bad weather in Spain and Morocco. However the rest of Europe appears to have no problems with getting fresh tomato's or any other kind of fruit or veg.
If the shortage really is confined to the UK then perhaps journalists should be reporting exactly why in a bit more detail than "retail associations says bad weather".
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..
All the main media (TV and print) say its because of bad weather in Spain and Morocco. However the rest of Europe appears to have no problems with getting fresh tomato's or any other kind of fruit or veg. ..
What I heard (but can't remember which R4 programme) was that European countries were subject to the same problems, but suppliers there were more willing to pay higher prices and pass them on to customers.
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This is what Riverford have to say on the matter
Images of bare supermarket shelves are spreading on social media and news headlines are referencing fresh food shortages.
The issues are mainly to do with low temperatures in Spain, which is affecting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other crops. There’s plenty in the fields/in polytunnels, but the food isn’t growing/ripening due to colder than normal temperatures.
In the UK, we are so used to having a year-round supply of foods from a global market. Bananas, tomatoes, peppers, even asparagus and berries – they are all available whenever we may want them on supermarket shelves. We have lost our sense of seasonality.
So when shortages crop up, like they are now, wholesale costs shoot up. Peppers are almost triple the wholesale price right now.
Our growers are experiencing the same issues and have less availability than planned for us (50% less), but there are still some tomatoes and peppers to send our way.
They could get twice (if not more) the price for their tomatoes and peppers right now, but are honouring their word and selling them to us for the previously agreed price.
This is all down to a mutual respect and strong, personal relationships. We commit to buy set amounts from our growers, way ahead of harvest, and often before they have even planted the crop – this is almost unheard of in our industry, and offers farmers a level of security which is so rare in supermarket supply chains.
They don’t have to make the same commitment back – we don’t put pressure on them to provide a set amount, because you never know what might happen in the world of farming (i.e unpredictable weather), and this kind of pressure is what forces many supermarket growers to overproduce, to make sure they have enough available for however much a supermarket might want to buy at any one time. This leads to huge amounts of food waste.
So if you’re wondering why Riverford is seemingly the only place where you can find tomatoes right now, we hope this explains why (as well as highlighting how fragile food security is in the UK!).
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In the UK, we are so used to having a year-round supply of foods from a global market. Bananas, tomatoes, peppers, even asparagus and berries – they are all available whenever we may want them on supermarket shelves. We have lost our sense of seasonality.
This is a basic point, and I think Citoyen raised it above. But just one nit to pick – bananas are not seasonal. :D
I noticed tomatoes in the Coop yesterday, but they looked pretty anaemic. I didn't notice the price cos I didn't want any. Couldn't see any cucumbers.
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All the main media (TV and print) say its because of bad weather in Spain and Morocco. However the rest of Europe appears to have no problems with getting fresh tomato's or any other kind of fruit or veg. ..
What I heard (but can't remember which R4 programme) was that European countries were subject to the same problems, but suppliers there were more willing to pay higher prices and pass them on to customers.
Stands to reason that if you've got a limited number of items to sell, you'll prefer to sell them to the people who don't require you to do a pile of extra paperwork and have the lorries sit in a massive queueueueue, so BRITAIN is going to get last dibs.
I read that part of the underlying cause was long-term water shortages in the tomato-growing regions of Spain, exacerbated by the water-growing regions wanting to keep it for themselves. Obviously that's the stuff of climate change, and is about as likely to be reported in the UK media as the consequences of Brexit.
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However the rest of Europe appears to have no problems with getting fresh tomato's or any other kind of fruit or veg. ..
British supermarkets tend to have long term contracts with growers, fixed price.
I hear that European retailers work on shorter term supply chains, with prices based on the monthly averages at the big auctions, so currently higher prices. Growers will be more willing to supply to European retailers than the British
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And it's been known since last year that British growers were planning to grow less or no early crops, as the cost of heating glasshouses has become prohibitive. If we want British glasshouse-grown produce in the winter, it has to be more expensive. Otherwise, as now, we are at the mercy of world markets and weather effects.
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The Duracell of Stupid, John Redwood has opined 'now we are short of imported salad food will the government do more to support UK farmers growing the food we need? Stop subsidies to leave land wild and spend the money on new food growing.'
Good luck growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the UK in February.
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The Duracell of Stupid, John Redwood has opined 'now we are short of imported salad food will the government do more to support UK farmers growing the food we need? Stop subsidies to leave land wild and spend the money on new food growing.'
Good luck growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the UK in February.
Neeps all round \o/
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We're off to sunny Spain tomorrow. How much is 20kg of tomatoes worth?
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This is what Riverford have to say on the matter
Possibly the same with Abel and Cole as tomatoes arrived this morning, no higher cost than normal ( yes I know that they are always expensive!)
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The Duracell of Stupid, John Redwood has opined 'now we are short of imported salad food will the government do more to support UK farmers growing the food we need? Stop subsidies to leave land wild and spend the money on new food growing.'
Good luck growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the UK in February.
Those devious FOREIGNS in The Nether Regions seem to manage it. Or rather they did. Seems heating and lighting their greenhouses currently costs more than they can recoup on flogging tomatoes, so they ent bothering this year, at least according to some chap on the tellybox last night.
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The Duracell of Stupid, John Redwood has opined 'now we are short of imported salad food will the government do more to support UK farmers growing the food we need? Stop subsidies to leave land wild and spend the money on new food growing.'
Good luck growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the UK in February.
Those devious FOREIGNS in The Nether Regions seem to manage it. Or rather they did. Seems heating and lighting their greenhouses currently costs more than they can recoup on flogging tomatoes, so they ent bothering this year, at least according to some chap on the tellybox last night.
They're also suffering because production of the once extremely cheap gas their country sits on is being phased out by their government.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/dutch-limit-groningen-gas-production-28-bcm-20222023-2022-09-26/
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Good luck growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the UK in February.
Just down the road from me is Thanet Earth, which is Europe's largest greenhouse and where a lot of the UK's unseasonal produce is grown. They've had to cut back production in the last six months due to the prohibitive costs of heating and lighting.
And they can't just put their prices up to cover production costs because the supermarkets won't pay them.
Obviously, in the long term, the supermarket model is unsustainable and prices will have to go up to reflect the costs of production/transport. But given that this will make some things unaffordable, perhaps it will help to drive a move back towards people buying more local, seasonal produce (currently the preserve of the farmer's market classes).
If the current problems help highlight how dysfunctional our relationship is with food, it may not be such a bad thing.
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Good luck growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the UK in February.
Just down the road from me is Thanet Earth, which is Europe's largest greenhouse and where a lot of the UK's unseasonal produce is grown.
Do they grow durian durian?
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Good luck growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the UK in February.
Just down the road from me is Thanet Earth, which is Europe's largest greenhouse and where a lot of the UK's unseasonal produce is grown.
Do they grow durian durian?
No idea but... Very good! :thumbsup:
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Somebody Tweeted a well-stocked tomato tray in a shop.
In war-torn Ukraine.
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Underfunded OAPs
Turn to a life of crime
The great cucumber robberies of 1989
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Qu'ils mangent du navet.
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Turnip anyone?
Latest gubbermint advice...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/23/food-shortages-environment-secretary-urges-britons-cherish-turnips
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If I were halfway artistic, I'd carve a turnip to resemble Ms Coffey and pop on some spectacles...
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Not much effort needed, I would think.
Does that person really think that there are turnips galore, just waiting to fee the hungry, deprived hordes?
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The farm that supplied most of Britain's turnips stopped growing them last year.
Costs, Labour shortages, low demand.
I'm about to sow some cress on the windowsill. Pea sprouts already under way...
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Tomatoes (some) & cucumbers in Saino's this morning.
No cucumber and a few tomatoes in Waitrose.
But no turnips anywhere, so I bought a parsnip instead.
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What really grinds my gourd is that they seem to treat this as some sort of joke. Literally a Marie Antoinette 'let them eat cake' attitude.
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I'd ask for your ground gourd recipe, only it's hard to get gourds now. D'you think melons would do instead?
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According to my wife, recently returned from the local supermarkets, there's fuck-all veg of any variety in any of them. Carnivory it is then. I give it two weeks until we're all roasting squirrels and grubbing up dandelion roots.*
*for the record, all parts of the dandelion are quite nice.
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Why is Parsley Root so unobtanium in the UK?
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I'm giving up salad for lent.
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Jay Rayner has it spot on:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/25/you-can-blame-the-weather-and-brexit-but-theres-more-to-the-uks-food-supply-crisis
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Except for the misguided notion that the Lea Valley is “around” London, that is ;)
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We need on the one hand to deal with the functioning of our food system and on the other with poverty, with a chronically unequal distribution of wealth. We need to stop talking about food poverty and just call it poverty.
Agree totally. Food poverty, fuel poverty, period poverty and every other specific poverty are just weasel words.
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He’s very right. The issue isn’t the cost of things. It’s that people aren’t being paid enough to afford them. Unconscionable and immoral.
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Spaigno today
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52711367513_e6ffd6ac5b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2oiVx8g)
20230225_223001 (https://flic.kr/p/2oiVx8g) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
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One Aldi had loads of cucumber yesterday, I didn't look at the price.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fp1tkRvXgAAZgEM?format=jpg&name=medium)
Cold War Steve fires in the winner.
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(https://www.kentonline.co.uk/_media/img/5CJ7IJSS0KR8T01VVK4V.jpg)
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If I have four tomatoes in my left hand, and three tomatoes in my right hand, what do I have?
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The undivided attention of HMRC?
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Membership of the EU…
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Scored 6 tomatoes in Morrisons yesterday. Result.
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Cold War Steve fires in the winner.
That is brilliant but too close to the bone to be funny.
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Cold War Steve fires in the winner.
That is brilliant but too close to the bone to be funny.
This is worse:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52713694768_243f5b20bc_c.jpg)
Bloody Flickr wossname to allow copy'n'paste of bbcode is b0rked again, at least on Chrome for iOS >:(
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This is worse:
True though.
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In 200 years, I'll be able to laugh about Jacob Rees-Mogg.
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I have had my delivery from Mr Sainsbury. In it, I received:
2 small packs of tomatoes*
1 pack 2 Romaine lettuce*
1 pack Imperfectly Tasty peppers*
A cucumber
Lots of other stuffs.
I reckon those on home delivery have their orders picked before the marauding hordes are admitted, so I've sort of jumped the queueue.
*Acceptable substitutes for ordered items
Ought I feel guilty?
We don't waste food and the fridge was almost empty yesterday.
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No shortage of tomatoes, cucumbers and other veg here. But what I couldn't find today was rice. Or rather, there was rice, but it was all in fancy ready-cook pouches. I guess these have higher margin, maybe? They certainly have higher prices! So I had pasta instead.
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Thérèse Coffey’s ‘eat turnips’ message leaves bitter taste after UK’s biggest grower gives up
Environment secretary’s response to salad shortages suggests she was unaware vegetable farmer – in her constituency – was forced to quit due to costs (https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/mar/18/therese-coffeys-eat-turnips-message-leaves-bitter-taste-after-uks-biggest-grower-gives-up)