Red alert: Italian restaurants lean into tomato-free dishes thanks to veg rationing

Red alert: Italian restaurants lean into tomato-free dishes thanks to veg rationing

Daniel Sheppard, Content Writer UK, Thatsup Daniel Sheppard, Content Writer UK, Thatsup
Daniel Sheppard

Empty supermarket shelves have become a recurring sight over the past few years, but instead of the peak lockdown era's lack of toilet roll, it's the produce section that lays barren now. The shortage of fruit and vegetables thanks to bad weather and questionable political decisions, combined with the rising costs of just about everything, is taking its toll on the restaurant sector as well, with Italian restaurants hit especially hard.

According to The Guardian, thanks to the price of tomatoes quadrupling over the past year and the price of canned tomatoes doubling, Italian restaurants, already facing post-Covid difficulties, rising energy costs, staff shortages and more, are cutting back on the pomodori. Instead, “white” sauces are spreading across the menus at many eateries, replacing the classic pizza tomato base and forcing chefs to turn to ingredients such as ricotta to firm up their pasta sauces. 

It's not just tomatoes that are the issue, however. In news that are sure to make schoolchildren everywhere weep with joy, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers and peppers are also in increasingly short supply. 

The UK government is supposedly on the job, however, with a spokesperson telling The Guardian that ministers will be holding an industry roundtable discussion with supermarkets about how to help return supplies to normal. Until then, consider carrying some red dye with you when you go for pizza.

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