{"id":265921,"date":"2023-03-06T08:13:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T08:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=265921"},"modified":"2023-03-08T08:26:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T08:26:15","slug":"the-uk-is-rationing-vegetables-its-all-about-normalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=265921","title":{"rendered":"The UK is \u201crationing\u201d vegetables\u2026&#038; it\u2019s all about normalization"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Kit Knightly &#8212; Off-Guardian Feb 28, 2023<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The past few days have seen certain fruits and vegetables \u201crationed\u201d by major UK supermarkets. Aldi, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury\u2019s have all put limits on customer purchases of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers.<\/p>\n<p>Just yesterday, Lidl <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-11798117\/Lidl-latest-supermarket-ration-vegetables.html\">added their own name to that list<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Many \u2013 including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/brexit-food-supermarkets-ration-b2287198.html\">Justin King, former Sainsbury\u2019s CEO<\/a> \u2013 have jumped at the chance to lay the blame at Brexit\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n<p>But that doesn\u2019t make much sense, since Morrocco \u2013 whence the UK imports a lot of salad vegetables \u2013 obviously isn\u2019t in the EU. Further, Ireland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/food\/2023\/02\/21\/supply-of-vegetables-to-ireland-disrupted-by-poor-weather-and-energy-costs\/\">has been affected too<\/a>, plus we\u2019re only 5 months removed from France (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/8016d3a2-a8b4-4f43-820f-678d5f2aea22\">other EU nations<\/a>) facing their own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/world\/french-farmers-warn-of-food-supply-collapse-due-to-energy-crisis\/2720440\">\u201ccatastrophic food shortages\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The other side of the Brexit divide is firmly set on blaming any shortages on the weather. Of course, that\u2019s also helpful to the establishment narrative since the \u201cbad weather\u201d angle can be swiftly and easily parlayed into discussions about climate change. In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotsman.com\/news\/opinion\/columnists\/climate-change-supermarket-food-shortages-are-a-warning-of-what-life-could-be-like-in-the-near-future-scotsman-comment-4037853\">it already has been<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The real reason there are shortages \u2013 supposing there are <em>real<\/em> shortages, not just psy-op nonsense like the toilet paper fiasco at the beginning of the \u201cpandemic\u201d \u2013 is that, one way or another, they have been engineered.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">How to create a tomato shortage&#8230;<br \/>1) Tell people there&#39;s a tomato shortage. <br \/>2) People panic buy tomatoes.<br \/>3) There&#39;s a tomato shortage.<br \/>Don&#39;t be part of it folks.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dr Zoe Harcombe, PhD (@zoeharcombe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zoeharcombe\/status\/1630118794214481920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The cost of producing, harvesting and transporting all crops has spiked because the cost of oil and gas was deliberately inflated. The cost of growing crops has increased because there is a \u201cshortage\u201d of fertiliser \u2013 likewise purposefully created.<\/p>\n<p>Both of these are \u201cblamed\u201d on the war in Ukraine, but the war but both the energy crisis and fertiliser crisis predate the war in Ukraine (see <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/energy-price-crisis-what-can-i-do-to-shield-my-family-from-surging-bills-12412708\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/environment\/2021\/nov\/25\/fertilizer-shortage-north-america-farmers-food-prices\">here<\/a>). We <a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2022\/04\/25\/5-signs-they-are-creating-a-food-crisis\/\">covered this in detail<\/a> last spring when \u201cfood shortages\u201d first hit the headlines.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Ukraine, it\u2019s currently easier to get tomatoes in war-torn Kherson than in London. That\u2019s the reality we\u2019re being presented with.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">No tomato shortage here &#8211; but I\u2019m in Kherson, a frontline Ukrainian city that gets shelled by the Russians daily, not a British supermarket. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FFbVAf1zHC\">pic.twitter.com\/FFbVAf1zHC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lindseyhilsum\/status\/1628704365618798592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 23, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In short, the rationing is just another narrative that doesn\u2019t make internal sense. It\u2019s due to Brexit but isn\u2019t. It\u2019s due to the weather, but not everywhere. It\u2019s a in some stores and not others and apparently in some<em> places<\/em> but not others and apparently <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=tomatoes%20local%20shop&amp;src=typed_query&amp;f=top\">only affecting major supermarkets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamesMelville\/status\/1629764499237470216\">one farmer<\/a>, these supermarkets could make up the shortfall in imports by buying domestically grown produce, but are refusing to incur those costs. Further evidence that the food shortage narrative must be serving a purpose.<\/p>\n<p>And all the while empty shelves and rationing are being normalised.<\/p>\n<p>Neil Oliver nailed it in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gbnews.uk\/opinion\/theyre-rationing-tomatoes-were-told-its-about-supply-chains-bad-weather-and-the-price-of-heating-but-right-now-in-terms-of-the-messaging-i-suspect-its-more-about-pushing-the-word-rationing-neil-oliver\/448702\">his most recent monologue<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">They\u2019re rationing tomatoes in the supermarkets. We\u2019re told it\u2019s about supply chains, bad weather and the price of heating, but right now, in terms of the messaging, I suspect it\u2019s more about pushing the word \u2013 rationing. Less about any believable shortage of food and more about getting us used to hearing the word.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">No doubt, if experience is anything to go by, the rest will come later. My money says the rationing app for our smartphones is already sitting on a hard drive somewhere, ready when we are.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">For now, it\u2019s more of a familiar process of psychological manipulation. Get us acquainted with the general idea of food scarcity so that we\u2019re well-primed when the planned reality is unrolled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">We were given the same treatment with words like \u201clockdown\u201d and \u201cpandemic\u201d, \u201cmandate\u201d and \u201cdenier\u201d. Nudge, nudge. Rationing is a word from our parents\u2019 and grandparents\u2019 generation, a bit like \u201cWar in Europe\u201d and \u201cFascist\u201d and now they\u2019re back in fashion once more. Rationing, I ask you, while the landfills swell with fresh food dumped every day.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all it\u2019s about. And it is carefully calculated.<\/p>\n<p>Just as Roald Dahl is the first little taste of retroactive censorship \u2013 made acceptable by both his controversial legacy and the fact he wrote for children \u2013 this is the thin end of the rationing wedge. It\u2019s just tomatoes, after all. No hardship is it?<\/p>\n<p>And yet the head of the UK\u2019s Farmers Union said it would likely get worse, calling it<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/environment\/2023\/feb\/25\/vegetable-shortages-in-uk-could-be-tip-of-iceberg-says-farming-union\"> \u201cthe tip of the iceberg\u201d<\/a> (he wasn\u2019t even making a lettuce pun, which is an awful wasted opportunity).<\/p>\n<p>Maybe we should <a href=\"https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/features\/food\/feature-hopping-mad-japan's-edible-bug-industry-takes-giant-leap-forward\">all eat insects<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/internationalsupermarketnews.com\/europe-lagging-in-lab-grown-meat-race-report-reveals\/business\/\">lab-grown paste <\/a>instead of importing vegetables, amiright?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Support Off-Guardian<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/liberapay.com\/OffGuardian\/donate\">Liberapay<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/offguardian\">Subscribestar<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/offguardian\">Ko-fi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2023\/02\/28\/the-uk-is-rationing-vegetables-its-all-about-normalization\/\">Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kit Knightly wonders, is this to get us acquainted with the general idea of food scarcity so that we\u2019re well-primed when the planned reality is unrolled?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":265925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,61,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Behind_The_News","category-Commentary","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=265921"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265924,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265921\/revisions\/265924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/265925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=265921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=265921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=265921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}