If you were a bag of rice, you’d be feeling pretty damn good about yourself right now. Why? Well, rice along with pasta, flour, eggs, minced meat and canned tomatoes, to name a few, are hot commodities at the moment.
As Hamish Blake put it in March last year (when those of us in Sydney went through lockdown for the first time) when it comes to pasta specifically, there is a Pasta Popularity Hierarchy that’s been dictating what we’ve been purchasing throughout the pandemic. One that’s caused risoni to fall to the bottom.
But the pasta type that’s pretending to be rice isn’t the only food item left by the wayside during panic buying 2.0, which has caused some shopping limits to be brought back. Because did we learn nothing the first time this happened? Clearly not.
A number of food items have found out the hard way that most people don’t want to eat them voluntarily. And they definitely don’t want to eat them during lockdown, even when there’s a shortage on a number of other products. Harsh.
As pointed out by a shopper in 2020, one of these is kohlrabi, otherwise known as a German turnip.
“Ten seasons of MasterChef was all for nothing if people still don’t know what to do with kohlrabi…” the shopper wrote alongside the image.
So I took a stroll of my local supermarket (pre ‘no browsing’ so don’t @ me) to see what else we’re not big fans of. And as Aussies, it said a lot about us.
Here are some of the items being left on our supermarket shelves:
1. Brussels sprouts
Your parents couldn’t get you to eat them as a kid and as it turns out, most of us don’t want to eat them as adults either.
2. Lasagna sheets
Maybe making a tray of lasagna went in the too hard basket during this lockdown. But every other type of fresh pasta was wiped out except these babies.
3. Practically anything plant-based
Now the reason why there are so many plant-based products still available is an interesting one to consider. Is it that no one wants them or are vegetarians and vegans just more conscious of the needs of those around them and only take what they need?
4. Including frozen vegetable burgers
Yes, the vegans and vegetarians are definitely not the ones panic buying.
5. And plant-based sausages
Refer back to points three and four.
6. Pork knuckles
All meat was practically gone minus a few porterhouse steaks and a whole shelf of these. Cured and slow-cooked pork knuckles.
7. Spicy chorizo
Turns out we don’t like anything too hot along with an extended lockdown.
8. Flavoured cheese
The holy grail of cheese, mozzarella, was completely gone, only leaving behind flavoured cheeses, like jalapeno.
9. Prebiotic soy milk
Turns out we do like soy milk because most of the lifelong milk was gone but we don’t like it with a side of gut health.
10. Any sauce that’s not tomato, mostly barbecue
It has never been more evident that the superior sauce is tomato. All tomato sauces were gone, leaving behind only barbecue and mustard.
11. Beetroot in any form
Sliced or diced? It doesn’t matter. The poor beetroot was the only canned vegetable left on the shelf.
12. Cauliflower florets and frozen spinach
All frozen veggies were all but a distant memory, except for the cauliflower florets and frozen spinach.
13. Anything sans sugar
Finally, one thing is very clear. We’re not willing to diet and go through a lockdown. We must, nay, we will, have our sweet treats.
Cool tip: don’t bother going to the frozen desserts section. There’s nothing left because if we’re going to lock ourselves in our houses, you can bet we’re going to do it with a frozen cheesecake.
You heard it here first.
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.
