Oh, no. I just read there is a growing global potato

[leftyladyfrommo]

shortage.

There go our french fries.

This is getting serious. I love potatoes. This is the first shortage to really affect me.

I don't have a link. It was just one of those news headlines.

[JanMichael]

1. If big fast food hadn't turned every farm into Russett factories maybe...

...I don't know really but this story seems odd:

https://www.businessinsider.com/potato-farmers-destroy-potatoes-covid19-even-in-a-food-shortage-2020-6

[Poiuyt]

2. Potato shortage cutting into fries, chips

A shortage of potatoes is presenting a growing problem for that world that heavily consumes french fries and chips.

A number of popular food items, including marmite and cream cheese, have faced scarcities because of supply chain disruptions wrought by the pandemic and extreme weather. Potatoes are the latest to join the list, becoming unevenly available in some countries and fast-food chains because of a confluence of factors.

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/jan/09/potato-shortage-cutting-into-fries-chips/

[XanaDUer2]

3. The cream cheese shortage

Is really affecting me

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. What is marmite?

[Poiuyt]

6. I think it's something you spread on toast

There's another spread named Vegemite that only people from Australia can stomach.

[JanMichael]

11. I'll be honest. I like Vegemite and avocado on toast.

It is sickly pungent and tasty at the same time.

It's weird but good. Lots of B vitamins.

[Grasswire2]

17. "sickly pungent"

What a good name for a band.

[JanMichael]

10. Holy shit! Vegemite too? What will happen to Australia?!

[Chellee]

14. It's a yeast extract.

It's a by product of the brewing process. They mix it with vegetables and spices and turn it into a paste. It's very salty. It tastes kind of like broth paste, or eating a stock cube that you dissolved just enough to make it pasty.

[jmowreader]

18. It's a spread made from used brewer's yeast

Vegemite is similar.

The people who eat this stuff claim it’s good if spread thinly. Which may be true, but the British and Australians have developed the skill of laying this stuff down in five-angstrom-thick layers.

[BlackSkimmer]

21. It is something you either love or loathe.

Very popular in Britain. My family is English, and everyone loved it except for me. I’d flee at the sight of the little jar.

[electric_blue68]

27. Oh, dear ...

it sounds like people's reactions to the Durian

South Asian semi spikey plant that some say is like eating a most glorious dessert in the worst garbage dump

[BlackSkimmer]

29. Lol, I haven't even seen Marmite in years, but can easily conjure the smell.

Gah.

Yeah, that sounds gross too.

[Bev54]

7. I read a few weeks ago there was a french fry shortage at McDonalds in Japan

because of the flooding in BC Canada. I know that PEI had a problem with disease in their potatoes that stopped them from exporting them, primarily to the US but that has now been cleared up so not sure if there is a shortage until the next growing season??? We don't seem to be having problems getting potatoes in Canada, so far.

[PirateRo]

5. I can give up potatoes

Just not chocolate!

Don’t even go there!

[Skittles]

12. chocolate and potatoes are pretty much a daily staple for me

yes INDEED

[OneBlueDotS-Carolina]

8. PEI Grows tons of Potatoes.

Shipments of P.E.I. potatoes to United States suspended because of potato wart

Potato wart is a fungal parasite spread through the movement of infected potatoes, soil and farm equipment. It poses no threat to human health but can greatly decrease the yield of potato crops.

CHARLOTTETOWN - Following the recent discovery of a fungus growing on two potato farms in Prince Edward Island, the Canadian government said Monday it was suspending all shipments of fresh potatoes from the province to the United States.

Meanwhile, the province’s potato authority called the federal government’s order politically motivated and warned it would lead to the destruction of hundreds of millions of pounds of good potatoes.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told reporters Monday the United States didn’t leave Canada with much choice.

“They made it clear that the U.S. would have imposed a federal order banning import of all fresh P.E.I. potatoes if Canada did not act first to suspend trade,” the minister said. Had Canada not issued the order “voluntarily,” Bibeau added, the United States would have imposed its own order, which “would be much more difficult to reverse.”

https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/11/22/shipments-of-pei-potatoes-to-united-states-suspended-because-of-potato-wart.html

[wryter2000]

9. Weird

Instacart is shopping for me as we "speak." The shopper had to substitute russet potatoes for Yukon golds. WTF?

[Baitball Blogger]

13. They're very easy to grow.

[viva la]

15. It was the cream cheese shortage that broke me.

Then I remembered the Nutella shortage and the Sriracha shortage (both predating the pandemic), and remember... we survived those!
(And plain yogurt is an okay substitute.)

[Chainfire]

16. Some of the chains would do just as well deep frying paper, enough salt and grease and folks will

not be able to tell the difference.

Late in life, I was curious about the potato famine that devastated the poor in Ireland, so I picked up a book about it. The most important thing that I learned is that, at that time, it was not uncommon for an adult male to eat 12 pounds of potatoes a day, and despite that, they were among the most healthy people in Europe. Go figure.

[leftyladyfrommo]

22. Potatoes are really healthy if you don't pour on a bunch

of not good for you toppings.

[electric_blue68]

28. My mom fried her own potato chips at one point - tasty!

[niyad]

19. Fear not. Apparently cauliflower is the new potato. In the grocery store the

other day, I saw cauliflower potato chips (really, it was on the package), and cauliflower hash browns. I passed on both, even though I do like cauliflower.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

20. Actually

The cauliflower chips in the bag are delicious.
And they have dramatically lower carbs than potato chips.

I am very thankful for the cauliflower chips,I am diabetic and I wouldn't be able to eat the potato chips without worrying about the carb count.

[niyad]

30. I have no problem with cauliflower chips. My problem was in calling them cauliflower

POTATO chips. My editor brain wanted to scream.

As I said, I like cauliflower, and am glad that it is available in so many forms for people to enjoy. I don't like stupid marketing.

[raccoon]

23. You can substitute sweet potato fries.

I prefer regular potato fries too, but we do what we have to.

[Hortensis]

24. :) But have you had to do without yet, Leftylady?

Summer 2020, chicken thighs mostly disappeared for a few weeks around us and I had to sub chicken breasts. Now THAT was being affected, but I did get a couple of keeper recipes out of my struggle to deal with it. May well come in handy again.

[leftyladyfrommo]

25. Not yet. I still have my current bag of potatoes.

I fix potatoes often.

[Hortensis]

26. They can go fast. Just checked my usual market, and

a bunch of the normal selections are in stock. But a check for Wryter2000's Yukons turned up only Organic Gold, but don't know if that's a change. Yukons were sweeter than I like, so...