If we ever receive a four-minute warning for the end of the world, you will find me standing beside a pile of apples arranged on a square of artificial grass, looking at vegetables. Because nowhere makes me feel more happy and hopeful than a greengrocers.
Whether it’s an end-of-the-pier root vegetable, a bunch of free carrot tops for my guinea pigs, exotic jewel-like pomegranates or blood oranges or a romanesco cauliflower to breakup the carbohydrate beige of Britain in April, a trip to the greengrocer is my most reliable source of wonder. Sadly, of course, fruit and veg are one of the things hit hardest by our current cost of living crisis, climate emergency and Brexit. Fresh food prices are up 17% in 12 months and in October 2022, The Grocer (I’m not yet a subscriber but I’m not ruling it out) found that “vegetable consumption in the UK has fallen by 7.5% over the past year, as consumers react to the cost of living crisis”.
