Feeding People in a Crisis

This book is about feeding people in a crisis. It tells the story of changing patterns of food provisioning in the UK during the Coronavirus pandemic looking at food consumption, retail, processing, distribution and production activities. The authors discuss whether COVID-19 exposed a flawed food system or demonstrated the system’s resilience and consider COVID’s uneven impacts across supply chains, retailers and consumers, reflecting on its implications for more vulnerable in society and for food businesses with weaker market positions in the food chain. ‘Panic buying’ in March 2020 generated enduring media images of empty supermarket shelves. These became an emotive symbol of COVID-19’s negative impacts on the UK food system. Some commentators suggested that the pandemic had revealed a broken system and supply chain fragilities. Yet, as the pandemic progressed in the UK, there were remarkably few food shortages. Through a period of dramatic social change, the just-in-time food system demonstrated, in its own terms, considerable resilience. This book reflects on UK food system adaptation during COVID, the winners and losers of pandemic-induced change, and the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the UK food system.