The Scoop on Cream
This week Jackie pours a glass of heavy cream half full.
If someone shared this newsletter with you, subscribe here:
I go through a lot of heavy cream. I make butter for catering gigs, I add it to desserts, and I consume a sizable amount of this creamy lemon pasta (hot tip: add peas). A few months ago, I noticed that prices for organic heavy cream at several of my local supermarkets had nearly doubled (Cash Rules Everything Around Me, as my Staten Island brethren once said). Then about two weeks ago, there was a new problem: no organic heavy cream on the shelves. This week: no heavy cream of any sort!
I’m sure every person reading this has had trouble finding something they needed over the last year, from instant yeast to lumber to cream cheese to toilet paper to chicken wings. Or maybe the price of what you were looking for had tripled overnight. The reasons vary for why the global supply chain is in shambles — sick workers, sick-of-being-taken-for-granted workers, overwhelmed shipping ports, increased demand for consumables, and on and on. For those of you looking for a very basic explainer on what exactly is going on, watch this two minute video.
When it comes to food scarcity, there is an additional stress factor on top of the supply chain issues — crazy weather patterns. It’s been another year filled with freak storms, prolonged droughts and fires, and all the other “once-in-a-lifetime” weather stuff that seems to be happening every year now. This of course, is what climate change looks like. Climate-fueled food shortages will likely be a part of our lives in some form or another from here on out.
Thankfully, the world will keep spinning even if I can’t get heavy cream all the time. I mean, cream is a classic symbol for something special and luxurious. I will not die if I can’t make cultured butter or top a cake with whipped cream. Perhaps the occasional product shortage can serve as a reminder that food doesn’t magically appear on store shelves. Perhaps I will savor the cream more next time. Maybe it would actually be a good, grounding thing if we (financially comfortable Americans) can’t get everything our heart desires whenever it strikes our fancy.
Why is there a dearth heavy cream anyway? Turns out it’s complicated! It seems that corn and soy yields are down because of hot weather. That means the price of cattle feed has increased, which leads to lower yields of meat and dairy. On top of that, terrible winter storms in the northeast have impacted transportation routes for getting the milk and other dairy where it needs to go. Plus, there is also a widespread labor shortage, on farms, in dairy processing facilities, and in the trucking industry.1
Food shortages can prompt us to ask questions about the food system. They can encourage us to appreciate and make the most of what we do have access to. They can bring into focus how interconnected we all are, from farmer to trucker to factory or port or supermarket worker. This may feel a bit Kumbaya for a piece on how Publix is out of heavy cream, but I think the more we recognize our connections to one another, the more we will consider and care for one another. And there is not one of us who couldn’t use a bit more care right now, from friends and strangers alike.
love,
Jackie
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunshine + Microbes team
Jackie Vitale is a cook and kitchen educator based in Stuart, Fla . She runs Otto’s Bread Club and is co-founder of the Florida Ferment Fest. Her newsletter explores the intersection of food, culture, environment and community.
Matt Levin is a communications strategist at the ACLU of Texas. He edits Sunshine + Microbes and contributes other scraps to each issue.
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072462477/grocery-shortage-shelves-reasons