Timothy Wilkinson

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. ‘Panic buying’ at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic generated enduring media images of empty supermarket shelves and calls for food rationing. The fragility of the 'just-in-time' food system was seemingly exposed yet, as the pandemic progressed in the UK, there were remarkably few food shortages. This book reveals the changing patterns of food provision in the UK during that period, looking at how diets changed and how retail, processing, distribution and production businesses adapted. But beneath the apparent logistical success story, there were injustices as the more vulnerable struggled to access good quality food and some businesses received inadequate help. The authors consider the winners and losers in a time of rapid social change, the lasting impacts on the UK food system and lessons to be learned for a food system dependent on imports and large retailers and with a high burden of diet-related health issues.

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.