The New Reality - The Empty Pantry

Many years ago, and I can say that, because I'm old enough, parents and homeowners and families had pantries or larders, filled to the brim. Bad weather and uncertain transportation made it a necessity, because families couldn't always get out to the store to purchase food. So pantries were filled with things like dry rice, pasta, flour and yeast to make bread, dry beans, canned fish, and canned vegetables.

Here it is, 2020, and we're in a time of crisis. A trip to the store will show you shelves that are empty. But empty of what? Aside from the obvious cleaning products and paper products, some of the biggest deficiencies are areas such as canned soups and frozen pizzas. At the age of 74, I'm old enough to remember the days when a pot of soup was one of the easiest things to whip up, from things in one's pantry. The famous Italian dish pasta e fagioli was a standard, right out of the pantry. A can of broth, dried beans, canned tomatoes, and some pasta. All household items.

Similarly, whipping up a homemade pizza used flour, yeast, canned tomatoes, and, in a pinch, grated Parmesan cheese, instead of mozzarella.

So here's the new reality. There are no more pantries. There are no more larders. And if there are pantries or larders, they are absolutely empty. America in 2020 seems almost incapable of whipping up a meal from supplies at hand, because there appear to be no supplies at hand.

Perhaps I'm overdramatizing. Perhaps I'm exaggerating. But frankly, the evidence is there, for people depending on ready-made foods, instead of using what's on hand. Sad, isn't it?

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