Then Suddenly, All At Once.
It all started with the anchovies. One day they simply vanished, and no one else seemed to notice. Every other type of canned fish was abundant. The gap on the supermarket shelf where the anchovies were once available remained. A void that proved that they did exist. But no more.
A handwritten sign, askew, explained the situation. Apologies for the difficulties in supply. The note suggested a temporary state of affairs, but a favourite pasta dish was over forever, and I learned to live with it.
Months past, and then it was the olive oil.
The extra virgin vanished first, to be remarked upon at middle class dinner parties. Apologies were exchanged over a glass of wine. Then other grades of olive oil became absent from the shelves, and popular cookery books filled with exotic Mediterranean dishes became obsolete.
Concerns were raised.
Other ingredients vanished, one by one. Great swathes of supermarket shelf became exposed. But society didn’t collapse. Items simply slid from the menu like an oily egg.
Once you couldn’t find the staples, fresh vegetables, milk and eggs, people became worried. But there were no riots. Everyone remained very calm, very polite. For a time, we all pulled together, trying to convince ourselves that we weren’t three hot meals from total anarchy.
Then two.
Then one.