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PARIS — It was the local egg delivery man who spread the spiciest gossip about the mustard shortage.
Someone in a small French town had found a way to buy two jars at the grocery store — despite the one-mustard cap imposed by many shops as the country faces a shortage of its beloved condiment.
“The audacity!” said Claire Dinhut, who heard about the local mustard scandal from the egg courier while at her family home south of Tours, in west-central France, as she shared the “town drama” in a TikTok video that has been viewed more than 600,000 times.
How the mustard bandit did it: He left the store with one jar, and sneaked back in for a second by checking out with a different salesperson.
Just as summer cookouts — and extra demand for the tangy condiment — reach their peak, France is in the throes of a weeks-long shortage of mustard.
For some, it feels dire — a personal consequence of extreme weather that decimated mustard seed supply in and outside France, and the supply chain disruptions still reverberating around the globe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The shortage is sparking calls to bring home the production of mustard seeds to rely less on other countries.
The Washington Post visited four grocery stores in western Paris this week that either had no mustard for sale or were out of two common mustard brands — Maille and Amora, which are part of the same company owned by Unilever.
“I haven’t had mustard in three months. You won’t find any [elsewhere either],” said Hassan Talbi, owner of a bodega on Rue de Courcelles.
Talbi says his supplier, French retailer Carrefour, sent him one shipment of mustard jars about two months ago — and since then, nothing. No word on when he might get more……..
Someone in a small French town had found a way to buy two jars at the grocery store — despite the one-mustard cap imposed by many shops as the country faces a shortage of its beloved condiment.
“The audacity!” said Claire Dinhut, who heard about the local mustard scandal from the egg courier while at her family home south of Tours, in west-central France, as she shared the “town drama” in a TikTok video that has been viewed more than 600,000 times.
How the mustard bandit did it: He left the store with one jar, and sneaked back in for a second by checking out with a different salesperson.
Just as summer cookouts — and extra demand for the tangy condiment — reach their peak, France is in the throes of a weeks-long shortage of mustard.
For some, it feels dire — a personal consequence of extreme weather that decimated mustard seed supply in and outside France, and the supply chain disruptions still reverberating around the globe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The shortage is sparking calls to bring home the production of mustard seeds to rely less on other countries.
The Washington Post visited four grocery stores in western Paris this week that either had no mustard for sale or were out of two common mustard brands — Maille and Amora, which are part of the same company owned by Unilever.
“I haven’t had mustard in three months. You won’t find any [elsewhere either],” said Hassan Talbi, owner of a bodega on Rue de Courcelles.
Talbi says his supplier, French retailer Carrefour, sent him one shipment of mustard jars about two months ago — and since then, nothing. No word on when he might get more……..
