The case of the disappearing ingredients

September 17, 2024 by
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A recent Forum topic started by Member Indio32 caught my attention because it confirmed something that I have been noticing in my local supermarket. The issue is that some ingredients – mainly more traditional or ‘old-fashioned’ items – seem to be disappearing from grocery store shelves. The issue raised is broader than just one country as people from Australia, the UK, and the US have noticed this. In my neck of the woods, ingredients including certain cuts of beef, a few baking ingredients like superfine (caster) sugar, and produce items as basic as shallots have gone missing. In place of these items a crop of processed ingredients or prepackaged meals has sprouted.

In fact, the produce section in my local grocery store was rearranged to make way for an entire case of ‘shortcut’ items like prechopped vegetables and fruits and premade salads. In addition to the shallots, fennel, daikon radish, tomatillos, and a few other things vanished. At the same store, the fish case is gone altogether and the butcher case features very few items actually cut on site; most of the meat arrives at the store precut and shrink-wrapped, so forget about getting bones or chicken backs for stock. In the Forum thread, Members felt that the changing landscape of cookbooks was a factor in this shift, with books incorporating more readymade ingredients. This is somewhat of a ‘chicken and egg’ issue, because it can be difficult to determine if the cookbooks are leading the way on this or following trends.

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While it is discouraging to lose ingredients you have enjoyed for years, I have found a few bright spots. There is more than one brand of tahini, and the cheese selection has expanded. People with dietary restrictions are likely pleased that an entire aisle is dedicated to gluten-free options, and there are more vegan items like cheese substitutes. It does seem like the trend of ‘shortcuts’ to meal time in the form of precut vegetables and meal kits that recently made an appearance will be here for the foreseeable future. We will have to seek out smaller shops or find mail-order options. Have you noticed this trend in your local stores and if so, what do you think is the cause?

Category: Antipasto

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7 Comments

  • wester  on  September 18, 2024

    I have noticed a long time ago already that for instance “boekweit grutten” (a kind of coarse buckwheat meal used traditionally here in Holland) was very difficult to find, while the same store had dozens of bread mixes, including such indispensible items as bread mix with dried tomatoes. In the same vein, canned cod liver is almost impossible to get while were have dozens of variations on canned tuna. Any color as long as it’s black.

    So, not a local thing, and not that recent either.

  • JimCampbell  on  September 18, 2024

    This is an interesting topic. I think stores, in general, follow and serve an ever-evolving society. And, while folks like us, EYB members, who have a love of cooking, may be put off by some of the changes, the greater society, with younger groups like millennials and such, seem to favor convenience over the effort it takes to accomplish a task. A task such as preparing a recipe for example.

    The mega-marts will always be at the forefront of societal changes.

    So, I find myself using the mega-marts for the basics and visiting smaller mom-and-pop stores who cater to the ingredients I am looking for. It means more travel, as I often need to visit different stores who have a specific specialty, but I do that anyway. I visit Asian markets, Indian markets, Persian markets, Seafood markets.

    Am I inconvenienced? Sure………. Do I reminisce about the “good-old-days” when markets were more personable and carried more of the products I use and like? Sure…….. But I am not going to fault the mega-marts for catering to the greater society.

  • anya_sf  on  September 18, 2024

    I have to go out of my way to find bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. And just forget boneless, skin-on breasts (yes, I realize I could remove the bone myself but I’m truly terrible at deboning).

  • Rinshin  on  September 18, 2024

    Oh yes on problems finding bone-in skin-on chicken breasts, boneless skin-on chicken breasts and boneless skin-on thighs. I have to order online now. What is going on with them? Same with beef cuts. Not easy find things like beef ribs, short ribs, etc. Same with fish or seafood. I either buy from Japanese markets or order online. And the price of seafood and fish is very high in the US. I also now order pork collar roast online so I can break it down for making tonkatsu, pork loins with more flavor, fat and texture and manageable sized roasts.

  • Indio32  on  September 19, 2024

    Was speaking to a friend about this last night and he absolutely hit the nail on the head!
    In the 80’s used to go to his grannies for Sunday lunch of roast chicken with giblet gravy. As we all know Supermarkets stopped including giblets in chicken so granny moved over to bisto gravy granuals. Skip forward to now and his kids have never known anything other than Bisto. Talk to then about giblets and the response is “yuck/gross”. By getting rid of the pretty much free giblets they’ve got people to eat an industrial ultra processed item (look at those ingredients!!) that cost around 30 times the cost of some flour for home made giblet gravy. It’s in part how Tesco’s boss can now pay himself ~£200,000/$265,000 a week.
    This ISN’T a case of consumers changing tastes its about Supermarkets replacing cheaper less profitable items with high profit industrial ultra-processed ones.

  • Indio32  on  September 19, 2024

    Rinshin…. that’s a classic case of Supermarkets leading consumers by the nose. Skinless boneless chicken parts are sold at a premium. Then the chicken skin is maybe used as a flavoring for some high profit ultra-processed crisps/chips and the bones boiled down for stock cubes another profit spinner.
    #SupermarketsAreNotYourFriend

  • JimCampbell  on  September 19, 2024

    Rinshin…… We both live in the Bay Area. What is your favorite Japanese market for fish and seafood?

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