Well, it’s finally come to this. Kale really is the next quinoa, in the sense that our voracious, never-ending demand for the next healthy eating trend has created a worldwide shortage of the leafy green vegetable.
ABC News report that the world’s largest supplier of kale seeds has completely run out of every variety. Looks like your favourite massaged kale salad with apricot and spiced chick peas might be off the menu for a while, sorry.
Tony Hubbard, who runs the Australian office of Bejo Seeds and seems like a chill dude, is pretty embarrassed about the whole deal. “It’s just one of those things that’s happened on a global basis,” he said, like the shortage is no big deal.
“It’s caught us out well and truly, we put our hands up to that.”
Australia’s biggest kale growers are struggling to keep up with demand. Victorian farmers Dale and Deborah Corrigan, who started with a crop of 1500 kale seeds a few years ago, say that they now sow 150,000 every week, and it’s still not enough for you people.
Deborah said that the current demand is “really exciting but also really scary”, while employees of trendy inner-city breakfast restaurants are probably shitting themselves, as there is no end to the kale crisis in sight.
Kale is a superfood that is rich in anti-oxidants and minerals and some other bullshit like that. At the time of writing, there is no shortage of Pizza Shapes, so I suspect we’ll all be fine.
Photo: Stan Honda via Getty Images
