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During the pandemic, has anything changed in how you get food, prepare it, or eat it?

Food is the source of the restaurant industry. A restaurant lives and dies by the way that supplies are procured. A national chain has no differences a small local restaurant. With no food to serve, there is no way to make money. In a national chain, the food comes in from central warehouses. It is also partially prepared, so that the recipes, ingredients and sources stay secret. But shortages become obvious when we have to tell customers that their favorite dish is not in stock right now. What I cannot determine is if the shortage is related to COVID or something else. At this time of year, a lot of vegetables and fruits get imported from Mexico and South American countries while it is the summer growing season in the Southern Hemisphere. And, in the last federal administration, these imports were restricted due to the pandemic. But items from these areas are still available at the grocery store. So, is it the pandemic or did the restaurant manager underestimate the traffic this week? It’s hard for me to tell. Only one food shortage that I have seen in the news affects the restaurant that I work in. One of the items on our menu is spaghetti. A national report noted that less spaghetti has been made in recent months because of a limit to the amount of durum wheat (used to make spaghetti). This wheat flour has been diverted into the manufacture of a pasta called bucatini. Bucatini is hollow and long, like a drinking straw. Early reports last spring suggested using bucatini instead of plastic drinking straws in order to save the planet. Looks like the idea caught on. Regular spaghetti pasta is now in short supply.