I AM AS guilty as the next person for taking food supply for granted. Always a supporter of local food, I enjoy seeking out the best cuts of meat, buying fish at the harbour, and buying eggs no sooner than they are laid.

To be able to buy vegetables from the likes of Crunchy Carrot in Dunbar or Phantassie in East Linton is my foodie heaven (and a Bostock Bakery jam doughnut on the way home is not to be scoffed at)!

It is probably more expensive to shop locally and, as you need to drive to different outlets, it does take longer.

For hard-pressed working families, this is not always an option. A big supermarket shop, with selections of everything we need, is a necessary part of most households’ routine.

This year, however, this never-ending choice and supply has clearly been disrupted. The perfect storm of pandemic, Brexit and bad weather has resulted in frequently empty shelves. Some products are unavailable.

Prices are increasing. Recent reports of supermarkets recalling food ranges such as pre-prepared seafoods and cheese spreads because of risk of contamination indicate trouble in the system.

The food journey to supermarket shelf is long. Ingredients are pulled together from multiple counties, even countries.

The brilliant exercise in sourcing, logistics, and extending the life of ingredients has successfully given us the ‘what you want when you fancy it’ way of life we have become used to.

But, having been forced to stop and reassess how we shop, eat and live, I suspect many families are keen to step back from this corporate sales pitch and rediscover the local delights on our doorstep.

Steady queues at the doors of local food shops, increased numbers of local food delivery services and fish vans bringing an ever-increasing selection of fish from the pier to our kitchen sink is, to my mind, a positive outcome of a dreadful situation.

Milk daily on the doorstep. Luca’s ice cream straight to the door.

What’s not to like?