Alysa Salzberg's blog

  Images of empty shelves where mustard should be, from grocery stores around France ( image source )     Sometimes, war and natural disasters end up influencing everyday life in unexpected ways. During the 1870-1871 Siege of Paris, for instance, shortages of food staples and favorites led to Parisians eating rats, cats, dogs, and zoo animals, pining after cheese, and auctioning off sacks of potatoes.   Nowadays, food shortages are common in Paris again. During the early days of the pandemic, everyone took up baking and it was hard to find flour and sugar. More recently, the war in Ukraine has meant a shortage of vegetable oil, as well as the threat of a pasta shortage.   Normally, these shortages seem to resolve themselves quickly, one way or another, or maybe it’s just that we get used to them. But in recent weeks, a new food shortage has begun that seems like it will rock French cuisine to its very core.   France is running out of mustard.   Mustard is the condiment of choice for ma