THE shelves of upmarket supermarkets have been swept clean by panicking shoppers stockpiling brie and cranberry tartlets, retailers have warned.
The aisles of Waitrose, M&S and Booths are crowded with well-to-do consumers filling their trolleys with enough king prawn lollipops, sweet potato katsu bites and crispy duck straws to last until June.
Sweating shopper Julian Cook, who owns an IT consultancy, said: “I’m not stockpiling. I need all 30 boxes of these wild mushroom and parmesan vol-au-vents for my family.
“As soon as I heard the words ’48-hour French blockade’, I knew we’d soon be desperately low on finger foods and it was every man for himself.
“I managed to get three wheels of Canembert, a good supply of caviar-smeared blinis and enough lobster thermidor spring rolls to see us through until amuse-bouche supply lines are up and running again. It’s like a second Blitz.”
Mary Fisher had been self-isolating until she heard that a highly contagious new strain of Covid might get between her and a festive kilo of Jamón Ibérico from Waitrose’s deli counter.
She said: “I got straight down there. A choice between protecting society from Covid and six pork and ‘nduja croquettes is no choice at all.”
