MOSCOW – The latest Russian food crisis wasn't brought on by sanctions. But in this political climate, even a bad weather report is enough to make locals race to stock up on a classic staple before it flies off supermarket shelves.
Russians have been frantically buying up buckwheat following reports that bad weather in Siberia — which produces nearly half of the buckwheat grown in Russia — may have compromised the harvest. The price is soaring.
Buckwheat, or grechka as it's known in Russia, is a fruit seed that functions as a more-nutritious alternative to most grains and is a mainstay of the traditional Russian diet. It is the basis for anything from breakfast porridge to a dinner casserole.
These days, the average Russian eats far less buckwheat than regular wheat. But Russia without grechka is like the South without grits. Life doesn't stop, but something seems wrong.
People across Russia have been taking to social media to share pictures of empty supermarket shelves where buckwheat was once available. In Moscow, one supermarket that sold buckwheat for as little as 65 cents per 800-gram package two months ago was quoting a price four times as high last week — and had only a few packages left.
Washington Post
