Butter is a basic staple in British kitchens used in copious quantities, not just slathered on bread, but also in the nation’s beloved cakes and biscuits. However, due to an ongoing foreign labor shortage after Brexit, the golden yellow spread is absent from many store shelves. Dairy cooperative, Arla Foods, which makes several brands of butter, has blamed a “chronic shortage of suitably-qualified farmworkers,” for “undermining our food security,” and impacting the availability and soaring price of butter and milk products.
A kilo of its Lurpak brand butter sold for almost $12 in July — up from around $8 in prior months, with British tabloids and social media jesting about swapping a block of butter for houses or cars, and calling on the government to “nationalize Lurpak.”
Liz Oughton, a baker in central England, told The Washington Post she regularly visits multiple supermarkets to seek out the lowest prices and has switched to an oil-based baking spread for her cookies, due to the “astronomical rise” in the cost of butter.
“I get quite anxious every time I do a shop as the prices seem to be rising so quickly,” said Oughton, founder of Bostin Bakery, famed for its Cherry Bakewell — a cookie made with almond dough, marzipan and cherries. “I am trying my best not to put our prices up as I know everyone is feeling the squeeze, including our customers.”
