Today’s world is increasingly defined by multiple, overlapping crises. In recent years, we’ve experienced a global pandemic, extreme weather events intensified by climate patterns such as El Niño, ongoing geopolitical conflicts, and a cost-of-living crisis that continues to affect households across the UK.
To describe this overlap, the term “polycrisis” has entered everyday vocabulary - first popularised by the World Economic Forum. It captures the reality of multiple, interconnected challenges unfolding at once: social, environmental and economic. And one of the systems feeling this pressure most is our global food system.
Recent years offer clear examples. Between June and August 2023, record rainfall in parts of China destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of crops, including corn and rice. During the winter of 2023–24, England experienced its second-worst harvest on record, affecting wheat, spring barley, oats and oilseed rape, while France recorded its smallest soft wheat harvest in more than 40 years. In early 2024, severe drought across southern Africa - affecting countries including Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi - was declared a national disaster, with half of Zimbabwe’s maize crop lost. Later that year, droughts across the Amazon basin disrupted indigenous communities and agriculture, damaging thousands of crops and livestock and even lowering river levels enough to affect exports in Paraguay.
These events don’t just damage landscapes and livelihoods. Research increasingly shows that changing growing conditions affect not only how much food we produce, but also its nutritional density. Reduced yields can drive up food prices, increase reliance on imports and place greater strain on food security - particularly for already vulnerable populations.
Staple ingredients many of us rely on are especially exposed: wheat, rice, coffee and cocoa which are all sensitive to shifts in temperature and rainfall, and may become less readily available in the future. As climate pressures reshape what grows (and where), rethinking the food we rely on may be one of the most practical ways to adapt, while keeping our diets affordable, nourishing and culturally rooted. One answer lies in revisiting ingredients that are already part of many traditional food cultures.
So, what alternatives to our everyday dishes exist around the world?
In parts of the Middle East, people have brewed qahwa al-tamir - a caffeine-free drink made from roasted date seeds - for centuries. Naturally sweet and nutty, it’s often blended with spices such as cardamom and reflects a long-standing use of locally available resources.
In South Asia, millets offer another example. These small-seeded grains were once dietary staples before being replaced during the Green Revolution by rice and wheat. Millets are highly nutritious, require less water, and thrive in hot, drought-prone conditions. Ground into flour, they can be used in rotis, flatbreads or porridges - making them a practical and resilient alternative to wheat.
Even cocoa, now increasingly affected by climate disruption, has potential substitutes. Across the Mediterranean and Middle East, carob has long been used as a sweet ingredient. The carob tree thrives in hot, arid climates with minimal water. Its pods can be ground or reduced into molasses - a dark, sweet syrup often drizzled over food or stirred into drinks.
None of this suggests that individuals can solve the ‘polycrisis’ alone. The largest responsibility lies with governments and corporations. But individual choices still matter. Exploring alternative ingredients, valuing traditional knowledge and supporting more resilient food systems are small but meaningful steps.
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