I noticed that there were no cauliflowers on the virtual veggie shelves at Ocado the other week. Not one.

The nice man I web-chatted with to ask about this crisis could shed no light on my dilemma. It seemed odd though.

A press release that landed in my in box this morning may explain my vanished vegetable. 

Apparently, the recent Siberian snap did more than dump snow all over our lives. It turns out the adverse weather conditions killed the caulis in some growing areas in Europe, and have impacted on more than one vegetable crop. 

In Spain, lack of rainfall and low temperatures produced smaller than usual aubergines and beef tomatoes. That's got to have an effect on our Middle Eastern menus. 

Not only that, but the Beast also caused leeks to stop growing completely! I can hear the sound of the tearing up of Ottolenghi-influenced menus across Europe. 

And will it be pushing up the price of some of our favourite foods?