Dive Brief:
- The sudden rise in popularity of kale in the developed world is creating a shortage of the leafy green.
- Farmers are unable to meet demand, and, in an unusual and troubling development, one of the word's biggest suppliers of kale seed -- the Netherlands-based Bejo Seeds -- says it has run out of supplies of every variety.
- The shortage is just the latest unusual component to the story of kale's extraordinary surge from near-forgotten garnish to beloved food.
Dive Insight:
Food trends come, and food trends go. That's what it means to be a trend. But kale has moved well beyond trend into something entirely different -- a sort of global phenomenon where the worlds of health, celebrities, organics, urban farming, green smoothies, and Dr. Oz all collide.
Odds are that the market will adjust and there will, eventually, be enough kale for everyone. In the meantime, there's no need to panic. Some are saying rainbow chard is better anyway.