Spain and Portugal’s Power Cuts Show How Quickly Our Access to Food Can Turn Perilous

I had no food in my house when the power went out

Image courtesy of author — my local grocer’s during the power cut

In a first for me, I am writing the first draft of this story on pen and paper. Because just after 11.30 am today, Monday, 28th April 2025, the power went out in Porto.

By 12.30 pm, we realised this wasn’t just our city — as crazy as even that seemed — but a cut across almost all of the Iberian peninsula. We had no idea when the power would return.

When you unexpectedly lose something as fundamental to modern human life as electricity and the internet, there are countless issues to address. Cancelled surgeries in hospitals. The closure of gas stations. People stuck in elevators and on electric-run trains and metros.

But I am always fascinated most by what crises such as these highlight in our food systems.

Food supply chains tend to work on a “just in time” basis. Many of us buy that way, too, lulled as we have been into believing that food will always be there for us.

These power cuts show this isn’t always the case.

“Every society is three meals away from chaos”