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If ever there was a favourite hot sauce – Tabasco® would be it. This OG condiment with its iconic green and red branding and tiny bottle, is one that many a spicy sauce lover is familiar with. It’s as comfortable being doused on a cheesy pizza as it is being elegantly drizzled on a freshly shucked oyster, or stirred into a strong Bloody Mary.
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Bottom line: There’s nothing the 3-ingredient sauce can’t do, and it’s won the heart of millions. But there are turbulent times ahead for Tabasco fans – because its production is under threat.
Avery Island, the small piece of land in the Southern state of Louisiana where Tabasco® was first (and still is) produced, is feeling the effects of climate change. The antagonist? Rising sea levels says The Guardian. “The Avery Island marshes are retreating by around 30ft a year as salt water seeps in.”
A life without Tabasco®? Panic stations!
One might easily suggest moving the pepper plants to higher ground but the McIlhenny family who are 5th generation producers of the sauce, have been living on the land – described as a “geological oddity” for more than 150 years and have no plans to move from their home. It’s also the Avery Island terroir that gives the sauce its unique character which we all know and love.
Here are 10 other foods that might disappear in our lifetimes as a result of climate change.