Like it has in China, Covid-19 is now posing herculean problems for swaths of the US food system. Workers have fallen ill, several important meatpacking plants have shut down, and almost all restaurants are closed.
But the disease caused by the novel coronavirus has also opened a rare and inviting window into the past, improbably made possible by grocery delivery companies.
The spread of Covid-19 has been a boon for companies like Instacart and FreshDirectโthose that largely deliver food from large chain grocery stores. But itโs also injected energy into outfits that specialize in connecting people with foods that exclusively are locally grown and produced.