There’s different info online about the food in Shanghai during Covid lockdown

Most people that are on the ground here have shared stories about struggles to find food

Others, often citing “friends in Shanghai” claim everything is ok

Here’s a story about our absurd situation

For me, and my family of four, it has been a struggle

I’m on day 20 of lockdown, and have not been able to leave home during that time

We rely on deliveries exclusively for our food, and around 10 days ago started to notice that deliveries were increasingly difficult

It became difficult to find anything, with no deliveries available at all, even for basic things like milk or rice, suddenly nothing was available

In desperation, we tried junk food like chips or soda from convenient stores, but could get nothing for several days

The situation we were in, for our specific area, was not the same all over the city, and we heard from people in other areas, with easy access to food, who were shocked that this could happen - and often were skeptical, telling us to just go on the apps and order food

Soon, the situation spread to more parts of the city as the lockdown expanded and the difficulties we experienced a week ago began to be experienced by more people now

At the same time, our situation began to improve and we began having better access to food

While this was happening, I also started to notice a lot of surprising things in the delivery orders

We started seeing a lot of flowers for delivery
We started seeing a lot of pet food for delivery
We also started seeing a lot of cakes and birthday items for delivery

It was puzzling to see those things while at the same time it seemed impossible to get any meat, any rice, or any fruit

We struggled every day, all day, to get those essentials, usually with limited success, although we thankfully were able to get vegetables

But we could get flowers, pet food, and birthday supplies

Which is why this this tweet from @KeaweWong caught so many people’s attention

In it, he seems to be saying that his friend had a cake delivered, so the food shortages were fake news https://t.co/BCU6t1DyfY

I’ve been trying to get meat and basic supplies delivered all day, with no luck at all and no fresh food that could be delivered

But I knew birthday cake would be easier because I have been checking these apps all day, every day, and had seen that

So I decided to have a try

After seeing the tweet from @KeaweWong around 8 pm, I checked my go-to delivery app, Eleme

As usual, it had no meat, no fish, no noodles, no rice, but it did have a birthday cake

I ordered one to see what would happen

The order was accepted immediately https://t.co/LmELvBagZQ

It was sent out for delivery soon afterwards https://t.co/m4BTBuHXQ1

Within about two hours it was delivered https://t.co/RWn7Yk4JW4

Just like that, we had a birthday cake delivered in no time, at a moment when we really just wanted meat and fresh fruit

Let them eat cake? What we really need is consistent, reliable food deliveries for basic necessities as the city struggles with significant and serious issues https://t.co/5WjS6mzPER

Key things to know about the Shanghai Covid situation:
-It’s a huge city, the situation is different in each area
-Trust voices on the ground, especially over people whose “friend in Shanghai told” them
-Things can be absurd, but also true: ~instant cake deliveries, but no meat