Several British supermarkets have joined other chains around the world in asking shoppers to limit their cooking oil purchases, as supplies dwindle and prices rise. Global cooking oil shortages, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, have lead to purchase restrictions in Ashford, England.Credit…Steve Parsons/Press Association, via Associated Press First the coronavirus, then the war. Just as the pandemic caused shortages of essential items, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted important food supplies, driving up prices of staples like cooking oil in supermarkets around the world. Before the war, Ukraine was the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil. The conflict has now paralyzed harvests and left many nations with limited stocks of edible oil and soaring prices for what’s left — worsening a food crisis in East Africa and leading to export restrictions in Indonesia . Some shoppers, most recently in Britain, are being limited in their purchases of cooking […]