Eat more vegetables! Put down those chips! That's the mantra in the food world these days. It appears that the conventional food wisdom says that the way to control obesity is to "eat more vegetables".
Easier said than done. Over the weekend the New York Times had a story which reported that even with all the efforts, Americans just aren't eating vegetables. Put a vegetable vending machine in schools and it's ignored. Adults admit with some embarrassment that they, too, don't pile on the vegetables.
The Times prints two letters to the editor today which try to explain this behavior.
"One big reason people don’t eat their vegetables is that most produce doesn’t taste very good. No matter how many admonitions we hear about health or the supposed junk food crunch factor of baby carrots and no matter how many convenience factors we build in, if vegetables don’t taste good, they will never win against Pop-Tarts."
And,
"You have to “sell” veggies to eaters. A plate with, say, a tempting steak on one side and bland broccoli on the other doesn’t do it. But a stew or casserole, where plant-based ingredients and meats are sliced or diced and combined, might just do the trick."
So, the conventional wisdom says, vegetable just don't taste good, you have to trick them up with seasonings, stick them in stews. To do this, you have to have the time to chop and dice, marinate, brown and slow cook. Maybe on Sunday, but most of us would be hard pressed to do this daily.
