I was amazed when I went to a vegetable store in Albany/Berkley, CA the other day. The vegetables were fresh and sufficiently deformed to convince me they were natural. But it was the range that got me – there were veges there that I’d never seen before, and plenty that I wanted to eat – though not the Brussels sprouts.
The short trip was the first time in years that the US food didn’t make me feel ill. It is probably something to do with being in California, and also I stayed clear of anything dubious.
The market proves that there are some places can sell good food in the USA. The question is when the hell did the vast majority of the USA start finding lousy, fatty, high fructose syrup filled food acceptable?
Lance Wiggs 
as for “lousy”–Americans have never eaten well even if generally better in the past. country people ate better than city people. everybody who knows how to eat and cook came from somewhere else–I know everybody did, but the good eaters/cookers came from the right somewhere elses (old civilizations). as for “fatty”—I don’t know; meat/slaying animals has been a big thing here for a while (do people mount animal heads on their walls/pose smilingly with dead animals elsewhere?). as for “high fructose corn syrup”—: it’s CHEAP, certainly less than sugar–has been for a bit. some decent tables here: http://www.ethicurean.com/2008/05/26/hfcs-history/ . and bad food in northern California is a crime. “pro” HFCS arguments are here: http://www.corn.org/HFCSfacts.htm
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Ahh you’ve been away from France and their markets for too long! Now that is real food!
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Mmm… Brussels sprouts lightly steamed, chopped and fried with pancetta or lardons.
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Trying not to hit the ‘unapprove’ button on your comment Juha. Brussels Sprouts are source of far too many barely suppressed memories from my childhood.
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You know I had B Sprouts for the first time in 30 years the other night, and cooked properly they were yummy, hard to believe but it was true, may have had something to do with the pinot not sure…
Funnily enough my wife abstained from the Sprouts, like you way to many bad memories from over boiled sour bitter little sprouts, and made to sit at the table until the cold sloppy things were consumed!
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your own B Sprout smashing game
http://www.eyegas.com/attackofthesprouts/
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