How about some vegetable innovation?
On "My Plate", vodka, and the missing sector where innovation is needed for all of us
A meme circulating on social media cracks, "Potatoes give us French fries, chips, and vodka. It's like the other vegetables aren't even trying." Funny, yes -- and it's well worth acknowledging that the potato punches far above its weight, nutritionally, when it isn't drowned in oil or buried in salt.
■ But the truth revealed by the wisecrack is that we really haven't done enough to crack the code to making vegetables more widely appealing. If we are to trust the "My Plate" messaging that replaced the traditional "food pyramid", then vegetables should occupy more than a quarter of the normal person's diet, at least by volume.
■ For most people, loads of steamed broccoli just aren't going to do the trick. So what is the answer? To some extent, the simple availability (or lack thereof) of quality fresh vegetables will bias the outcomes of routine eating. Food deserts are real, and there may be policy choices that could help relieve them.
■ Some of the answer also belongs to the research done to make existing vegetables either marginally more appealing or to find new methods of preparation and delivery. Aside from Popeye, not many people are racing to put more canned spinach down their gullets -- at least not without masking it with so much sour cream as to render it nearly undetectable.
■ But if Brussels sprouts can be bred to make them much tastier than they were a generation ago, certainly other vegetables can be improved through science, too. New vegetables could even be invented and varieties diversified. Of all the forms of "innovation" that seem to have captured the world's attention, maybe some of that energy should be directed at our foodstuffs.
■ These kinds of steps require research that may not always have obvious private-sector payoffs, even though the social benefits can be considerable. If outcomes like reducing meat consumption are desirable goals, then some worthy investments could stand to be made less in browbeating people about their current choices and more in inducing more demand for the alternatives taking up real estate on the plate.
