Eat Your Vegetables!

It’s a well-known fact that Americans don’t like vegetables. In general, in general … because I know you love vegetables yourself.

Remember George Bush the Elder and his famous declaration?

“I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m the President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!”

Yikes. Vegetables even got our president to snipe.

A couple of years ago, I remember reading a “good news bad news” story along those lines, something like: “The good news is that Americans are eating more vegetables; the bad news is … it’s french fries.”

French fries really don’t count as vegetables to the nutritionists. But maybe … maybe potatoes should count?

When the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture ruled that low-income recipients of food vouchers couldn’t use the benefits to buy white potatoes, Chris Voigt, head of the Washington State Potato Commission, was fried. He put his foot down and began a two-month potatoes-only diet to protest.

By the time he was done, Voigt had eaten 400 pounds of potatoes. Yep, 400 spuddy pounds and nothing else, averaging 20 potatoes a day – mashed, sliced and fried, roasted, snack-cubed … you name it, he made it. He did use seasonings (rosemary, thyme, oregano, dill, mustard seed, cinnamon and nutmeg). Wait … cinnamon and nutmeg? That sounds different.

He would whip up a batch of potato gravy using bouillon cubes and potato starch. Hey! Isn’t using bouillon cheating just a little? I mean, doesn’t that contain animal protein? For Thanksgiving, he made … a “tur-tato” --- five pounds of mashed, molded into a turkey, basted with olive oil and broiled. He said it was tender. Well, duh!

Voigt ended his spuds-only regimen yesterday with a steak fajitas dinner accompanied by roasted potatoes. The good news? He went from 197 pounds to 176. I’m sure the Washington state potato growers are proud of him.

Now, would you please pass me the mashed potatoes?