The role of vegetables and geography.

I want to make a couple of remarks about vegetables. I live in a geographical area with a peculiar slant on healthy food and healthy eating: IT DOESN’T EXIST. For one thing, walk into any restaurant in Dallas/Forth Worth and you’ll find that vegetables are either slathered in sugar or deep-fried. This might be typical Southern cuisine, but I’m talking about glazed carrots, squash casseroles and beans so sweet you’ll be in diabetic shock before you get to the parking lot ... and we’re maybe the only city on earth specializing in deep-fried string beans and DEEP-FRIED DILL PICKLES.

And for another thing, fine dining establishments aren’t much better. Instead of using sugar and batter they wreck your meal with vegetables that are barely steamed, unseasoned and rock-hard ... like you’re being punished for wanting a few vitamins with your 48-ounce Porterhouse steak. I’m sorry, but I don’t have enough teeth or energy to gnaw on raw broccoli.

Thank you for putting up with this post. Please eat something green today.