The Salad Shocker

The following was written by Sarah Nassauer in the Wall Street Journal 7/27/11 and I am still in shock: "Despite decades of nagging to eat more leafy greens and colorful vegetables, the average American eats a salad at mealtime only about 36 times a YEAR. That's 20% less often than in 1985, when the average frequency was 45, according to market research firm NPD Group. Fewer than half of Americans--49%--ate at least one "leaf salad" at home in two weeks, compared with 75% who ate a potato dish and 81% who ate beef." The VP of NPD, who analyses people's eating habits says: "The single biggest problem with salad is making it. Cleaning, cutting, making sure you have fresh produce- tends to keep people away." Say what? In my cooking co-ops for the past 20 years, salads have been a staple in our menus- usually 50% of the time, a delicious salad was delivered- many times a bag of salad was accompanied by a baggie of cut up carrots, celery, cukes and grape tomatoes. In fact, my teen-age daughter's favorite meal was chicken caesar salad with a fruit salad and she literally said, "I wish all our meals were like this." If companies like Fresh Express and Earthbound Farm want to sell more bags of lettuce, then encourage and promote "team" cooking. If we are too busy that we can't cook one good meal a week for ourselves and our families, then we are too unfocused on what's important in life. The budget deficit is nothing compared to what America faces in health care costs from obesity, diabetes etc. which can stem from our poor choices in what we eat. What happened to "You are what you eat?" And I thought everybody wanted to go green. Go Green- and eat a salad a day!