"Vegetables" news and stories

Americans may be polarized on a lot of issues these days, but it seems we can pretty much agree on one thing: we don't like broccoli. Or kale. Or, really, vegetables and fruit of any stripe.

Despite years of public-health campaigns aimed at getting us to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, a recent study by the Centers of Disease Control has found that most of us -- the vast majority, in fact -- are still treating spinach like a bunch of picky toddlers.

The state-by-state analysis found that, overall, only about a third of American adults consume two or more servings of fruit per day, while just over a quarter eat three or more servings of vegetables.

To say that this falls a little short of the CDC's goal would be like saying home prices in 2005 were just a tad inflated: the agency had hoped that by now, 75 percent of adults would be eating the right amount of fruit while 50 percent would be eating enough vegetables.

Baby carrots are getting an extreme makeover.

It seems the only people who turn to the diminutive vegetable for their afternoon snack are guilt-ridden dieters and toddlers, but a $25 million re-branding campaign by a consortium of carrot growers is aiming to change that.

Forget the fact that carrots are good for you. Instead, the campaign appears to be focused on a crafty bit of marketing-based camouflage: if you put baby carrots in a snack-sized potato chip bag and give the bag the tricked-out POW! of, say, a bag of Doritos, can you convince people to "Eat 'Em Like Junk Food," as the new slogan says?

Of course, it doesn't take a Ph.D. in semantics to note the comparative simile there. "Like junk food" is a slightly hipper way of saying that they're not junk food. Yes, they're orange; yes, they're oblong; yes, they crunch -- but for better or for worse, they're no Cheetos.

As part of the campaign, carrot growers are also planning seasonal tie-ins (such as "scarrots" for Halloween), some weird-sounding phone app of people actually eating carrots, and TV commercials that, according to USA Today, "tout baby carrots as extreme, futuristic and even, yes, sexy."

They come loose or in bags, but no matter how you buy them, English shelling peas are a summer treat worth bringing into your kitchen.

Human X-rays and MRIs are so fascinating because we're given a glimpse into that which we cannot usually see. But when fruit and vegetables were scanned in an MRI machine by lab research technologist Andy Ellison, the resulting images were entrancing due to their mystification -- not clarification -- of the inanimate subjects. The stitched-together image frames produce hypnotizing animations that are far more revealing than a simple slice and dice. We're not exactly eager to recreate Salon writer Francis Lam's claustrophobic MRI experience, but now we can't help but wonder what our animated insides might look like.

To see the animations of an artichoke, watermelon, broccoli and more check out Ellison's blog, Inside Insides.

Happy Eat All Your Veggies Day!

We doubt we'll have to tell you considerate foodies to cook with fresh produce twice, with the seasonal abundance of this summer's farmers markets' fresh produce, as you've probably been looking forward to plump tomatoes, juicy corn and the likes since last fall.

Have you been scouring cookbooks and magazines for fresh vegetable-oriented recipes or do you enjoy picking up whatever catches your eye at the farmers markets? Share your favorite simple summer recipes with us in the comments!

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