"vegetable" news and stories

I introduced a friend to the joy of roasted Brussels Sprouts last night and so I have the mini-cabbages on the brain a bit. I do believe that is why this shot, of a flower-like sprout by Endless Simmer (also posted here), called to me and demanded to be posted today.

If you make your vegetables wait so that you can take their picture before you eat them, then you should be a member of the Slashfood Flickr Group. Come on over and join us!

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If you're not in sunny southern California, you might not even be able to get a trowel through the top two inches of ground in your yard these days, but that shouldn't stop you from planning now if you want to have red ripe tomatoes and fragrant herbs in your garden come Spring.

According to finance blog Get Rich Slowly, February is the perfect time to start planning your vegetable garden. Their post, Plan Today for Summer Success, has some great, basic information about how to plan, including such probing questions as "Do you actually like to eat vegetables?" and tips on how to make best use of the space you have. Since it's the last day of the month today, you still have time!

[via: LifeHacker]

With only a few days left until Valentine's, we thought that it would be fun to take a look at the role that food can play in our relationships with a little mini series leading into February 14th.

Yesterday, we talked about what it was like to date someone with really restrictive diet, or conversely, what it was like to date someone with a very broad palate when you were the one with a restricted eating habits. Some shared that the felt it gave them new perspective and forced them to become more creative in the kitchen, while others were of the mindset that "if you are a picky eater, that is remarkably unsexy and you are gone." This all leads us into today's question, which is whether or not you would change your eating habits to impress?

Small things are easy to change and it isn't uncommon for us to be more aware of our eating quirks when we're out on a first date and want to make a good impression. For example, even if you don't particularly care for broccoli, you might find yourself taking a few bites if it is served with your dinner on a first date with a girl you really like. Or perhaps you are a chicken-and-fish kind of girl, but decide to share in an order of beef chili fries at a big football game, since you know your date loves them. The more restrictive the diet, however, the more difficult the change, but there are some dedicated meat-lovers who are willing to go vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian, to try and impress a vegan or vegetarian significant other.

The interesting thing about these types of dietary changes is that they are not permanent. Meat-lovers go back to eating meat and broccoli-haters continue to avoid broccoli, which makes you wonder whether the change is worthwhile in the first place, since there is minimal intention of changing your overall inclinations.

It looks like the news is already out that vegetarians are smarter than the average omnivore because those with higher IQs are more likely to choose to follow the lifestyle. But will switching to a vegetarian diet improve your IQ, as well? This seems unlikely, but if all it takes is gradually increasing your vegetable intake (since some of the "vegetarians" in the study still ate meat), it could be worth a try. Not content to wait for gradual results, it looks like one person took matters into his own hands. He (or she) stole a refrigerated semi-truck filled with $50,000 worth of broccoli. The trucking company seems to think that the truck itself - and not the broccoli - might have been the target for the theft, but if this turns into a trend and trucks full of spinach, squash and other veggies turn up missing, maybe the IQ-theory won't seem so far fetched.

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The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a report last month that suggested that people who eat a significant amounts of onions and garlic may have a lower risk of some types of cancers. The report analyzed eight studies that were based in Italy and Switzerland and found that the risks for mouth, kidney, colon, ovarian and throat cancers were much lower for adults who ate plenty of these two veggies. Benefits were generally attributed to those who ate seven or more servings of onions per week, with numbers suggesting that their cancer risks were less than half of the risk for those who rarely or never ate either vegetable. Some scientists have found that the sulfur compounds in garlic and the antioxidant flavonoids in onions seem to inhibit the growth of tumors. The results also support previous research done in China that show the same trend.

All this being said, one of the researchers behind a Italy study says that it is still possible that those who eat onion and garlic-heavy diets may just have healthier diets and lifestyle habits in general, and just about everyone involved still recommends maintaining a vegetable-heavy diet.

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