Fruits And Vegetables

Poverty in Baltimore, a serious problem in the best of times, has worsened with the current recession. A recent New York Times article on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - what used to be called Food Stamps - states that 1 in 8 Americans and 1 in 4 children now participate. Here in Baltimore, as of Oct. 31, the public school system had 83.6 percent participation in the free and reduced price meals (FARM) program, an increase of 10 percentage points or 9,000 more students compared with the same date in 2008.

I applaud Laura Vozzella's profile of entrepreneurs in our farmers markets ("First harvest," April 28). However, her focus on goats and pedal-powered smoothies missed the big picture: farmers markets provide Baltimoreans with fruits and vegetables that are missing in our communities. Most neighborhoods don't offer fresh food. In Southwest Baltimore, 75 percent of food stores don't sell any produce. Only two of 13 neighborhoods analyzed in the Baltimore DrillDown have the recommended grocery shelf-space per resident.

At a recent pre-retirement seminar, I asked how many of the participants were regularly eating five servings a day of fruits and/or vegetables.Very few hands went up.This did not surprise me, and I'm sure it doesn't surprise you, either.National food consumption surveys consistently report we fall short when it comes to fruits and veggies.The need to increase plant foods has gotten plenty of press lately, and for good reason. They provide both soluble and insoluble fiber, as well as vitamin C and beta carotene in substantial doses.

And you thought Miss Frizzle, of "Magic School Bus" fame was make-believe. Not at Valley Baptist Church preschool in Lutherville, where Ann D'Antoni (Miss Ann to her students), dresses for every school unit just like "the Frizz."If it's "yellow week," she's all in sunshine and golds. If the topic is bugs, D'Antoni, 47, is clad in caterpillars and butterflies from earrings to socks. One major difference between the fantasy teacher and the real thing: D'Antoni, of Lutherville, has straight, not curly hair.

When Elizabeth Schneider was researching her first compendium of unusual fruits and vegetables in the early 1980s, a "green salad" almost always meant iceberg lettuce. Now, no restaurant with upscale aspirations would dare not offer "mixed greens" - the more unusual the better. Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide appeared in 1986, but lapsed from print after a few years. The good news is twofold: Not only did that volume return in 1998 (William Morrow and Co., $28), but Schneider has also produced a second volume, The Essential Reference: Vegetables From Amaranth to Zucchini (William Morrow, 2001, $60)

There is something to be said for fast food: It is quick, convenient and - especially - cheap. We all know that it's bad for us, but when a bacon double-cheeseburger costs less than a head of lettuce, it might be hard to refuse. Fruits and vegetables are one of the keys to good health. Barbara Rolls invented the sensible Volumetrics diet, which encourages people to eat large quantities of low-energy-dense foods rather than small portions of energy-dense foods. This plan makes sense: You feel full, lose weight and end up eating a lot more fresh produce.

I want my children to develop better eating habits (less fast food and sugar, more fresh fruit and vegetables), but it's an expensive and time-consuming change. Any suggestions for a working mother on a budget? Dr. Katherine Battle Horgen, a consultant for the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders and co-author of Food Fight, a new book addressing the Amer-ican obesity epidemic, offers these suggestions. To save money, take advantage of seasonal discounts on produce and freeze what you don't eat for later use as fruit smoothies or vegetable purees.

With Memorial Day visible in the rearview mirror, two agriculture staples of summer are reappearing on the landscape across Maryland: pick-your-own farm operations and farmers' markets. Both styles of produce marketing are growing, state agricultural officials say, as an increasing number of consumers seek freshness and value, while farmers search for additional sources of revenue for their goods. "The farmer wins, and the consumer wins," said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Lewis R. Riley.

MIKE CRONIN, husband, father of two and a Social Securit Administration analyst, whipped out his shopping list and started to scour the supermarket for fruits, various veggies, chicken and fish."

This is the time of year when perfectly sane people take to the trees. That is, they climb out on limbs to predict what the new year will bring.Some limbs, of course, are sturdier than others. It's not hard to predict that American cuisine is going to continue to diversify, as new ethnic specialties enter the mainstream and as currently popular ethnic foods multiply by dividing into regions.Nor is it hard to predict that health and safety are going to continue to affect food choices, as the government gears up to increase monitoring of the food supply and to persuade people to eat more healthful foods.