vegetable guilt

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 23 September 2004 12:14:06

Some days start badly, and end worse, and I fear this is going to be one of those. I woke up from a disturbing dream where I had opened the compost bin (goodness knows why) and it was full of rats that kept escaping. I had to stand on it in order to get the lid on. If anyone thinks this is prophetic, don't hesitate to let me know, but I don't think I'm going to be called to Pharoah's court just yet.
Instead, I reckon it is symptomatic of the mixed feelings I have toward the organic vegetable bag. Every week the lovely people at Farmaround deliver us a bag of fruit and one of veggies - by the end of the week some of it is still staring at me balefully when I open the fridge, and I have serious vegetable guilt.
The vegetables have prompted a moment of self-realisation. I still have much the same attitude as when I was seven and someone gave me one of those variety packs of Kelloggs cereal. I would eat the Frosties first, and then the Coco-Pops and then all the other exciting things. I never ate the Corn Flakes - because they were boring - and then my mum would get cross and would make me eat All Bran for the rest of the week.
The vegetables are not sugar-coated (sadly) but the principle is the same. I cook the fennel, and the courgettes, and eat the peaches and grapes and bananas. The sad-looking beetroot, and the spinachy stuff which may even be curly kale often ends up being put straight in the compost.
I always thought getting an organic bag would make us feel virtuous, but it there's nothing like chucking an entire cauliflower into the compost bin to really get my guilt going. I can just hear my Gran saying "think of all of the starving children in Ethiopia".
Tomorrow we get another bag, and the whole operation starts all over again. And there's only one thing I can say to that. Rats.