Green, Lean and Mean

Broccoli is a sensational vegetable -- not because its spectacular or outstanding, but because it arouses curiosity and interest.

Seinfeld says Newman can't handle it even if it were to be deep-fried in chocolate.
Homer Simpson once dies eating broccoli.
Big Bush once said "No more broccoli on the White House menu".

Why is there so much aversion for broccoli? May be its not all that bad! I decided to throw away all that "bias" behind broccoli (including mine) and give it a fresh start.

I picked up a bag of broccoli from my freezer and quickly ran my eyes over the Nutrition Facts. I was shocked to figure this out: if you plan on getting all the Carbs needed for the day (about 300 gms) just by eating broccoli, you need to eat about 11 pounds of the vegetable.

Ok, so to make a meal of broccoli worthwhile, you need to eat LOTS. Is that humanly possible? First, I tried to eat it raw. I needn't go throw the gruesome details of what I went through here. You get the idea... I added a dash of soy sauce and black pepper, microwaved it, like a friend had suggested, and tried it. I gave up the experiment while I felt I was going to detest soy sauce for the rest of my life. Then I tried making a soup out of it -- the water had not shown the slightest hue of green or the taste of the vegetable. Good to know that. Atleast, we are not polluting water dumping all that broccoli in the sinkhole.

So what are we doing with all the broccoli we produce? And most of all, why do we produce? However detested, there's a subtle feel-good factor to it. The feel-good factor stays as long as you avoid tasting it or mask the taste totally, like you do in "Cream of broccoli".

You can feel the factor when you choose a side of brocolli over fries, while ordering a 14 oz Rib eye. You can feel it when you top your grocery cart with a stalk of fresh broccoli.

Where do they all go? To the trash. What happens then? The molds avoid them :)