It is not the same food world in which I grew up in the 1960s and ’70s. Especially produce. Who remembers with me that the produce section was one aisle with a refrigerated coffin on the left and right where you could admire red delicious or granny smith apples, oranges, iceberg lettuce, potatoes and onions? Anything else beyond grapes and strawberries was exotic. My mother rushed us kids past the produce aisle to the canned goods section for our green beans, corn and spinach.
Perhaps once in my childhood, my mom was daring enough to serve broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage. One taste, and those were never going to touch my lips again. Ditto for my siblings.
This aversion to all cruciferous vegetables continued well into my 20s. Then I was invited to dinner at my boss’s house. The dining room was dark and thick with a deep floral aura. I was starving and the kitchen smelled wonderful. What was on the menu? I didn’t ask. I do recall a casserole of some type ushered to the table and took a helping. Part way through dinner, I looked down and thought I spied a cauliflower floret on my plate. Where did that come from? I stirred around my dish and discovered that the casserole I was enjoying was filled with them. I had been eating them! How was this even possible?
If cauliflower could be made palatable, perhaps broccoli could too. I determined to like it by beginning with cheese sauce before graduating to unenhanced.
I know I’m not alone in my vegetable squeamishness… because then came the 1990s. I became the editor of a magazine about fresh produce aimed at restaurants that gave ideas for using more of them on the menu. At that time, surveys indicated that consumers thought vegetables should be more present on menus, but in reality, consumers would not order them unless they were French fries. It turns out, folks liked the vegetable idea, but hadn’t developed an actual taste for them. Thus, vegetables were unprofitable, not only for restaurants, but for that magazine that struggled for advertisers. It folded and I went freelance.
Here we are 15-plus years later, and could my younger self have ever imagined the place of cauliflower on the menu? I don’t think anyone eats it for the flavor. Its value is that it is a plant, offers a little protein and it lacks flavor. You doubt me? There’s no other explanation for Buffalo Wild Wings’ new Cauliflower Wings. The cancer-fighting vegetable is breaded, fried and tossed in Asian Zing sauce and is topped with sesame, garlic, salt, pepper, Fresno peppers and scallions. I haven’t had them, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t detect a hint of cauliflower flavor. Pizza becomes a low/no-carb affair with a cauliflower crust at the likes of Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza, Donatos Piazza and Your Pie. Many places have brought in cauliflower rice, while Noodle’s & Co. has a cauliflower noodle—Caulifloodles. You’ll even find Caulisteak at Milkboy Philadelphia. It’s all popular now because times have changed. Vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians drive the hive, as do those on keto, Whole30 and paleo diets.
Today, vegetables are the food rock stars and the produce department is the savior of the store. Impossible in the 1960s and 70s. My produce magazine editor career would have thrived with this late turn of affairs.
Tell me what you think.
Jody