October 20, 1999

DOWN HOME:
Broccoli calls into question
divine sense of good taste
___With children in the house, you never know when you're going to enter into a theological discussion.
___"God must've been mad when he made broccoli," Lindsay declared at the dinner table the other night. She held a floret of broccoli on her fork as if it were a deep-green mouse.
___Broccoli was a key ingredient of dinner that evening--an ensemble that included sauteed onions, crushed roasted peanuts and pork tenderloin, served over steamed rice. Superb.
___Unlike former President George Bush, I like broccoli. Unfortunately, broccoli has its

MARV KNOX Editor

detractors, such as the Southern poet and meat-and-potatoes humorist Roy Blount Jr., who penned the immortal words: "Our corner grocery is out of broccoli. Loccoli."
___Instinctively, I wanted to defend this lowly yet noble vegetable. But before I could swallow, Molly bounded into the theological fray.
___"If I don't get carried up in the Rapture, I'm going to have to have a talk with God about broccoli when I get to heaven," she declared.
___"Broccoli is delicious and good for you," I protested. "It's full of vitamins and anti-oxidents, which are supposed to fight cancer. God did a good thing in making broccoli."
___"The texture is what gets to me," Molly explained. "It's these little ball things." She pointed to the tiny bulbs on the end of each strand of the floret. "I just about can't stand them.
___"But if I could get God to change broccoli, I'd go down in history."
___"Wouldn't do you any good," Lindsay pointed out. "You'd be dead."
___"Yeah," Molly agreed. "But girls and boys for thousands of years wouldn't have to eat this stuff. And they'd thank me."
___They'd thank her more if she could get the Lord to do something constructive with broccoli. Maybe make it taste like chocolate ice cream. Or turn it into the garden equivalent of cotton candy. Either solution ought to increase the number of vegetable-eaters among children across the globe.
___Our dinnertime discussion--offered mostly in jest, I think--reflects an ease of plenty, which middle-class Americans have experienced in the late 20th century. We take abundance and nutrition for granted. And we expect it all to taste good too.
___When we bow to thank God for our food, we would do well to ask to remember those who do not have enough to eat, even broccoli. Not that our appetites would be ruined, but that we would commit ourselves to work and give so that children the world over can eat nutritious meals.
___Then, we can live in humble gratitude, echoing the preacher in Lyle Lovett's wonderful song "Church," who declares: "To the Lord let praises be. It's time for dinner; now let's go eat."

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