Minding My Vegetable Manners

Mmmmm... the sort of vegetables I used to buy from the 7-11

I had a roommate who scoffed at the thought of vegetables coming anywhere near his Kraft Dinner. He ate chocolate bars like meals some nights. Other nights, he’d inhale two packs of Mr. Noodle out of the pot, eating around the bits of dried green onion from the salty powder.

He believed beer, cigarettes and Doritos were a rich source of vitamins and minerals (although the way I’d eat the Doritos sometimes, you’d think I believed the same thing). Some days I’d cut up a red pepper as an afternoon snack and he'd shake his head pitiably at me.

Based on the stories I heard about Hungary before my move, I was going to arrive in his food paradise: No fresh produce to be found anywhere, but plenty of pickled vegetables and potatoes. That thought didn’t bother me much – I’ll eat sauerkraut right out of the jar if no one’s looking. What addled my brain was the possibility that I might have to live without proper ruffage.

Just days after I arrived, I went to a grocery store near my hotel in search of fresh fruit, oranges, bananas, anything. What I encountered was too much of a stereotype to be true.

The produce section was one shelf, wedged between the chocolate and the potato chips sections, with wrinkly apples and browning lettuce on offer. There was more selection in the alcohol section – this was indeed my old roommates’ dietary paradise! 

I had also brought some attention to myself. Wandering every aisle in the store in disbelief, a security guard followed me back to the fruit section, giving me the hairy eyeball while I appraised the oranges and kiwi.

As usual, I was wrong.

I, in my ignorance, had completely jumped to the wrong conclusion. Within days after my time warp into the East Bloc grocery experience, I realized this was the exception not the rule.

Former co-workers of mine might remember my fondness for slicing a whole red bell pepper and eating it plain at my desk. In Hungary, there's a type of long, thin pepper, locally they're called paprika, and it's pretty much a food group for me. Yes, there are potatoes, but apples were in season in autumn when I arrived. With winter settling over here, beets and carrots are regularly found in my office building's cafeteria. Beets!

I heeded all the "advice" about food from friends in Canada and worried about developing scurvy here. The fact is I'm nowhere near getting pirate teeth from vitamin deficiency, but I have to work to get my fruits and veggies into me. In that respect, Canada is no different than Hungary. In Toronto, I made my weekly trip to Kensington Market to load up on produce. Here, I go to the market near my home or a couple good fruit sellers. I even use the opportunity to clumsily practice what little Hungarian I know.

I've turned a few heads when I exclaim my excitement  over seeing beets on offer for lunch or finding a fine-looking red bell pepper. If you want to eat good food you have to make an effort for it, so when I see an easy way to get my greens I for it. It's no different anywhere.