© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Victorious vegetarian eating in the heartland

Are most Midwest dinner tables filled with rows and rows of iceberg lettuce?
benketaro
/
Flickr
Are most Midwest dinner tables filled with rows and rows of iceberg lettuce?

Did you know the most common fresh produce in Kansas City and in the Midwest is iceberg lettuce? Yes, the green that is mostly water is apparently the best get in fly-over country. At least, the New York Times thinks so.

A recent Times article titled "Meatless in the Midwest: A Tale of Survival" would have you believe that the veritable bread basket and vegetable garden of the Midwest, the state of Missouri, is a fresh produce wasteland.

This week on Field Notes, we let Midwestern consumers weigh in on the stereotype that pegs the region as full of insatiable meat eaters who see green as garnish. 

What do you think?

"Even though the region boasts some of the finest farmland in the world, there is a startling lack of fresh produce here," A.G. Sulzberger wrote in the Times. Do you find it hard to get fresh fruit and vegetables?
 
Click here to tell us your story.
 

Jessica is Harvest Public Media's connection to Central Missouri. She joined Harvest in July 2010. Jessica has spent time on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and WNYC's Soundcheck, and reported and produced for WNIN-FM in Evansville, Ind. She grew up in the City of Chicago, studied at the University of Tulsa and has helped launch local food gardens in Oklahoma and Indiana.