In a nutshell, as Kingsolver points out, “U.S. citizens… on average spend a lower proportion of our income on food than people in any other country, or any heretofore in history.” She goes on to say, “It’s interesting that penny-pinching is an accepted defense for toxic food habits, when frugality so rarely rules other consumer domains.” We treat ourselves to name brand clothing but not to food that keeps our arteries functioning. This, as Kingsolver says, has “left the kids huffing and puffing (fashionably) in the dust.”

What if we were to make a conscious decision to eat food that is full of nutrients, fresh from our own or other local gardens and farms? Even if that meant giving up the next cool technology, the extra day on vacation, the bottles and bottles of soda or, God help us, water?

What if our kids learned that the seasons have reasons and that it’s time now, in the middle of January, to start planning the garden and that soon it will be time to start some seedlings in the sunny March window? Do you think some of those kids might enjoy digging in the dirt or tasting the fruit of their labor? Maybe they’d find vegetables actually delicious, as I saw last summer when a batch of kids came over to try out my grape tomatoes (and the arugula and the basil and the little carrots). And maybe they’d be less likely to develop Type II diabetes if they were doing some of the heavy lifting of urban farming and eating salads instead of junk food.

But maybe you’ve already heard all that. What may amaze you as it has me is the cost of eating the way we do. Until I read this book, I never realized that every household in the United States subsidizes agribusiness with hard-earned tax dollars to the tune of about $725 per year! (You can see how that figure was computed by reading this page.) You can just imagine how many heads of cauliflower, pounds of tilapia, gallons of milk, bushels of apples that would buy.

They had a stage for flamenco, which made me want to bring my flamenco guitar to play there. Upon asking, I found that unfortunately they’ve discontinued flamenco due to noise problems with their neighbors. I surmised that they’re doing so much business, live music probably isn’t even needed anyway – oh well.

We dined on Serrano Ham sandwiches with manchego cheese, roasted red peppers, and Spanish chorizo (ohhhh!) on freshly baked rolls with an aioli sauce. It also included possibly the tastiest fries I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a few. Pure savory lusciousness that triggered memories of a cherished Canary Islands trip. We also had a delicate squash soup. Just a great meal, and we’ll probably be returning there for a tasting meal blowout.

But here’s what’s strange – have you ever noticed that there are locations where you’ll see several restaurants fail right in a row?  And to me the funniest ones are those where the “new” restaurant is exactly the same as the one that just failed.  I thought everyone knew Einstein’s quote where he said that repeating the same behavior over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.   But obviously not.

This phenomenon exists nearly everywhere, and it’s thriving here in Syracuse.  I won’t name names, as I don’t want to jinx anyone.  But I will ask this: how many nearly indistinct pizza joints does one town need?  I guess it’s like starting a bar – the person figures, hey, everybody drinks, so it’s a surefire hit.  And who doesn’t like pizza?  I love pizza, and even like lame pizza if I’m hungry enough.  But if there are 10 of them per mile (and that’s a very low estimate), are they all going to make money?  Well, anecdotally, we see the results with dead pizza joints all over the city.  Same with the many dead Italian restaurants and so on.

I will say that a few pizza joints are really superior, and we make a point of identifying those here.  The rest – if I know about them, I’ll just quietly ignore them – they’re having a tough enough time without me bad-mouthing them.

I try to guess why people keep opening the same failing business over and over again.  Other than the undeniable power of simple ignorance and lack of market research, I guess that opening a restaurant just seems cool.  Hey, I’ve got a few good recipes at home, or I want to start a business and I think I can grasp the restaurant concept more easily than the idea of starting a surgery business, or I worked in a restaurant but am tired of listening to my jerk boss so I want to become one, or…. who knows.

Maybe as time goes on, I’ll start naming “case studies” when they fail.  At that point my critical comments can’t hurt them anymore.  Or maybe not.  We’ll see.

Which leads me to ask: why are there so few vegetable gardens and fruit trees in Syracuse. Surely we have no dearth of neighborhoods where fresh vegetables are not within walking distance. Where kids don’t know that food comes from the… the dirt!  Why is it that there are people who are actually hungry, or whose bodies are expanding frighteningly in search of nutrition because there’s nothing of value in the “food” they’re eating? We have the land, we certainly know how to grow trees here. Why can’t every back yard have a 4′x 8′ garden and one blueberry patch?

Maybe we need to interview our elderly and get the instructions for living before their knowledge passes away with them.