Salad of grilled asparagus and spinach from Gordon Ramsay's cookbook Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food. (AP Photo/Larry Crowe)
by Frank James
Another example of how tough it is to be president. You can get in trouble for complimenting the local vegetables when on a foreign trip without causing a controversy.
The Wall Street Journal has a small story about domestic asparagus growers being ticked off after President Bush lauded German asparagus during a June visit to Germany during which the president described the Teutonic version of the missile-shaped vegetable as "fabulous."
The Journal reports that this resulted in the president receiving a shipment of American asparagus:
"Anyone who enjoys asparagus is missing out if they haven't tried the asparagus we grow in Washington," said Rep. Doc Hastings, a Republican. To make sure the president wasn't missing out, he and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray shipped 10 pounds of domestic asparagus to the White House.
But interesting as that is, it's not the best part of the story. That would be this bit of information which will no doubt come as news to many people. It was certainly news to me:
American asparagus farmers have been struggling in recent years against cheaper imports. Shipments from Peru and Mexico now account for almost 80% of America's fresh-asparagus market by volume. Imports of Peruvian asparagus had increased to 87 million pounds by 2006 from four million pounds in 1991. The U.S. in the early 1990s began subsidizing Peru's asparagus industry and eliminated import tariffs to encourage an alternative crop for coca growers, hoping to stem the flow of Andean cocaine.
So American asparagus growers have been sacrificed to the drug war? Think on that the next time you're in the produce section checking out those spears.
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Comments
43 didn't learn anything from 41's broccoli episode. Come to think of it, 43 didn't learn anything at all.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport☮ | July 11, 2008 8:16 AM
We must wean ourselves from foreign asparagus dependency!
We send our asparagus money to foreign countries that use it to send more illegal immigrants northward!
Posted by: DaveB | July 11, 2008 8:23 AM
I love my American asparagus but German white asparagus is like a drug. I couldn't get enough of it when I was there.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | July 11, 2008 10:25 AM
Nothing better than the asparagus that grows in my backyard. Don't even need to cook it. I even have to keep my dog away from it, since he likes it better than rawhide chews. Takes a few years, but get a bunch of 2-3 crowns and stick them in a nice corner in your yard.
Posted by: DD | July 11, 2008 12:18 PM
Now you can grow asparagus on Mars -- can we send Dubya there?
http://pius7.slu.edu/govdocs/?p=85
Posted by: C. Heston | July 11, 2008 12:27 PM