Show veg taste is tops! (Allegedly!)

There was a letter in today's Garden News (GN) responding to an article by the Radio 2 veg man Terry Walton when he said that show veg was no good for the plate. The writer of the letter was saying exactly the opposite and I'd have to agree.

Now then.....here's the shock, horror story of the year.....I'm actually not that keen on vegetables on my plate. If I'm honest they are just something that keeps getting in the way of my meat but as you get older you realise you need a more balanced diet to keep the old ticker going so I force myself to eat veg. I love peas. I prefer raw carrots and runner beans to cooked ones. Spuds are ok when they're chips! And if God created a blander taste than cauliflowers then I've yet to come across it! Most veg tastes acceptable if cooked in a sauce or gravy.

But what I do know is that show veg tastes just as good, if not better than anything you can buy from a supermarket or a greengrocer. And what a lot of casual observers don't realise when they visit a veg show where there are lots of huge onions or extra long carrots on show is that quality of the produce is absolutely tantamount. That is if you don't mind eating veg that has been sprayed with chemicals during the growing season (I don't).

I'm also not a great one for tomatoes unless they come in liquid form from a bottle. I remember Bob Flowerdew (you know....the organic ponytailed tit that grew stuff in car tyres and old fridges) once said on TV that the show variety Gold Star was utterly tasteless. Before Cederico came along I used to grow Gold Star for the benches and would give away hundreds of fruit each season to a wide circle of people. They all used to comment on the taste, and the older ones would say how it reminded them of how tomatoes used to taste in the 'old days' !

So there you have it......show veg is just as tasteful as organic or shop bought veg. Just don't ask me because I can't stand either! LOL