zucchiniMy favorite vegetable by far is zucchini. I’ll eat it in any form - zucchini bread, stir-fried zucchini, boiled zucchini, microwaved zucchini,….

In Richland, Washington back in the early 1980’s, neighbors would dump brown paper grocery bags full of zucchini at people’s front doors. Their harvests were so abundant they had no idea what to do with it except to stealthily dispose of it on someone else. Americans have heard of all this before and most have experienced it first hand. It’s a common American story. I don’t know if this still goes on what with fear of domestic terrorism, neighborhood psychos and so forth.

Going from such abundance to having barely any was unimaginable but that’s exactly what it was like when I lived in Asia from 1998-2006. In Vietnam, I had to ask my helper to go to the market where they sold imported vegetables and fruit. There, she’d find zucchini for several times the price of local vegetables and would come home clucking over it.

Now we’re in London where zucchini is easy to find and I still haven’t made a loaf of zucchini bread. I don’t know what I’ve been waiting for but it’s going to be zucchini season soon! If anybody has any spare zucchini, I’ll take it.

This town is so friendly you have to lock your car to prevent people from filling it with zucchini.
~Bob Bell, The Zucchini Zone

What’s your favorite vegetable?