I love USDA’s charts of food and agriculture statistics because they tell most of the story at a glance.
These are based on USDA’s compilations of foods produced in the U.S. plus imports, less exports, divided by the total population.
The most commonly consumed vegetable? Potatoes by a long shot (think: French fries). Next comes tomatoes (pizza). Variety anyone?
How about fruit? Oranges, apples, bananas. Really, can’t we be more adventurous?
I am honored (hugely) to be the recipient of the 2023 Edinburgh Medal, at which I give a speech as part of the Edinburgh Science Festival. My talk, “Food Politics: Why it Matters Now” is at 7:00 p.m. Information about the Science Festival is here. A Tweet announcing my award is here.