EuroYankee

Spring brings butterflies and flowers to the caskets of our local undertaker.

Nothing like a trip to Rome to remind one of how empires rise, fall and leave behind tourist attractions.

Already know which party will get your vote in 2008? I recently took The World’s Smallest Political Quiz and then tried to guess how the major contenders for both the Democrats and Republicans would’ve answered the questions. Democrats and Republicans would all fall in the Centrist category.

Most European politicans, even the “conservative” ones like Angela Merkel would show up in the Left and Statist corners of this political diamond. Europeans are not headed towards American libertarianism any time soon.

 I discovered the joy of raw eggs on a hot spring day in Spain. We ate heavenly homemade mayonnaise while lounging on a blanket beneath an apple tree. Later, we moved to a shady river bank, taking the leftovers with us. Blame the Spanish sun, but I’ve never tasted anything so divine as  mayonnaise on crusty Galician bread.

Before that, I dabbled in raw eggs: occasional mousse d’chocolat, a swipe of cookie dough, a nip of eggnog, two eggs sunny side up. But that mayonnaise turned me into a believer.

So I found it disheartening that a recent EU study found one in four chicken flocks raised for meat test positive for salmonella. Eggs can also be infected. Salmonella sneaks into hens’ ovaries and infects the eggs before the shells are formed, according to the alarming-as-always Centers for Disease Control. I also read a recent article about contaminated Peter Pan Peanut Butter that claims 40,000 people get sick from Salmonella each year in the US. EuroYankee’s Easter eggs will be rock hard, guaranteed.

Apparently, bell peppers suck up pesticides like sponges. Twenty percent of organic bell peppers in Germany tested positive for pesticide residue. This was confided to me by a complete stranger who had just helped me navigate the confusing world of quark at the local grocery store.

German enthusiasm about their healthy lifestyle choices can feel schoolmarmish. Fortunately, we ended up at the cheese counter, where bell pepper woman gave me tips on picking good Gouda. She had to cut our conversation short to catch the bus, but I learned she once lived in Arizona (“That was before I became vegetarian.”)  She would like to move back, but lamented the difficulty of living an organic, vegetarian lifestyle stateside. (I’m guessing her stay predated Whole Foods.) 

Will San Francisco’s recent plastic grocery bag ban change our slovenly environmental image? Not likely. Germans have already gone a step further than merely switching the composition of plastic bags. Grocery stores charge upwards of 20 cents for each bag, which adds up. The result: 95 percent of consumers schlep their groceries home in backpacks, baskets or cloth bags, which makes much more sense, ecologically, than switching to biodegradable plastic or paper.

America isn’t incorrigible. The young middle class is discovering the perks of high density urban living. But trying to imagine the average American exchanging the swing set in the back yard and a two-stall garage for apartment living and a bike commute? That’s going to take awhile.

(photo credit: m.a.x.)