I saw the well-illustrated article on the Annual Crop Report, and was shocked - shocked to see all the words about Strawberries and Carrots, but not a word in the main article about Broccoli! Why not? It's the number 2 crop - $78 million - that's more than all the Lettuce, Carrots and Cabbage combined! (Your chart showed it up $14 million from 2006, although when I checked the crop report's 'raw numbers' they showed a revised number for last year, so the increase was only $5 million - yes, I checked the 'raw numbers'.)

Nevertheless, I suspect there has been a media bias against broccoli ever since George H.W. Bush came out against it, and it's not fair! In fact, when I googled this site for 'broccoli' (http://www.google.com/search?q=broccoli+site%3Asanluisobispo.com), the first result was a restaurant reviewer saying "I would have preferred a bit less broccoli -- I have a love-hate relationship with the vegetable -- but the cheese blend was yummy enough". I rest my case.

Yes, I am pro-broccoli, and proud of it. It's a vegetable that's not ashamed to let its florets go curly (and IMO, has 2-3 times more actual flavor than is gray cousin cauliflower). What would Panda Express have without broccoli? Beef and Stuff? You may see me on the street wearing a tshirt with this design (http://www.goats.com/store/images/macho_preview.png); yes broccoli can be macho! (And I did protest when that web comic killed off its broccoli character last year, but that's another crusade...) Please, give broccoli a fair shake... and a little cheese sauce.