Bigger Isn't Better: Why Gigantic Produce is a Terrible Value

My girlfriend noticed these giant tomatoes the size of cantaloupes at Harris Teeter the other day. It's a produce-wide trend - softball-sized avocados, strawberries that are no longer bite-sized, apples that are more of a meal than a snack.

Many people look at giant portions and see a bargain, but abnormally large fruits and vegetables are a terrible value. Especially since many fruits and vegetables are sold by weight, you're paying an inflated price for watered-down taste and nutrition:

• Plants give about the same amount of nutrition to each fruit or vegetable no matter its size, so supersizing just dilutes it
• By breeding for size over nutrition & taste, there's evidence conventional produce nutrition & taste has genetically declined over time
• Fruits and vegetables need time to soak up the sun & develop flavor, but they can be robbed of that by artificially accelerated growing processes

Why would anyone buy these monsters? Even if you don't want to spend a little more on the foods that are worth buying organic, I don't understand the appeal of the wide range of imitation food products, from tasteless tomatoes to process cheese loaves to corn-based pancake syrup. Why not buy real food?

Mystery Monster By The Meadowlands Unmasked

For years, I've driven past the Meadowlands on the New Jersey Turnpike wondering about the absolutely humongous building next door. First it was under construction ... then it seemed finished ... and since then it's just sat there completely unmarked (unless you count the multi-colored aluminum siding, which, in the immortal words of Wayne Campbell, looks like a plate of hurl). I'd asked friends in New York City about it and they'd had no idea what it was.

Finally today I learned the answer at Andrew Sullivan's blog - it's a massive, unfinished shopping mall, formerly known as Xanadu, currently known as American Dream Meadowlands.

In this era of new urbanism, walkability, and online shopping, what better idea than a multi-billion dollar shopping mall in the middle of nowhere that you literally can't walk to with terrible traffic that makes you wish you'd just gone to Amazon.com?

Online vs. In-Person: Which Holiday Shopping Choice is Greener?

According to a 2009 study by Carnegie Mellon University, getting it done online cuts your shopping carbon footprint by 35%.