The cruelest month

January is arguably the worst month on the year in terms of veg sales.  For most of the country, the combination of short days, cold, snow and televised sports turn us into couch potatoes with a yen for comfort food.  That used to include soups and stews, which required at least potatoes and a few vegetables.  To the present generation, comfort food is more like Domino's pizza and Big Macs.  Next time you go to a supermarket, check out the food choices of the people with the full carts.  Highly processed foods, carbonated beverages and a few frozen or canned veggies is the bulk of the fare many people bring home to their families.  The upcoming super bowl is a veritable junk food orgy which will suck up the grocery budgets of many shoppers for the next two weeks.  At least there will be a the obligitory veg tray with dips, so sales of carrots, cauliflower and peppers should be strong as we head toward February 5.  About the only thing to cheer is the steady increase of daylight as the country staggers toward spring.  That and the comic spectacle of the Republican primary clown car as it careens from the northeast to South Carolina and Florida.