Moshkito

sharke
... 
The price? SIX EFFING DOLLARS AND FIFTY EIGHT FRIGGIN CENTS. 
$6.58
 
$2.99/lb
 
I'm pretty sure a bag of parsnips should cost about the same as a bag of carrots. 
 ...

I'm guessing that they went to China for a spray, then to Latin America for a pee, then to America for sale ... and you gotta pay for all that travelling?

Actually my mistake was probably buying them in Whole Foods. 

SteveStrummerUK
 
There's enough material here to have kept Cyril Fletcher going for weeks
 
Never had a roasted sprout or a sweet potato, I must give them a try some time.
 
I do have plenty of experience sampling roast spuds and parsnips though  I always roast them together with a few halved onions, and sprinkled with sage leaves and plenty of black pepper.
 
MY daughter cooks a delightful dish of roasted courgettes, red onions and bell peppers, finished in a ragu and balsamic vinegar sauce and served with pasta. Grated cheese optional

 
You're really missing out on the sweet potatoes. I love them. Pro tip: boil them for 10-15 mins before putting them in the oven, it really reduces the cooking time. 
 
To be honest I'm not really sure what the difference between sweet potatoes and yams is (if any) but my favorites types are the Japanese ones (purple skin with a white flesh). I brush them with coconut oil and sprinkle a little pink salt on them before they go in. Absolutely amazing drizzled with olive oil and a topping of hummus or tahini. 
 
Parsnips are outstanding roasted. I chop them into slices and steam them for 10 minutes before roasting. That way they seem to be ready around the same time as the Brussels. I toss them in coconut oil and a little balsamic vinegar before going in the oven. 

Moshkito

sharke
... 
The price? SIX EFFING DOLLARS AND FIFTY EIGHT FRIGGIN CENTS. 
$6.58
 
$2.99/lb
 
I'm pretty sure a bag of parsnips should cost about the same as a bag of carrots. 
 ...

I'm guessing that they went to China for a spray, then to Latin America for a pee, then to America for sale ... and you gotta pay for all that travelling?

I think you're right!

When and where I grew up, vegetables meant:
 
 
Potatoes (with practically every meal, and I hate boiled potatoes).
Carrots
Celery
Lettuce - usually Iceberg type
Tomatoes
Turnips
Canned mixed veggies, canned beets.
 
That was pretty much it, I think. Onion was used to "give taste" to things, along with salt and pepper.
 
20 years of that regimen left me taking for granted that practically anything that wasn't on that list was "exotic" and presumably expensive. Of course, before the mid 90's, those things were effectively "exotic" and/or unheard of.
 
I broaden my taste eventually, but I still assume that those products are expensive. Brocoli is one of my favorites. Spinach, too. I tried sweet potatoes 2 or 3 years ago and loved them. Parsnips I never tried.
 
And, Whole Foods, I mean... I love that place and we go every week, but they're so damn expensive. And they're also good at soaking their veggies so damn wet that they often rot w/in a day or two of bringing them home. I do understand a light mist every now and then, but nothing on the level of what WF does. Am I supposed to sit there with the hair dryer and dry my veggies when I unpack the groceries? I don't get it. 
 
I also have yet to forgive them for that roast beef we bought from them when my mother-in-law was visiting in January. Coast us a fortune, and I was so excited to eat roast beef for the first time in years. Well, unless you were equipped with a dog's mouth, there's no way you could actually chew into it. I couldn't finish one bit - neither anyone at the table could.
 
They'd also sold us very poor steaks the year before, but I had assumed that my cooking was to blame. But looking back, it was just frickin' rubber.
 
 

You guys won't believe what's happening to food prices up here. EVERYTHING changes hands in US dollars, so add about 35% to the whole foods price and you'll be getting close to Canadian prices. $7.95 for a Caulli. $4 for a gallon of gas. The long term drought condition in the US has also driven up costs big time.
 
In north america we have been spoiled by having a ready supply of fruits and vegetables all year round. Talk to anyone that lived through the depression and dust bowl years and they'll tell you. My granddad on mom's side used to go down to the lake to catch fish and shoot pigeons for food. Veggies came from the back yard.

ampfixer
You guys won't believe what's happening to food prices up here. EVERYTHING changes hands in US dollars, so add about 35% to the whole foods price and you'll be getting close to Canadian prices. $7.95 for a Caulli. $4 for a gallon of gas. The long term drought condition in the US has also driven up costs big time.
 
In north america we have been spoiled by having a ready supply of fruits and vegetables all year round. Talk to anyone that lived through the depression and dust bowl years and they'll tell you. My granddad on mom's side used to go down to the lake to catch fish and shoot pigeons for food. Veggies came from the back yard.

During the hunting/trapping season, hare and partridge were regular part of the menu in our house. One of the few good memories of my dad I have is when he'd ask me to help him skin the hare and prepare it. With a bit of luck, certain years, we'd get meat from a deer or a moose.
 
Trout was pretty common too. 
 
Me I liked to fish cod, though I never could bring myself to eat any fish other than trout back then.
 
We had a garden almost every summer, but there was no way that it could supply enough for even just a family of 4. Those veggies were the best I've eaten in my life though. Especially the carrots. 
 
I also remember making provisions of strawberries, raspberries, hazelnuts (preparing those would ruin your fingers) in the summer. You'd just spend a day in the field and pick up strawberries, and freeze most of it. Stuffing for pies for the rest of the year. :)
 
Apparently, strawberries don't grow as abundantly as they did back in my youth nowadays, so that's not something can do anymore. 
 
Looking back, I realize that a lot of what we ate didn't come from the grocery store. It wasn't that long ago, but it sure feels strange to think about it. 

Rain
When and where I grew up, vegetables meant:
 
 
Potatoes (with practically every meal, and I hate boiled potatoes).
Carrots
Celery
Lettuce - usually Iceberg type
Tomatoes
Turnips
Canned mixed veggies, canned beets.
 
That was pretty much it, I think. Onion was used to "give taste" to things, along with salt and pepper.
 
20 years of that regimen left me taking for granted that practically anything that wasn't on that list was "exotic" and presumably expensive. Of course, before the mid 90's, those things were effectively "exotic" and/or unheard of.
 
I broaden my taste eventually, but I still assume that those products are expensive. Brocoli is one of my favorites. Spinach, too. I tried sweet potatoes 2 or 3 years ago and loved them. Parsnips I never tried.
 
And, Whole Foods, I mean... I love that place and we go every week, but they're so damn expensive. And they're also good at soaking their veggies so damn wet that they often rot w/in a day or two of bringing them home. I do understand a light mist every now and then, but nothing on the level of what WF does. Am I supposed to sit there with the hair dryer and dry my veggies when I unpack the groceries? I don't get it. 
 
I also have yet to forgive them for that roast beef we bought from them when my mother-in-law was visiting in January. Coast us a fortune, and I was so excited to eat roast beef for the first time in years. Well, unless you were equipped with a dog's mouth, there's no way you could actually chew into it. I couldn't finish one bit - neither anyone at the table could.
 
They'd also sold us very poor steaks the year before, but I had assumed that my cooking was to blame. But looking back, it was just frickin' rubber.
 
 

Agreed about the veg soaking. I constantly have to shake stuff dry before putting it in the bag because it's absolutely saturated with water. 
 
The quality of produce at WF has deteriorated hugely in the last couple of years. Just finding a couple of good quality sweet potatoes is a mission....you have to sift through a mountain of rotten crap. I swear only about 10% of their red onions have been fit for human consumption this past year. 
 
I'm in two minds about their prices. Some stuff is great value (why would I pay $7 for a "big brand" breakfast cereal when I can get the WF equivalent, which is usually healthier and tastier (and organic) for $4? I find their daily staples to be good quality and good value. It's when you venture into the more luxury items that they gouge you. And their salad/hot food bar is ridiculously expensive. Recently I put a couple of spoonfuls of brown rice and a spoonful of chana masala into one of those little salad boxes and it came out to $8. A friend of mine once got himself a decent size portion of Indian food from the hot bar and it came to $20. I could sit down to a 3 course meal at some Indian restaurants for less (excluding booze of course). 

I always shake the veggies off for an extra second or two to rid them of as much water as possible before I bag them.
With water weighing 9.8 lbs/per gallon, all those extra H2O drops just adds a bit here and a bit there onto the veggies on the scale - and almost all that we buy now is 90-95% fruits & veggies by the time we've checkd out.
 
I can just imagine how much extra 'spray water' I've paid for over the years - water I can't use in any way.

jimusic
I always shake the veggies off for an extra second or two to rid them of as much water as possible before I bag them.
With water weighing 9.8 lbs/per gallon, all those extra H2O drops just adds a bit here and a bit there onto the veggies on the scale - and almost all that we buy now is 90-95% fruits & veggies by the time we've checkd out.
 
I can just imagine how much extra 'spray water' I've paid for over the years - water I can't use in any way.

I'm so mean I tear the leaves off bunches of radishes. No way I'm paying for those!

Haha - I've done that - I think it was with the long top green stems on carrot bunches that were also soaking wet.
I've even been temtped to chop off the huge bulky stocks of broccoli, but now I just pay a bit more for broccoli crowns. I figure it actually works out to be a bit cheaper.