So few people eat okra (more radishes are grown in this country) that it never even makes it onto the lists of Top 10 hated foods

The bottom has fallen out of the coastal food chain, and there's just not enough food out there.

Just like becoming an expert in wine–you learn by drinking it, the best you can afford–you learn about great food by finding the best there is, whether simply or luxurious. The you savor it, analyze it, and discuss it with your companions, and you compare it with other experiences.

We can only take non-perishable food,

It's hard for me to imagine a Latin American country cutting off its nose to spite its face.

They are part of the root of what we are as a country, as a nation,