Bad legumes

It was a quick hilly jaunt this lunchtime, and I didn't think about much other than the steady thump, thump of my feet on the tarmac. Something to do with running up hills makes it hard for me to concentrate on much else other than my feet and breathing.

The one thing that was wandering across my mind was a comment I'd read earlier on the Guardian website, which was something along the lines of: 'why do we need mange tout from Kenya in December?'

Now, leaving aside the obvious (and pretty facetious) answer that it's because mange tout don't grow here in December, the underlying logic of the question – based as it is on the premise that the insane merry-go round whereby Africans grow mange-tout as a cash crop in order to earn currency that is then spent on buying. . . food (as well as imported pesticides and fertilisers) is basically a bad thing – is not unreasonable. The thing that makes me wonder though is that, really, the logic should just as well be extended to bananas, or apples in the summer, or coffee or chocolate or citrus fruit. If it's OK to import all these things that we can't grow here, why is there such a backlash against mange-tout, green beans and asparagus? Just what have the African legumes done to people that is so bad?

Running log
Distance: 2miles
Pace: Again didn't time it. I really must dig out my watch
Location: Cotham and St Michael's hill, Bristol

View this running route at FriendFit.com