Stalking a Broccoli-Basher : Counteroffensive: Growers and politicians defend the vegetable that President Bush denigrated.

Ventura County’s broccoli growers and politicians proclaimed their love of the vegetable Thursday after President Bush said he has hated broccoli ever since he was a boy and will never eat it again.

The local broccoli counteroffensive was accompanied by speculation that recent White House broccoli-bashing may stem from the possibility that the President had to eat overcooked broccoli in his youth.

Not too upset despite the lofty position of the nation’s foremost broccoli hater, farmers and politicians said Bush’s views on the vegetable may actually end up helping Ventura County growers by triggering a pro-broccoli backlash, creating more demand for the vegetable and focusing attention on its healthful effects.

On the other hand, a lot of Ventura County schoolchildren made it clear that they agree with the President completely and hate broccoli just as much as he did when his mother forced him to eat it as a child.

The issue is of some importance locally because the county produced about $6 million of the green row crop in 1988 and more than $9 million in 1987; 1989 figures are due out today.

“It’s just like the little pig in my parade,” said Ventura City Councilman James Monahan, a native Venturan who angered animal rights advocates last week when he wanted to have a pig dyed green to accompany him in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

“That brought a lot of publicity to the parade, and this will help focus attention on the fact that we grow broccoli here.”

Officials and growers said they think Bush’s anti-broccoli stance most likely stems from some unfortunate childhood experiences.

“The guy doesn’t know what’s good for him,” said County Agriculture Commissioner Earl McPhail. “Probably the President has only had it when someone boiled it to death.”

Supervisor John Flynn, who represents the Oxnard Plain, where most of the county’s broccoli is grown, suggested that the President substitute broccoli for the pork rinds he seems to prefer.

“Probably the President just doesn’t know how to fix it,” Flynn said, adding that his family prefers broccoli steamed and crisp.

Officials at Seaboard Produce Distributors, the largest shipper of broccoli in Ventura County, said Bush’s public display of distaste for broccoli would not affect the company’s decisions on planned plantings or harvests for the coming year.

“It just gives us a little attention,” said Joe Hansen, operations controller at the Oxnard distributor. “Now if the Environmental Protection Agency had decided that broccoli causes cancer, that would concern the holy hell out of us.”

On the contrary, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Assn. and the California Department of Health Services have all recommended that broccoli be included in a diet high in other forms of fiber as well to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Bush caused a stir over the weekend when national news media first picked up his comments about his dislike for broccoli. Bush elaborated on Thursday, explaining that his mother made him eat the vegetable as a child and that now, as an adult, he is simply tired of it.

“I’m assuming it’s a joke on the President’s part,” said Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ojai). “But if it isn’t, it’s because he hasn’t eaten broccoli from my district.”

Growers in the northern reaches of Lagomarsino’s district in Santa Maria took the President’s comments more seriously. On Tuesday, 15 growers contributed 10 tons of broccoli worth $5,100 to be shipped to Washington, where it will arrive Monday.

The shipment will be donated in Bush’s name to an organization for the needy, said Lisa Cork of Apio Produce Sales of Guadalupe, a farming town 10 miles west of Santa Maria in northern Santa Barbara County.

While most Ventura politicians--even Republicans--disagreed with Bush on the broccoli issue, the President did get some nonpartisan support from Democratic Assemblyman Jack O’Connell of Carpinteria.

O’Connell said he has avoided the vegetable as long as he can remember.

“I ate some broccoli when I was forced to as a child. As an adult, I tend to move it around my plate,” said O’Connell, who claims his tag as a vegetable hater is a bad rap.

In addition to O’Connell, the President got lots of sympathy from Ventura County’s school population.

Broccoli is so unpopular in many of the county’s schools that it is no longer even served in some areas where elementary school lunch counters have been officially decreed to be broccoli-free zones.

In elementary schools in Oxnard, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Ventura and Camarillo where broccoli is cultivated on surrounding farms, the vegetable has been missing--but not missed--from the lunch menu because it is left uneaten, school officials said.

“We haven’t tried it in many years,” said Dorothy Monk, food services manager for the Simi Valley Unified School District. “It’s just not a favorite with younger kids.”

Pupils in Ventura have passed over the little green florets even when they are disguised in a vegetable mix with corn, cauliflower and carrots, Poinsettia Elementary School cafeteria Manager Peggy Davis said.

“Most of them don’t like it. A quarter of them don’t take it,” Davis said.

At Poinsettia Elementary School during the lunch hour Thursday, faces broke out in disgust at the mention of having to eat “that green stuff” or “little trees” at meals at school and home. Some students admitted to feeding their pets broccoli after being ordered to clean their plates.

“I like artichokes, but I do not like broccoli,” said third-grader Megan Staley, 9. “I hate it. It’s disgusting!”

Another student stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes at the mere mention of the vegetable.

“It’s that green stuff. It’s gross,” said third-grader Teresa Dunlop, 8. “My sister sometimes tries to feed it to the cat.”

It was a different story at one Ralphs supermarket where shoppers have not slacked in their love for the vegetable just because of Bush’s dislike for broccoli, said Paul Hagstrom, produce manager

“That’s his own opinion,” Hagstrom said, shrugging as he unloaded a box of broccoli. “Broccoli’s a good item. It sells good here.”

Shopper Maryanne Gomez, 31, of Oxnard criticized Bush’s dislike for the vegetable as she loaded four large bundles of broccoli into a basket full of groceries for her family.

Gomez said that her two children love the vegetable and that she would continue to feed them ample servings.

“I think he’s stupid . . . especially for the head of the country to be saying something like that,” Gomez said. “Broccoli’s good for you. He should set a good example for the kids.”

Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi said Bush’s distaste could have been even more misdirected.

“It could have been worse,” he said. “What if he would have said he didn’t like strawberries?”

Takasugi and his city are preparing for the annual strawberry festival, which draws several hundred thousand people each year.

POLITICS OF BROCCOLI--Candid views by Ventura County politicians. B5

BROCCOLI: POLITIC POSITIONS

In the aftermath of the rare glimpse into President Bush’s vegetable tastes, some of Ventura County’s political figures were equally candid Thursday in discussing their views on broccoli:

Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino

(R-Ojai)

“It is my favorite vegetable and I like it better than I did two days ago.”

Rep. Elton Gallegly

(R-Simi Valley)

“I have been looking for a long time to find a flaw with the President and I’ve finally found it: He doesn’t like broccoli. Maybe he has never had California broccoli.”

Assemblyman Jack O’Connell

(D-Carpinteria)

“Guilty as charged. I do not eat much broccoli. But it’s a bum rap that I don’t like any vegetables. When I heard this story I knew it would come back to bite me. . . . I’m too busy eating locally grown citrus to eat broccoli, spinach or Brussels sprouts.”

Michael Bradbury

Ventura County district attorney

“I grew up as a true Californian. I eat my fresh vegetables every day, just like my mother told me to. . . . I pretty much like all vegetables. Anything I don’t like I feed to the horse.”

Madge Schaefer

Chairwoman, Ventura County supervisors

“We love it. My family is divided though. When this whole flap started about President Bush saying no more broccoli on Air Force One, my daughter, Holly, said, ‘I knew there was a reason I liked him.’ ”

John K. Flynn

Ventura County supervisor

“Maybe the President doesn’t know how to fix it. But if you steam it and put on a little salt and pepper, maybe a little dab of margarine, it’s absolutely delicious.”