by Beth Goulart

In November, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics published the results of its 2007 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Sounds boring enough. But there's a category for food, so it caught my attention.

Photo: A delivery of produce from Greenling stocks my fridge for the week for $34.99.

And I'm glad it did. There's a lot to think about in the numbers that summarize how much Americans spend on food. Personally, I spend a lot of time thinking about produce consumption - why so many of us eat alarmingly few fruits and veggies - so I was especially drawn to the numbers about how much we spend on those.

The study included fresh and processed (i.e., canned, frozen) produce in this category, making it even more interesting, since that category covers a wide range of price points.

Here are some highlights: 

[Note that the study lists figures in dollars spent per "consumer unit," which is like a household. I'm using percentages to simplify and let us talk about "people" instead of "units." For original figures, check out the expenditure tables here.]

• People with college degrees spend 150% of what people who are not college graduates spend on fruits and vegetables.
• People who are traditionally employed (wage and salary earners) spend 84% of what people who are self-employed spend on fruits and vegetables. Retirees spend even less.
• If you divide the states into four regions, the Midwest spends the least on fruits and vegetables. Next comes the South (which includes Texas for this purpose), then the Northeast, and finally the West, where folks spend 127% of what their midwestern counterparts spend on fruits and vegetables.
• People who identify as either Hispanic or Latino spend nearly half again as much on produce as people who identify as black or African-American.

Whenever I talk to doctors and nutritionists in the course of my work as a journalist, I hear the same old refrain. We ALL need to eat more fruits and vegetables - especially dark, leafy greens. Statistics can't tell us why we don't eat enough, or what to do about the shortfall. All they really give is bountiful food for thought.

Beth Goulart is a freelance journalist based in Austin.