Cities need to make space for good food, and jobs

One of the big joys of living in Beijing is the great farmers' market near China Daily. My wife and I go there once a week to stock up on fresh vegetables, fruits and meat for the coming week. We get piles of mangos, longan, strawberries and the delicious little mandarin oranges. Plus, we get bags of vegetables - I don't know the English names of many of them. And, there is pork, chicken and really fresh, still alive when we buy it, fish and seafood for the week. Usually, it costs us less than 500 yuan ($73.50) for a week's food for two people and a dog.

My wife is an excellent chef, cooking the foods of her native Yunnan province, so she knows how to prepare all these ingredients, some of which I don't even recognize.

Every time I go back to the United States, I'm shocked when I go into a grocery store. For $75, I might get a little bit of expensive fruit. In the vegetable aisle, there is little choice and the prices are high. I don't like to think how much a big meal of shrimp or fish would cost.