Robin Abcarian: For some romaine farmers on California's Central Coast, the E. coli scare is a maddening mystery
SALINAS, Calif. - Californians know a lot - or think they do - about our Central Valley's crops and their controversies.
In our most recent drought, for instance, everyone became an instant "expert" on the pros and cons of almond trees, and their irrigation needs. Almonds, ridiculously, became the scapegoat of the water shortage.
But people know a lot less about the farm operations of our Central Coast, the "salad bowl of America," where lettuce and spinach flourish, along with the specialty crops - arugula, escarole, endive, bok choy, frisee, parsley, cilantro - that farmers in the Salinas Valley call "the chimichangas."
