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Since I have been home in the US on vacation over the past few weeks, I have been amazed by the number of acronyms I have and have not been eating.

MSG has been joined in the rank-and-vile by GMO, BGH and - according to the Ruby Red Grapefruit juice Lee bought last night - HFCS. I had to check the ingredients list to confirm my suspicion: yep, only sugar, no high-fructose corn syrup.

Since when was it acceptable to eat things that didn't have vowels?

In Kigoma, we don't so much think of food as acronyms. For one thing, vegetables have lots of vowels (nyanya = tomato). For another, the most likely acronym to touch our food is DDT, and it's best not to think about that.

Americans' obsession with uniform foods with impeccable complexions is gloriously lacking in Kigoma Market. Brown flecks add character, and most wash off. If necessary, squishy bits can be sliced away.

I have enjoyed pushing a cart through the aisles of US grocery stores and the sense of déjà vu experienced at most produce displays, like a horror film in which dozens of copies of someone appears and you're not sure which is the human and which the android clones. "Of the three dozen apples on display, each of which look completely identical, which is the real apple?," you may ponder.

Then a fine mist descends and you've forgotten why you've come to the market at all, suddenly reaching for an armful of waterlogged romaine.

I will return to Tanzania next week with foods squirrelled away in my suitcase. As always, I will miss the Pacific Northwest's BGH-free cheese and organic wines. But as for fruits and vegetables, I look forward to eating food that is a little less superficial - where the color of a tomato runs more than skin deep.

Just hold the DDT, please.