• I wish everyone would patronize a shop, grocery or restaurant owned by an immigrant.

        • I wish supermarket clerks would pay more attention to me, the customer (at least while I'm standing at the checkout), and less attention to their friends' social lives.

        • And while we're at it, I wish produce clerks would start labeling that frilly, knobby vegetable by its real name. It's fennel, OK? Not anise. This might help their colleagues at the checkout, who sometimes seem to struggle with identifying iceberg lettuce and limes, much less anything as exotic as fennel.

        • I wish all those people who call to complain they can't find a certain product in the grocery would complain to store mangement instead.

        • I wish management would listen when customers complain or make requests.

        • I wish no more chain restaurants would open this year. We have plenty, thank you.

        • I wish more people would go to independently owned restaurants — simple or fancy, cheap or pricy.

        • I wish a national food magazine would take notice of the improving lineup of Cincinnati restaurants — Aioli, Daveed's, Tink's, Jump, Bella, Boca (under new chef-owner), Maisonette and the Palace (under new chefs).

        • Wait a minute. I wish Cincinnati would take notice of its restaurants. This includes those geniuses who do marketing campaigns for the city. My idea: Don't make any wild claims about Cincinnati being the “best place to eat between New York and San Francisco.” How about: “Cincinnati is a great place to eat.”

        • I wish every waiter would remember to tell me how much those “wonderful” specials cost.

        • I wish everyone could set aside a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon to cook something from scratch. Not a fancy cake or chateaubriand. Try pot roast with new potatoes, roast chicken with asparagus or grilled salmon with spinach. I wish everyone could then serve this to someone they care about, then enjoy it.

        • I wish everyone could muster the courage to cook something without a recipe once in a while. It's liberating.

        • I wish all those stupid, expensive grocery store convenience products — frozen garlic bread, precooked bacon and the rest — would go away.

        • I wish everyone would shop at Findlay Market on a Saturday morning to see, smell and taste the food, and maybe to say hello to a stranger.

        • I wish every parent would consider serving his or her children, when they've reached a reasonable age, a small amount of wine with dinner. The theory (and I'm not the first to propose it) is, if kids understand it's OK to consume a little wine with meals and that it's not a forbidden beverage, they may be less likely to binge on alcohol when they go off to college.

        • I wish all families could find time to sit together to eat at least three times a week.

        • I wish we would feed all our children. A national hunger study last year shows more than 9 million children in the United States have to get food from a shelter, food pantry or charity kitchen. I wish “patriotism” not only meanttying flags on SUV antennae — but making sure everyone in our wealthy country, especially the children, has something to eat every day.
        Contact Chuck Martin by phone: 768-8507; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: cmartin@enquirer.com.

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Clark takes on the Grammys
DEMALINE: The arts
Former ballet star plans summer job
Harry Potter fan also collects cool comments
Jack Rosen, the 'marrying judge'
KENDRICK: Alive and well
Campbell's Scoop
MARTIN: Food stuff
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