I had the pleasure of picking carrots on the farm this morning. I had this romantic idea that I’d reach down and pull out a long, pointed bright orange carrot (dirt free!) and take a huge bite, exclaiming, “What’s up doc?” The first carrot I pulled, which did not jump from the earth easily, looked like a crossed legged lady. There were TWO carrots, twisted around each other. Weird one, I thought. The next carrot was long and pointed, but had a bulbous sidecar attached. Another weird one, I thought. The third that Sara pointed out to me looked like a phallus. Okay, these are all weird! As we were all gathered and pulling carrots, we couldn’t help but hold up all the unique shapes and cry, “check out my carrot!”
For the most part, baby carrots all look alike. Sure, some have a little more girth but I generally feel like I am eating a uniform snack. This is a lie we are feeding our children! And it’s not going to get clearer, not with the new “eat ‘em like junk” craze that’s hitting the vending machines. Here’s the article from The Philadelphia Inquirer that introduced me to the latest packaged snack food:
http://www.philly.com/philly/restaurants/20100923_Rick_Nichols__The_25_million-dollar_baby_carrot.html
The most interesting thing I took away, as I mentioned in class, is “scarrots,” a clever ploy to replace Halloween candy with vegetables. It’s all about the marketing! Personally, though, I believe only dentists should be handing out veggies on Halloween. ☺
The article concludes with the point, “As long as kids don't forget that apples grow on trees.” But if the only way to successfully market carrots is shape them perfectly and package them like processed junk, how will they get this message?!! There’s a world of difference between pulling the carrots from the earth, as I did this morning, with putting coins in a machine and opening my fresh package of Halloween themed scarrots.
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