MythBusters: Food Edition

This week at the farm, we harvested carrots. The actual task was pretty fun and not too labor-intensive: pulling out an entire carrot by its green stalk was somehow satisfying. The “squiggly” ones (as Kat called them) were also fun to find, intertwined around each other in weird shapes. We ended up with well over 100 bushels of carrots!

But the entire time, in the back of my head, there remained the undeniable truth: I HATE carrots.

I have very few food aversions and am pretty adventurous when it comes to eating, but carrots have been a lifelong hatred, and I don’t know why. Juiced, shredded, cooked, or just raw… I can’t stand them in any form. Even the cutesy marketing ploy of baby carrots could never tempt me, despite the recent ad campaigns to get me to “eat them like junk food.”

My hatred for carrots has always made me feel guilty though, because they’re supposed to be so healthy for you. In fifth grade, when I found out that I needed glasses, I convinced myself that it was because I never ate carrots. I seem to remember cartoons from my childhood explaining that rabbits don’t need glasses because they eat so many carrots. I never questioned it; I just accepted my poor eyesight as a consequence of avoiding carrots.

After my carrot-filled day at the farm, I decided to get to the bottom of this urban legend. The stench of carrots was still on my hands when I typed my question into Google.

Apparently, there is a virtual “Museum of Carrots” totally dedicated to the history, nutrition, cooking and general usage of this root vegetable. It had the answer to my question: no, carrots are not linked directly to improved vision. Myth busted.

It goes back to the 1940’s. During World War II, as the British developed a more sophisticated radar detection system, their pilots’ accuracy in gunning down German fighters increased significantly, and the government wanted to hide this technological advance from enemies. At the same time, the country was struggling to feed its people: between Germany’s blockade of food imports and the rationing system, carrots were one of the few foods that were in constant supply. So the government began producing propaganda for carrots, suggesting that they helped the pilots see in the dark, like in the poster below. Carrots were basically transformed into war heroes, feeding both the troops and the people at home.  This pro-carrot movement was mirrored in America, where people were encouraged to grow carrots and other vegetables in “Victory Gardens.”

Source: Museum of Carrots

This claim wasn’t a complete fabrication; carrots do contain beta-carotene, which may decrease the risk of macular degeneration or cataracts. But it is a blatant lie that eating carrots gave British pilots the night vision they needed to shoot down Nazi airplanes. I’ve realized that even if I liked carrots – even if I loved them – I would still need glasses. But it’s interesting to think about how propaganda from seventy years ago can still shape the way people think today.