Fruits & Vegetables
About this book
Roots
– A plant is sessile; an animal is motile.
Kingdom of Linnaeus
– Linnaeus divided everything into three kingdoms.
Myth of sentience
– Even though a creature doesn’t feel like us, it can still, like us, feel.
Free to be guiltless
– You don’t need to feel guilty.
Nervous systems
– Creatures with nervous systems have consciousness.
Untranslatable
– it’s hard to understand what they might be saying.
Questionable creatures
– We tend to think simple creatures as plants.
Legumes
– Legumes are fruits of different colors.
Baking
– Knead the dough you need.
Fruits & vegetables
– Let us not scorn either vegetable or fruit.
Wonder tubers
– There are over five thousand varieties of potato.
Fruitarianism
– Some profess to eat only fruits.
Vegetarianism
– Why eat animals when we have good alternatives?
Honey
– Honey isn’t made from bees.
Three sisters
– Our three sisters are planted and eaten together.
Spices
– Spices, simply, add spice to life.
Cuisines I have known
– The meats don’t distinguish cuisines.
Medlar
– I’m squeamish about eating bletted fruit.
Prickly pear
– The spines are difficult to avoid.
Strawberry manzanita
– Frugivorous birds are more vigilant than we are.
Kumquat and loquat
– I liked kumquats better than loquats.
Pawpaw
– It’s easier to get bananas from Ecuador.
Mulberry
– You won’t find mulberries at your grocery.
Agribusiness
– Maybe you can support local farmers or grow your own.
Wasabi
– Most commercial wasabi is horseradish with green food coloring.
Garlic
– Hundreds of varieties of garlics perform minor miracles.
Fungi
– Fungi fungify our cuisines.
Zucchino
– We should say, “one zucchino, two zucchini.”
Artichoke
– This noble thistle is less than inviting.
Pomegranate
– It’s mostly full of bitter seeds.
Fruit-eating rituals
– The best ways to eat fruits should be more widely practiced.
Peels you can eat
– It’s good to eat them if you can.
Peels you can’t eat
– It’s not good to eat them.
Cherry
– Cherry is archetype of red.
Strawberry
– The strawberry is a monstrosity.
Berries I’ve never tasted
– We all live in berry bubbles.
Berries I’ve tasted
– Bearberry is the blandest and blueberry is the best.
Blueberries
– The blueberry is the perfect fruit.
Blackberries
– Wild blackberries are worth scratched hands and wrists.
Cracking nuts
– I became adept at shelling nuts.
Dates
– The date is a symbol of prosperity.
Walnut
– The walnut is shaped like a human brain.
Bitter seeds
– The real problem is they taste bitter.
Rice
– I like any kind of rice.
Domesticating maize
– Selective breeding pushed this plant from a grass to a fruit.
Corn
– You can eat it as a vegetable or as a grain.
Wheat
– Wheat is the universal food.
Oats
– Eat your oatmeal.
Poppy seeds
– Mix them with honey and put them in hats.
Mustard seeds
– Heaven is like a mustard seed.
Ketchup
– America’s most popular vegetable.
Barley and rye
– The main uses must be for making beer and whisky.
Other cereals
– The presumption of superiority begins to seem ridiculous.
Seaweed
– Seaweeds aren’t weeds.
Oils
– Corn and olive oils are from fruit.
Sugar
– Only sixteen calories per teaspoon!
Idioms
– If you know your beans, you’re not a vegetable.