Friday, September 9, 2011

Link: Orange Carrots, at the intersection of genetics, politics and culture

I thought this was a pretty interesting article! Carrots weren't always orange... in fact, the swing toward orange carrots came about in the Netherlands. Fascinating, and reminds me of how Coca-Cola made Santa Claus dress in red.

2 comments:

  1. I may be mistaken (I'm remembering a story told to me by a Latin professor some years ago), but apparently most ancient Romans didn't distinguish between carrots and parsnips, since both vegetables were typically available as creamy-to-yellowish roots. That said, I'm pretty sure Apicius does refer to both using different terms.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How intriguing! Thanks for the comment.

    ReplyDelete