Recently, we were in the canteen at work and a colleague, who moved here a few years ago, told that she never had rhubarb before.
Then she asked me, probably just for vocab reasons: Rhubarb is a vegetable?
Uhh…
I had never thought about it. I mean, what the heck is this:
Could be a salad, a leafy green. It’s kind of similar to celery, but is celery even a vegetable? Well, and of course, rhubarb is often used like a fruit, so uh…
Well, I looked it up, and scientifically, it does count as a vegetable, but colloquially, it’s often considered a fruit.
Rhubarb is pretty weird, especially for people who grew up where it’s not a thing.
Like today’s computer scientists, early biologists sucked at inventing new words, and simply reused existing ones. “Berry” in common language is a small, usually sweet and edible, fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries are all berries.
Then biologists came along and decided, actually, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are out, but watermelon and bananas are in, because the size of the fruit doesn’t matter, only the placement of the seeds decides whether something is a proper, scientific
berry.A similar thing has happened with “fruit” and “vegetable”, where scientific
fruitsinclude cucumbers, eggplants, and pumpkins. Luckily, all three of these are alsoberries.I say we ignore them, and use words to mean sensible things.
Or we move on with our lives and accept that fruit don’t have to be sweet and vegetables don’t have to be savory. Life is beautiful and nature constantly challenges expectations.
A family member has bit, hook, line and sinker. Om the great reset conspiracy theory. He says Bill Gates wants to force us to eat bugs. I respond “You love shrimp?”. He states its different I don’t see the difference…
Bill Gates came to my house last night with a gun and a plate of cockroaches.
He told me if I didn’t eat it he would shoot my family and shoot me last.
The difference is that shrimp are delicious? Last time you got a bug in your mouth what was your instinctive response?
The great reset is bogus but there’s definitely a “conspiracy” to get us to eat bugs… A boring, capitalist conspiracy. Just the next step in the race to the bottom, another cheap and low quality food that the unwashed masses can afford to keep them alive and trudging off to work.
I will eat bugs when I see the billionaires have them on their plates.
If land bugs were as meaty and tasty I’d be eating them too.
Crawfish are literally called mud bugs in a lot of places. I think lobsters and langoustines should also be under the bug umbrella.
Rollie pollies is shellfish
I’m allergic. No bugs for me!
