For years I (as I'm sure many others) have been told “eat your carrots, they'll help you see at night” but than I would reply with “so why do cats see better than rabbits?”. I must have been horrid to raise as a child, I would have to know, I needed the answer to everything and even than, I would question the answer! All I can do now is doff my hat at my parents' patience as despite the unquenchable thirst for knowledge that I had, they did their best not to tell me to shut up!
It was a number of years ago while watching a Discovery channel documentary on something that an almost throwaway comment about 'on-board intercept radar' made me realize the years of lies that I've been fed with carrots. So here it is, carrots don't help you see at night! Yes, it's true, unless you suffer from a Vitamin 'A' deficiency, carrots won't improve your eyesight one iota.
Like most things like this, it started during the second world war, the boffins at the MOD thought it would be a good idea to take the newly invented 'radar' and place it on fighter planes so the pilots detect ze Germans as they flew over the channel to bomb the cities during the blitzkrieg. This left the 'propaganda machine' with a problem, on the one had they wanted to brag about how many German planes they shot down before they had a chance to bomb anyone but, on the other hand, they didn't want Herr Flick to find out about this simple advantage that the allied forces have.
The solution was simple, it was a plan of disinformation, they got some more boffins to tell the newspapers and the public that the Vitamin 'A' in carrots allow allied pilots to see at night, genius! The plan was put in motion, RAF stations everywhere fed their pilots more carrots. Parents would stuff their kids with carrots for the 'black-outs', the government even published data to 'prove' the vast improvement in eyesight this gave. They did all this to hide the little 'beep-beep' boxes on planes.
Unfortunately this great plan to misinformation worked a little too well as, to this day, you can still hear the sincere sound of a parent saying 'eat all your carrots, they'll help you see at night'.
Oh and as a bit of a post script (thank you Ariane), if you eat too many carrots, they make your skin turn orange (sort of like a bad tan).
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6 comments:
The carrot is a volatile beast:
Raw = unpleasant.
Cooked but firm = equally unpleasant.
Cooked to the point that it no longer has any nutritional value whatsoever = delicious!
Is that why I'm brown? Am I just eating too many?
Anyhow, I feel the opposite to HG:
Raw = sweet, juicy, natural
Cooked but firm = bearable
Cooked to the point that it no longer has any nutritional value whatsoever = ewwww Daddy!
Hmmm, two exactly opposing view points, I would have to say raw batons but with a stupid amount of hummus would be the best way for carrots, saying that, I've been meaning to put a poll on this site....
Ariane, something about melanin and genetics spring to mind, I wont bore you with the details.
i say fry 'em 'til soft, add the juice and flesh of a ripe orange and some brown sugar or honey depending on the sweetness of your tooth, and let your tongue lie back and your tastebuds luxuriate...
but nothing beats a slightly chilled carrot straight from the fridge (no that they should be stored in there at any cost!) and dipped in a little salt in my book (or my mouth)...
p.s. nice post and thanks for the history lesson josh, coming here most days makes me feel like i'm still capable of learning new tricks...
I grew up in Suffolk, minutes away from where they invented radar - we were always told they said carrots made you see in the dark because there are lots of carrots grown in Suffolk!
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