This Grandma has to admit that she believed that perfectly good large carrots out of the ground were whittled down to make the tiny baby carrot. I believed that the waste went to waste and I was wasteful in taking advantage of the convenience of using a package of baby carrots in my recipes. I was especially guilty when I used a package of baby carrots to make GG’s (great grandmother’s), my mother’s famous and fabulous homemade chicken soup. See the post with the amazing recipe. I remember her buying bunches of farm fresh carrots with the green stems attached and using a peeler for a time consuming chore.
After a while, I stopped buying the packages of baby carrots out of all this guilt. I even cut up large carrots and peeled them and cut them up into little baby carrot size for grandchildren out of all this guilt. I thought I was feeding my grandchildren fake food by feeding them baby carrots from a package at a time in history, today, where most of the food we eat has no taste and seems fake. This Grandma read the New York Times, January 19, 2016, “All Hail the Invention of Baby Carrots,” by Roberto A. Ferdman, and realized that the guilt was totally wasted. Instead of perfectly good large carrots out of the ground whittled down to make the tiny baby carrot, the twisted, ugly and not saleable carrots are used to make the tiny baby carrot. The article talks about how we Americans are becoming more and more disconnected from what we eat. This Grandma agrees. What we think about food is not real. We are so used to eating food that is not real, that when food is real, we cannot believe it. Yes, all hail to the baby carrot, real food, more efficient and less wasteful! Thank you Roberto Ferdman.
The history of the baby carrot in the article is fascinating and shows how anyone can create an invention that morphs into a new industry or saves a dying industry. Who knew that the carrot farmers were struggling in the early 1980’s, and the carrot industry was then stagnant and wasteful. Who knew that back then more than half of what carrot farmers were growing were considered ugly, and therefore, our American culture consumed with beauty, and only consuming beauty, would not buy them. Then, in 1986, Mike Yurosek, a carrot farmer from California, decided to buy and industrial green bean cutter machine that cut the wasted and formerly disgarded ugly and misshapen large carrots into uniform two inch pieces, which is the baby carrot we buy in packages today for ease of use. In just one year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1987, reported by Mr. Ferdman, carrot consumption grew almost thirty percent. Ten years later, carrot consumption grew almost 117 percent and Americans were eating about fourteen pounds of carrots per year. Today, almost seventy percent of all carrot sales are packages of baby carrots. Of course, the carrot industry has been saved. Now they even have money to market their product. No, they are not marketing on the vast heath benefits because we Americans talk health but actually just go for convenience. They are marketing ads to “Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food,” according to the article, and mirroring them to potato chips! That is America for you.
So, while all ugly vegetables seem to go to waste in America, according to the author, “ugly carrots are carved and sold at a premium. . .”It’s something pretty amazing about baby carrots that I’m sure people don’t appreciate.” How sad that Americans are so shallow for decades massive amounts of ugly carrots going to waste almost destroyed carrot farmers. How much we would have missed if the carrot farming industry was destroyed. Nutritionally, carrots contain fiber and beta carotene, and we know we should eat more brightly colored vegetables for good health. Carrots contain lots of vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, vitamin B8, folate, potassium, iron, copper, and manganese, and are a good source of antioxidants.
Eating raw carrots lowers cholesterol and we know how important that is to heart health. We know antioxidants help immunity, and other benefits of carrots are improvement of digestion, cancer prevention, and what we grandmas were told when we were children, that it helps improve your eyesight. It seems that carrots are a miracle food, prevent stroke, helps oral health, and you name it. Take a look at this site to learn all about the history of carrots and information to share with grandchildren.
So, this Grandma apologizes for her ignorance in considering baby carrots fake food. I must now eat one slowly and savor its realness and importance in the food chain and to our health without guilt. Unfortunately, Mike Yurosek, the carrot farmer from California, who apparently not only saved all the carrot farmers but saved us Americans from ugly food, died this year. Please buy lots of the expensive packages of baby carrots, real food with real health benefits for us and our grandchildren, in a beautiful form we Americans love. Maybe we should start a dialogue about what is pretty and ugly with our grandchildren using baby carrots and show them the pictures of the formerly ugly carrots Americans discarded. It surely can show that we must all go beneath the surface of what we see in all aspects of life.
Joy,
Mema
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