Sprouts As Social Objects.
Ask people to name their most hated vegetable and it's generally agreed that the answer will be sprouts, yet annual sprout sales in the UK are worth £35m. That's allegedly 47,000,000 units of distress purchase and judging by the supermarket tonight, most of them are bought this week.
It's not the season of masochism, so why the paradoxical behaviour? Because people have bought a story that convinces them that sprouts say Christmas like no other vegetable. Because people can joke about them and because people see other people doing it.
posted by john dodds @ 10:40 AM
5 Comments:
Some of us actually like sprouts, you know!
In keeping with the spirit of the season I hereby donate mine to you.
I not been known to ever turn down a 2nd helping of sprouts. Stems from me deprived childhood when as a boarder I'd eat anything to survive.
Papillon had nothing on me. I ate moths and weevils in our boarding house lumpy, cold porrige. Protein it was. Crunchy too at times. I think kitchen ceiling plaster fell into the giant porrige urn. Or it was the bones of the rats. Who knows?!
Err yes - the humble British sprout does conjure up the Cristmass dinnerplate laden with steaming hot turkey slices, crispy roasted potatoes, carrots, turnips, broccoli, peas, sprouts and enough gravy to refloat a shipwreck.
Merry Christmas John
Regards
Robert
thankfully we don't even bother with that crap here. you should come to australia for christmas, john - not a sprout in sight.
[well, except for those on the plates of nostalgic ex-pat brits]
when i was wee a mate of mine told his parents that trying to eat sprouts gave him 'electric shocks'.
the bastard got away with it too.
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