Couleur / pixabay / 2016 / CC0 1.0
Carrot Day at last, and there are so many ways to celebrate it! A bag of crunchy baby carrots for lunch, a side-salad of grated carrot and raisin salad, or treating your kids to carrots on a stick for dessert? (A note for those thinking of trying to cover off today with carrot cake: that’s cheating — carrot cake has its own day altogether.)
It’s a good day, too, to learn things about carrots that you may not have known. Did you know that if we hadn’t monkeyed with carrots, they wouldn’t be orange? And that most bags of baby carrots aren’t baby carrots? Did you know that there are actually varieties of carrots?
Today is also a perfect day to take your favourite redhead out for lunch — unless they don’t want to be reminded of schooldays when they were called “carrot tops” by heartless kids. And so what if you were one of those heartless kids? Today you can make up for it by treating them to a bag of raw carrots, and just watch the excitement on their faces!
If you don’t happen to know any redheads — even any that are redheads now — you can still pass on the joy of the day by wishing ‘somebunny’ a Happy Carrot Day!
During World War Two in England, carrots were promoted to children as treats. Here, in a newsreel video from British Pathé in 1941, we see that while other treats are marked as no longer available, all is not lost because delicious carrots on a stick are available.
#CarrotDay
Carrots on a stick for sale. British Pathé Gazette, Easter 1941.
Children enjoying their carrots on a stick treats. British Pathé Gazette, Easter 1941.
Literature & Lore
Terri Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ book series had a recurring, popular character named ‘Carrot’:
He became known as Carrot not because of his red hair, kept short for reasons of hygiene, but because of his shape — the kind of tapering shape a boy gets through clean living, healthy eating and good mountain air in huge lungfuls. When Carrot flexes his muscles, other muscles have to move out of the way first. He has a punch even trolls have learned to respect. He walks with a habitual stoop, which comes from being 6 feet tall while living with dwarfs. Like all dwarfs, when he’s away he writes home at least once a week.” — from “The Discworld Companion”, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs.
Carrot Recipes
- Braised Carrots and Peas
- Carrot and Lentil Soup
- Carrot and Turnip Mash
- Carrot & Pine Nut Relish
- Spicy Thyme Carrots
- Walnut and Carrot Salad
Share a carrot with a friend today! heathervalentin0 / Pixabay.com / 2015 / CC0 1.0