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Q: Mythbusters China - Carrot Edition
So, went out and bought some groceries, in the shopping bag, some carrots. I'd forgotten to bring the entire extended family to discuss each individual carrot in the supermarket, so of course when I came home I was faced with "Why do you buy these big carrots".... the theory here is that a big vegetable is more loaded with chemicals than a small one. I would say that they all come from the same field, so the concentration of crap would be the same.
Is there any argument that could save these poor carrots, or should I just throw them to the dog (who happens to enjoy chewing raw carrot)
(posted under culture for obvious reasons)
There might be something in the myth. If you put a small sponge and a big sponge in dirty water, then squeeze both sponges out you would get more crap water from the big sponge.
Or maybe I've just eaten too many chemical carrots myself ...
Either way, if you eat 3 small carrots instead of one big one it would probably work out the same.
Tell your family that if they dont want to eat any chemicals you can save the trips to the store and they can grow their own damn carrots.
Scandinavian:
oh, silly me. forgot I need to clarify in anything I write on this site that my family is not mainly corrupt officials with large land areas to grow food on.
mike695ca:
Poor you, I guess only cool people marry girls with corrupt government officials for fathers. You missed the boat on that one.
Ask them if the carrot is bigger because of the age or because of the chemicals, and how they can differentiate. Then, ask if carrots grown on a polluted soil can not be small.
You know it does not matter. You have to be an idol, and then you will be listened to religiously.
With so much of the soil polluted, is there any difference?
You will eat the same amount of carrot in the dish regardless of whether it was made with a big carrot or several small carrots.
What about saying you selected the produce that had been fondled. squeezed and sniffed the least?
And that the old man in front had a really bad looking skin disease !!
Just invite everyone over for dinner. Make olive oil fried pasta with eggs. Like tons of it. And when they ask, say all the vegetables were too big at the market, so you knew it was unhealthy. So this was all you could make and show that you cared. Then enjoy the colorful conversation that follows.
Scandinavian:
doubt it will work. I have on several occasions showed my MIL how I cook, explained to her that her daughter has a medical condition that can kill her if she eats too fatty foods, but there is zero evidence of her not using tons of oil whenever she cooks for us.
for my wife it is better to eat a pesticide laden carrot cooked with low fat than it is to eat anything cooked by a Chinese person.
Not a biologist, but can't you just shave the carrot to get all the funky stuff off the skin? Or does it just sink into the carrot's Carrot DNA and do a lot of uncarrotly things? 
Scandinavian:
A carrot grows underground. I would assume pesticides and fertilizer is sprayed on the aboveground leaves and then absorbed, of course some will seep through the soil onto the outer surface of the carrot. So whatever is absorbed through the leaves, stays in the carrot, what seeps down can probably in part be removed by pealing. Fertilizers can to some degree be possible to wash off, pesticides almost never.
Big carrots have more poison? That's Mainlandism religion. Fight it at your own peril. An article of the faith is that *everying* in China has poison in it. I'm a biologist, and I honestly don't care if big carrots have more poison. If they were truly harmful for your health, they shouldn't be bought of sold in the first place. BIG OR SMALL. China's food safety is admittedly lax, and the people know it. A characteristic of superstition is that people believe their voodoo rituals can influence events beyond their control. Let them do as they please; perhaps they might be rightaboutthe carrots. At least your dog will be happy with his fake bones.
The argument to save the carrots goes something like this:
"F-off, and you can do the shopping next time. If you don't like it - starve!"
Scandinavian:
but the thing is, despite putting in what is close to full time hours on my philantropy project, doing almost all the housework, despite having an ayi, I seriously doubt I would get fed if I didn't part take in that side of things too. (the missus is slightly incapacitated recently, so we are at the grace of the MIL, who at the age of mid-fitties is useless like a 89 year old)
The opportunity for immense humor in this thread is unbelievably high.... im gonna walk away from it anyway.. as difficult as it is.
