size matters

kendraschussel — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:51:49 +0000

The other night I peeled a potato that was the length of my chef’s knife, which is 10 inches. Yes, a potato that was 10 inches long, are you kidding me? Such was my shock at the abnormality of this particular vegetable, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and now, days later I must write about it. I had purchased said potato at uber-warehouse Costco, which i normally try to avoid, and I happened to have a normal potato as well so prepared the two identically to see if there was any difference in taste, texture of cooking time. None whatsoever in any category. So what’s up with gigantor? There are no growing circumstances in which a potato this size would normally be produced, so obviously this particular batch had been modified somehow, with enhanced fertilizers, hormones, genetic manipulation I will never know but that is hardly the point. My question is why in the world anyone would feel there be a need to create a potato this size? I think the answer to this question is that people are fascinated with size. Wow, a 10 inch potato! This must be better than a normal potato! Why would I buy a normal size vegetable when I can strain my back carrying the gargantuan mound of starchy goodness? Now i try not to make my statements come across as elitist and I certainly I am not generalizing the entire population here, but I do feel many people are simply unaware that size is rarely relative then it comes to produce. Zucchini and most squash are sweeter the smaller they are, same with cherry tomatoes, eggplant, the list goes on. Often, the larger a vegetable grows, the starchier it becomes, or stringier as is with squash. Moral of the story; food isn’t supposed to look any different than the way good ole mother nature intended. It is scary to think of what is being done to our food if it is being sold so unnaturally large. Obviously there is a captive market for such produce and that, frankly, is what is the scariest thing of all.

Kendra Schussel » potato

size matters