Rainbow carrots

 

Rainbow carrots

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I have noticed a recent trend towards rainbow carrots. They are being promoted as a ‘superfood,’ whatever that means.

I read that they were once found only at farmers’ markets and high-end greengroceries, at an appropriately inflated price. They are still more expensive than the usual carrot-coloured articles, but are now readily obtainable at most  well-known superstores in the UK.

I bought some to try, but found the muddy colours quite off-putting, and not a feast for the eyes. It’s a good thing I wasn’t born five thousand years ago, when carrots in central Asia were usually purple, or even black or white. In Ancient Rome they were regarded as an herbal medicine and an aphrodisiac.

When carrots began to be more widely cultivated, in the Middle East, they were introduced to mediaeval Europe by Arab traders and were available in purple, red, yellow, and white. The carrots we now consider traditional only began to appear in the seventeenth century. The legend was that the Dutch farmers cultivated the orange variety to honour William of Orange who fought to free the Dutch from Spain. More prosaically, orange carrots were probably selectively bred as sweeter alternatives to the more bitter yellow carrots.

All carrots are beneficial. They are low in calories but high in vitamins and minerals, tasty, crunchy, and good for overall health.

True-born Englishman

 

True-born Englishman

 When I hear someone claiming to be a ‘true Englishman’ I smile somewhat mirthlessly and sigh. There’s no such thing. It is an example of ‘English cultural xenophobia’, a lovely phrase I’ve just picked up from Daniel Defoe, which perfectly describes the attitude of so many of my compatriots.

'The True-Born Englishman' was written by Daniel Defoe in 1701.

Among our many forebears are the Britons, who came from Armenia, the Beaker people from Iberia, who built Stonehenge, the Celts from central Europe and the Romans, twice, in 55-54 BC, and AD 43- 87. Following this came the Anglo-Saxon period, which lasted until the Norman invasion of 1066-1071. Norman rule lasted from AD 1066 to 1154, the time of the Anarchy, the civil war between England and Normandy.

 Thereafter, England remained in ‘English’ hands, some of doubtful lineage, until the Dutch Prince William of Orange was asked to take the throne. He reigned from 1689 – 1702, alongside his wife, Mary, who died in 1694.   

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) wrote a satirical poem to defend William III against the xenophobic attacks of his political foes. The following extract encapsulates his stance.

Thus from a Mixture of all Kinds began,
That Het'rogeneous Thing, An Englishman:
In eager Rapes, and furious Lust begot,
Betwixt a Painted Britain and a Scot.
Whose gend'ring Off-spring quickly learn'd to Bow,
And yoke their Heifers to the Roman Plough:
From whence a Mongrel half-Bred Race there came,
With neither Name, nor Nation, Speech or Fame.
In whose hot Veins new Mixtures quickly ran,
Infus'd betwixt a Saxon and a Dane.
While their Rank Daughters, to their Parents just,
Receiv'd all nations with promiscuous lust.
This Nauseous Brood directly did contain
The well extracted Blood of Englishmen.

Thus, as I have always contended, we English are a mongrel race and mongrels are often stronger than purebreds J