Carrots, vision and World War II propaganda
June 5, 2017 8:47 PM Subscribe
It's a fact that Vitamin A promotes good vision, among other benefits, so carrots are good for the health of your eyes. But the idea that carrots help you see at night is purely propaganda, and not from Big Vegetable, but Britain's Ministry of Information, an offshoot of a subterfuge campaign to hide a technology critical to an Allied victory. Sorry Jerry, the UK's secret weapon wasn't orange roots, it was actually Airborne Interception radar (AI). You can find this and so many other facts at the (virtual) carrot museum.
The promotion of the almost magical properties of carrots weren't purely oversees propaganda, but also a a national marketing effort to extend the utilization of home-grown carrots, with an obvious seasonal push around Easter. But carrots were included in various roles in a great number of general recipes, from carrot cookies and carrot and potato mash to curried carrots and carrot roll, all via The 1940's Experiment's list of100 160 wartime recipes.
The promotion of the almost magical properties of carrots weren't purely oversees propaganda, but also a a national marketing effort to extend the utilization of home-grown carrots, with an obvious seasonal push around Easter. But carrots were included in various roles in a great number of general recipes, from carrot cookies and carrot and potato mash to curried carrots and carrot roll, all via The 1940's Experiment's list of
I just love carrots.
posted by Rabarberofficer at 9:12 PM on June 5, 2017
posted by Rabarberofficer at 9:12 PM on June 5, 2017
Eating carrots rn so this is a good post
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:17 PM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:17 PM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Thanks for this! I will send to my dad who always one-upped the traditional propaganda by claiming eating carrots made ot possible to see around corners.
posted by chapps at 11:33 PM on June 5, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by chapps at 11:33 PM on June 5, 2017 [5 favorites]
Eating too many carrots makes your skin turn orange.
The Big Vegetable conspiracy goes all the way to the top! We're through the looking glass now...
posted by adept256 at 12:52 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
The Big Vegetable conspiracy goes all the way to the top! We're through the looking glass now...
posted by adept256 at 12:52 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
Okay, so what were the Allies hiding with Popeye and his spinach fetish? I get that the roots of the carrot conspiracy were necessarily deeper ....
posted by tilde at 4:16 AM on June 6, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by tilde at 4:16 AM on June 6, 2017 [4 favorites]
Does anyone else remember a webpage from 2001 or so where this woman ate nothing but carrots for two weeks and posted photos of herself gradually turning orange?
It basically encapsulated what the web was like back then--getting more sophisticated but still super weird.
I will always remember that time by carrot girl and space jam
posted by danny the boy at 4:24 AM on June 6, 2017
It basically encapsulated what the web was like back then--getting more sophisticated but still super weird.
I will always remember that time by carrot girl and space jam
posted by danny the boy at 4:24 AM on June 6, 2017
Wait, so now I'm supposed to eat radar systems or something? I can't keep up with this nutrition advice.
posted by Naberius at 6:49 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 6:49 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
This myth certainly helped my sister and I eat more vegetables as children, in hopes it would assist our nightly mischiefs.
posted by foxfirefey at 9:28 AM on June 6, 2017
posted by foxfirefey at 9:28 AM on June 6, 2017
"Yes, Minister, of course their engineers are good, but we believe their understanding of vitamin science is negligible. The entire Wehrmacht will be bright yellow in a matter of weeks."
posted by Segundus at 11:07 AM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Segundus at 11:07 AM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
Addressing a food shortage and trying to misdirect the enemy in one myth. Perhaps necessity truly is the mother of invention or perhaps there were some clever bastards back then but the more I discover about British efforts during the war the more awed I become and the more grateful I am for my parent's accidental choice of country to settle in after the war.
posted by epo at 12:01 PM on June 6, 2017
posted by epo at 12:01 PM on June 6, 2017
Can't leave out John "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 1:39 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 1:39 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
The Big Vegetable conspiracy goes all the way to the
FTFY.
posted by Devonian at 6:55 PM on June 6, 2017
epo: "British efforts during the war the more awed I become"
They certainly had a lot of irons in the fire. And so many were of a "Here's an ambition chap with an Idea, let's give him a few pounds and let him run with it" nature.
posted by Mitheral at 11:20 PM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
They certainly had a lot of irons in the fire. And so many were of a "Here's an ambition chap with an Idea, let's give him a few pounds and let him run with it" nature.
posted by Mitheral at 11:20 PM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
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Bonus curious vegetable stories can be found in How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious (but True) Stories of Common Vegetables by Rebecca Rupp (Google books preview | Amazon | Goodreads).
posted by filthy light thief at 8:48 PM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]