Have any weird food facts/jokes for a Canadian farmers market?

June 3, 2008 12:27 PM

Do you have any weird food facts/jokes for a Canadian farmers market?

I'm going to be a vendor at a local farmers market that is kicking off its first year this upcoming weekend in eastern Ontario. I'll be selling excess produce from my gardens as well as some baked goods and plants. I want to have a small sign that says, "Did you know..." with some weird food/garden facts and jokes of the local produce we'd be selling.

Examples of local vegetables are asparagus, beets, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, onion, beans, corn, etc.
Examples of local fruits are apples, rhubarb, blueberries, watermelon, raspberries, strawberries and more.

So, facts for bananas, pineapples and mangoes wouldn't really fit as we can't grow it in our USDA Zone 4 climate.

A couple that I really like are:
- Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his hat to keep cool and changed it every two innings.
- In the 1600s English women wore carrot leaves in their hats instead of flowers or feathers.

Thanks!

posted by KathyK to food & drink (10 comments total)

Asparagus facts (1, 2)

Beet trivia: "The name beet comes from the fact that when the seed pods swell they look like the Greek letter beta."* Also, 25 facts about beets.

Cabbage trivia ("The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words.")

101 Things You Never Knew About Carrots (from the Carrot Museum, natch)

Stuff about cucumbers

Let us examine lettuce

Don't cry -- it's onion trivia!
posted by mudpuppie at 1:16 PM on June 3, 2008

A few jokes:

Q) What do you get when you cross a potato with an onion?
A) A potato with watery eyes!

Q) Why did the corn stalk get mad at the farmer?
A) He kept pulling its ears!

Q) What do you call an apple that plays the trumpet?
A) A tooty fruity!

Q) When is an apple a grouch?
A) When it's a crab apple!

A guy walks into the doctor's office with a carrot up his nose, raspberries in his ears and a cabbage leaf on his head and asks, "Doctor, doctor! I feel awful, what's wrong with me?"

The doctor says, "Well, for one thing, you're not eating right!"
posted by stavrogin at 1:19 PM on June 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Cabbage trivia ("The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words.")

I swear I heard this about potatoes, first.
Maybe check out this fruits/veggies website for some info? They might have something you can use.
posted by inigo2 at 1:28 PM on June 3, 2008

Snopes on the cabbage memo.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:42 PM on June 3, 2008

canadian breakfast:

two eggs, side by each, bacon parallel and a pair of toast, eh?
posted by stubby phillips at 1:46 PM on June 3, 2008

I've got two seasons of newsletters from my farmers market stand available online. Each week I had a different featured vegetable. Feel free to mine them for ideas.
posted by ewagoner at 1:49 PM on June 3, 2008

mudpuppie said "Cabbage trivia ("The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words.")"

Probably this won't have the desired resonance in Canada, what with our separate government and all.
posted by loiseau at 2:36 PM on June 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

FWIW, Regulation 378 of the Farm Products Grades and Sales Act is 17,059 words. Apparently, we're a little more efficient up here when it comes to words.
posted by acoutu at 3:20 PM on June 3, 2008

Probably this won't have the desired resonance in Canada, what with our separate government and all.

True. But it's the perfect opportunity to make fun of the crazy US of A, where they write more about the rules of cabbages than about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:20 PM on June 3, 2008

Thanks everyone for the replies! Since it's a small farmer's market in Eastern Ontario the kid-friendly jokes will go over a lot better than regulations, memos or addresses.

Thanks again!
posted by KathyK at 6:13 AM on June 4, 2008