Just sixteen and never seen a parsnip

[Sydney Grew]

As an aside, mention of buttons A and B brought to mind what I am assured is a true tale and which I heard recently.
Some of the phones in a factory were, for technical reasons, still of the old dial type. A new apprentice was sent to part of the factory to check some equipment and told to phone his supervisor with the results. After a considerable delay he appeared in person in front of his supervisor to report that the phone was broken. He was sent elsewhere in the factory to repeat the task and, after a delay, returned to report that a second phone was broken.

On investigation it was found that the apprentice could not work out why the phone would not function when he pushed on the numbers in the holes on the dial. When he discovered that the dial turned but then jumped back under the power of a spring, he was completely flummoxed.

That amusing anecdote brings to mind something that happened here earlier this week. I was in a superbmarket, and the youth assigned the task of accepting my payment held up one of my parsnips and asked "Er . . . what's this?" "It's a parsnip," I bending across the counter murmured in reply - murmured because I did not wish through exposure of his ignorance and inexperience to shame him in front of his colleagues.

But it goes to show does it not. One day no one will be left who knows what anything is.



. . . And then where will we be?

[MickyD]

The same thing happened to me in, believe it or not, a French supermarket this summer - a cashier had no idea what fresh peas in a pod were. It is all very sad.

[salymap]

I bet nobody would recognise a Kohlrabi. My father grew them and as a child I hated them. Turnip family I assume.

[Pilchardman]

I hadn't eaten a parsnip when I was 16. We didn't have them round our way. We had turnips. Proper turnips, that supermarkets call "Swedes". When I was 16, I thought those were people from Sweden.

[Mr Pee]

I posted this on the "animals" thread, but it's relevant to this discussion:-

I was watching Come Dine with Me -my guilty TV pleasure ( I love Dave Lamb's voice-over )- the other night and one of the meals included Ostrich steaks, which prompted one of the younger participants to speculate, when he saw the menu, that Ostrich was probably an animal, or at least part of an animal, but he wasn't sure which part.......

(Where's the D'Oh!! emoticon when you need it??)

[Lateralthinking1]

Superbmarket?

[barber olly]

Superbmarket?

Reminds me of Alan Coren's view that Sainsbury's served a good purpose in keeping the riff raff out of Waitrose, which in some people's view is a superbmarket. I can't really say as I only get to one when I go 'up country'.

[Flosshilde]

Trouble with threads like this is that once you get started it's difficult to stop. There's the wide-spread ignorance of where milk comes from (been around a long time, this one), a lack of connection in people's minds between the packs of meat in supermarkets & animals - probably the more people buy ready prepared food the less they will recognise the raw ingredients.

The ostrich story though is a stunner - I can only assume that the person grew up playing computer games, which don't feature ostriches? When I was young & reading comics the ostrich with its head in the sand used to be a regular (probably gave me all sorts of strange ideas about ostrich behaviour, but at least I knew what they were!)

[subcontrabass]

I hadn't eaten a parsnip when I was 16. We didn't have them round our way. We had turnips. Proper turnips, that supermarkets call "Swedes". When I was 16, I thought those were people from Sweden.

When I was a child we distinguished between "turnip" (hockey ball size and white flesh) and "swede" (large with orange flesh). We also though both were disgusting.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

When I was a child we distinguished between "turnip" (hockey ball size and white flesh) and "swede" (large with orange flesh).

We also though both were disgusting.

Perhaps someone should write an instructive volume for the uninitiated? A Turnip for the Books, perhaps?

[Lateralthinking1]

Subcontrabass - I can understand your view but I always cite Ireland. I went to a fairly trendy restaurant in the university area of Galway. They served up ham on a white rectangular plate which had sections carved out in it for the vegetables. Turnip was in one and swede in another and, well, food is food but this was like being transported into another dimension. Just indescribably fantastic. I have no idea what they did with it. I have tried combinations using cream and butter but it is always a disaster.

[Mr Pee]

Reminds me of Alan Coren's view that Sainsbury's served a good purpose in keeping the riff raff out of Waitrose, which in some people's view is a superbmarket. I can't really say as I only get to one when I go 'up country'.

Sainsbury's keeps the riff-raff out of Waitrose, Tescos keeps the even riff-raffier out of Sainsbury's, and Lidl.....no idea, never been inside one.

[Pilchardman]

When I was a child we distinguished between "turnip" (hockey ball size and white flesh) and "swede" (large with orange flesh). We also though both were disgusting.

We distinguished, too: "turnip" = large, orange, served mashed with tatties and mince; "English turnip" = small, purple/white, not eaten by anyone we'd met, but available in seed catalogues.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sainsbury's keeps the riff-raff out of Waitrose, Tescos keeps the even riff-raffier out of Sainsbury's, and Lidl.....no idea, never been inside one.

Lidl makes Tesco seem good: hence their slogan, "Every Lidl helps."

[salymap]

Perhaps someone should write an instructive volume for the uninitiated? A Turnip for the Books, perhaps?

Very good, don't forget the Kohlrabi, which I though looked like a Landmine. That shows when my dad grew them, WW2 time.