While pondering the food I had before me on a recent trip to a small beach town on the coast of New South Wales, I began my observations in the versatility of the everyday carrot. I said to myself as I sat, relaxed, on my wide spread beach towel, under the shady trees on the sandy banks of Nelsons Lagoon, in the Momosa Rocks National Park, watching the bright sun peep through onto my soon-to-be-browner skin, ‘the carrot really is the most versatile vegetable I can think of.’
As I gnawed my way through the whole, unpeeled, orange root that was my food, I delighted in dipping the end of it into a small tub of tzatziki, making it taste of garlic. Later on that day while partaking in a more substantial meal containing said flora, a discussion arose between myself and my peers on a topic of my own instigation; the many ways the daucus carota (in the Latin) can be prepared for consumption. The result of this conversation concluded in a long list of several categories detailing the carrots supposedly unintentionally resourceful nature.
Now filled with the fear that the humble carrot has achieved a certain degree of involvement in the downfall of humanity by subliminally taking over the world one dinner plate at a time, the time had come for myself to either sit back and accept what was happening around me and put it down to paranoia or to take arms and fight against this seemingly unstoppable force.
My friends, all that I ask is that the next time you find yourselves in the presence of the carrot, do not take its modest appearance, nutritional worth and delectable savour lightly. Devour the carrot at your own risk, but I implore you keep in mind constantly that things are not always as they seem.
RJ
