When I was ten years old, I had an interesting visit to the doctor. The reason for my trip was not entirely uncommon, but extremely intriguing, and – for a ten year old – possibly embarrassing. You see, I have always had an affinity for carrots, and apparently at this point in my life I was eating more than my body could process properly.
So my skin turned orange.
Yup! Orange. Don’t believe me? Check this guy out. Not a dangerous condition, just an overload of beta-carotene. My friends at school didn’t believe me and thought that I was playing an elaborate trick on them involving paint and possibly markers. But there I was, walking around for a week with orange hands.
Fast forward 14 years. I’m watching the news this morning. And I have just learned that my childhood period of orangeness was not my fault for eating too many carrots. No, the fault lies squarely on another group of people.
The Dutch.
Yup! The Dutch. Apparently carrots are naturally purple, but were harvested and changed to look Orange by the Dutch so they would match the flag of the Dutch Independence movement in the 1700s. Thanks a lot Netherlands! Wish I had known this back in Grade 4.
Rabbi Jesse Paikin 