Food Fables - watermelon seeds sprouting in belly

An amusing discussion thread from a food message board asked readers what food fables their parents told them, including the not so subtle "clean your plate there are starving children" line. Carrots really are good for your eyesight and you really should eat your vegetables, but here are a few amusing examples some of us can relate to....


Tom said...


My parents would always tell me that candy was bad for me, but my father said that Clark bars were healthy. He was raised in the Pittsburgh PA area where Clark bars were made. Of course as a kid how could I argue with his logic. Clark bars were just as good if not better than Hersey bars. Anyone else have a food "fable" provided by your parents?


Andy said...

The best of all time fearful favorite was if you swallowed a watermelon seed,
it would grow a watermelon in your tummy. We got very good at seed spitting.

Mark says....

I was told that sardines were "brain food". I was given a lot of sardines when I was a kid. Sardines are no more brain food than any other type of meat. My parents were just being cheap. And we travelled a lot in an old VW bus, so some kind of canned meat was an important source of nutrition.


Another poor soul says..

I was told if I didn't eat the crust on bread I wouldn't learn how to whistle. My parents would say, "You see birds eat crust, and they know how to whistle." Incidentally, I eventually started eating the crust but I never have been able to whistle.


Redneck writes,,,,

My dad always spoke of horseradish as cleaning out sinuses. It didn't really but it felt like it.


Jill says...

There's always the baked potato story. But in Dad's case it was true. He actually did carry a hot baked potato to school in his mittened hands and then ate it cold for lunch. We're talking the GREAT American Depression. 1930's. He did not, however, walk uphill both ways to school in 3 feet of snow ;)