A lady at a restaurant didn't know what carrots or cucumbers were.

[Athena]

re: Celery.

If you do have to buy more than you need, if you wrap it in tinfoil, it lasts for weeks in the fridge. I take it out of the plastic bag it comes in, wrap the whole thing in a sheet of tinfoil, and stick it back in the fridge.

If you forget to do that and it gets all limp, you can reconstitute the stalks. Just cut off however many you need, and stick 'em in a glass of water for 30 minutes or so. Voila, crisp celery.

(I don’t use a lot of celery, either, but I do keep it in the fridge all the time because it seems I need it maybe twice a month and hell if I’m gonna run to the store just for celery.)

[WhyNot]

@Athena

If you forget to do that and it gets all limp, you can reconstitute the stalks. Just cut off however many you need, and stick 'em in a glass of water for 30 minutes or so. Voila, crisp celery.

And if you want to blow your kids’ minds, put a few drops of food coloring in the water.

[Vita_Beata]

I’m learned the new word for what we just call “pea pods”: mangetout peas. Thanks.

[Ellen_Cherry]

So how do you say mangetout?

[Hello_Again]

@Ellen_Cherry

So how do you say mangetout?

It’s french for “eat it all” I assume it’s pronounced frenchishly - mahnggg too

[AaronX]

@WotNot

A few years ago, someone had brought some sweets in to the office to share, and some of them were ginger-flavoured. After looking at them doubtfully for a while, one of my co-workers asked me, “What does ginger taste like?”

I still can’t quite imagine how anyone could reach their mid-twenties in the UK without ever tasting ginger.

Maybe they preferred blondes?

[Ogre]

@Hampshire

Had some fish tacos in SanFran a few weeks back that had some odd cubed item in them that was the texture of diced apples or potatoes. Tasted bland and was more of a filler. I had no idea what it was.
Checked the restaurants website later and found it to be jicama. Didn’t care for it.

Cubed? That’s some bush league garbage right there. It should have been julienned. Using jicama on a fish taco should be all about contrast. It doesn’t have much of a flavor, but it is awesomely crunchy, and ideally, it should have been put on the taco cold, immediately before serving. That way you get a temperature contrast as well. I’ve seen shredded cabbage or cole slaw used the same way on fish tacos.

[kayaker]

@Ellen_Cherry

So how do you say mangetout?

Say it anyway you want, but adjust your beret as you say it.

[BleizDu]

@WhyNot

Yes, lots of my daughter’s friends don’t recognize whole vegetables. They know them only cut up and/or cooked. I’m not sure if it’s because their parents buy everything prepared, or if they’re not allowed in the kitchen while dinner is being made.

Ooh that probably explains something I saw a couple days ago: We took a handful of 12yo or so kids to visit a local communal vegetable garden, and they were unable to recognize the red tomatoes growing on the plants, and mistook the raspberries for strawberries. And those are kids from a very rural area. We were lost as to how someone could not recognize a tomato, now I got an inkling.

[Skammer]

The comedian Aziz Ansari tells the story that he was in an upscale NY restaurant and happened to see 50-Cent sitting at a nearby table, close enough to be overheard. AA says that Fitty ordered a grapefruit soda, and when it arrived, asked the waiter why it wasn’t purple. Apparently he knew what a grape was, and that it was a fruit, but did not realize that there was a different thing called a “grapefruit.”

Of course AA may have been exaggerating for teh funneh.

[Ellen_Cherry]

@Hello_Again

It’s french for “eat it all” I assume it’s pronounced frenchishly - mahnggg too

Well, I do too, but I leave near Versailles. You know: Ver-SALES.

[Dung_Beetle]

The first time my husband and I visited New York, we asked the waiter in a swanky restaurant what “harry-cot vertz” were. I’m sure they had a good yuk over that one in the kitchen. :smack:

And in case you don’t know, it’s pronounced “harry-co vair” and it ain’t nothin’ but green beans.

[Acsenray]

@kayT

“That’s Jickama.. Didn’t you ever eat Jickama?” He knew his veg. but needed to work on his Spanish accent.

You have to have a Spanish accent to speak in English now?

@StuffLikeThatThere

at 30, didn’t know how to scramble an egg.

To be fair, most eateries that serve scrambled eggs don’t know how to scramble an egg.

@WotNot

A few years ago, someone had brought some sweets in to the office to share, and some of them were ginger-flavoured. After looking at them doubtfully for a while, one of my co-workers asked me, “What does ginger taste like?”

I still can’t quite imagine how anyone could reach their mid-twenties in the UK without ever tasting ginger.

Ah, this happened in Britain, right? So what was really said was more like “Ay, me aul coont, wot voes faffing ginger faste loik?”

@drewtwo99

I polled that class and the rest of my classes that day… not a SINGLE student knew what a cherry pit was.

…

I even had a few students argue with me that cherries even had seeds inside them.

Except for the fact that I’ve seen grapes labeled “seedless grapes,” I don’t know when I would have learned about grapes with seeds.

[snowthx]

@Askance

I have conclusive proof there are aliens living amongst us. I witnessed the following scene in a small takeaway in an inner Sydney suburb, this would have been in the 80s some time. A young woman walks in and asks for a takeaway coffee. Sure, says the guy behind the counter, how do you like your coffee?

Her eyes darted around as if this was some huge trick question, and after several seconds’ hesitation she blurted out “… medium … ?”.

Who, living in western society, and being a coffee-drinker, would not understand that he was asking “Milk? Sugar?” ? An alien who had undergone insufficient cultural training (a la Third Rock), that’s who.

When I was growing up, my only coffee was that brewed at home and made by my parents. As a young adult, one of my first times in a coffee shop, I remember the bar keep saying “room?” and I did not know what it was (she had to 'splain it to me).

[Colophon]

@snowthx

When I was growing up, my only coffee was that brewed at home and made by my parents. As a young adult, one of my first times in a coffee shop, I remember the bar keep saying “room?” and I did not know what it was (she had to 'splain it to me).

Could you 'splain it to us too?

[Moonlitherial]

@Colophon

Could you 'splain it to us too?

Do you want room left for milk/cream.

[ioioio]

Kroger sent me a coupon for a free minneola. I didn’t know what a minneola was and couldn’t find any in the produce section, so I asked a nearby employee. He didn’t know either. It took three produce section employees to identify a minneola as an orange that probably wouldn’t be available until fall.

A minneola is actually a tangelo.

[Coustralee]

At a local supermarket the girl at the checkout didn’t know what celery was.

[kayT]

Acsenray, jicama is pronounced hick’ uhmuh and h for j is Spanish as far as I know.

A friend of mine asked the waitress in a pie shop if they had rhubarb and she asked him if that was a plant.

[snowthx]

@Moonlitherial

Do you want room left for milk/cream.

Exactly. I am relieved to hear I am not the only one here not fluent in coffee-speak. I think that encounter so many years ago turned me into a black coffee-only drinker.

Upthread was discussion over Clementines - are those the same as the little oranges marketed as “Cuties”? They are small, mandarin-like, seedless oranges with loose, easy-to-peel skins - usually sold pre-packaged in bags or boxes.