# Why is there no blue food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054 "2003-07-22T00:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/21 "2003-07-22T06:01:48Z")
> [@](#): > > When did Carlin do that routine? Like 1976? Probably. I love him, but I think it’s a weak joke (by his standards of logic at least). It’s like asking “what would 2+2 be if it wasn’t 4?” There’s a clear answer, and if you have to discard it then why bother? ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/22 "2003-07-22T06:10:14Z")
Sorry for the hijack, folks: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MikeG \* > \*\* OT; I’d kill for a good pastie, how is it that you cannot get one in Chicago where I can find almost any food 24/7??? \*\* Mike, go to [pasty.com](http://pasty.com) and order genuine U.P. pasties made by the grannies and grandpas at the Stillwater Retirement Home in the Houghton/Hancock area. They’re packed in dry ice and shipped all over the country. We’ve eaten them here in Washington. Yum! Also, check out the Pasty Cam. Its sights and scenes will have you longing to be back in the U.P.! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/23 "2003-07-22T09:53:14Z")
Blueberries are purple, but the waxy bloom on the skin makes them appear blue, so from the point of view of a person picking them and eating them directly, yes they are blue, truly blue. The dark purple anthocyanins inside the fruit (and also those in other things such as blackberries, elderberries, beetroot etc) are sensitive to PH levels, so adding acids to the juice makes it turn wine-red, adding alkali makes it turn deep navy. I grow blue potatoes every year and when they are cooked they are blue, not purple (the water that you boil them in turns lurid turquoise). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/24 "2003-07-22T10:29:13Z")
Duck eggs are also often blue. OK, that’s a bit of a cop-out because you don’t actually eat the shell (unless you’re real clumsy in the kitchen), but you’re still gathering up blue food to eat. Anyway, it’s a pretty silly question. Blue is just not an especially common colour in the plant or animal kingdoms, which are where our food comes from. Flowers are an obvious exception, but we don’t tend to eat them. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/25 "2003-07-22T10:31:08Z")
Backing up Mange, I’ve seen and eaten the blue potatoes too. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/26 "2003-07-22T10:43:51Z")
Some types of Japanese pickled eggplant are also clearly blue. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/27 "2003-07-22T13:03:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Blueberries are purple. \*\* YOu are confusing blueberries with purpleberries. (Blueberries are blue. Purpleberries are purple. ) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054/28 "2003-07-22T13:13:03Z")
I probably should have said that the _contents_ of blueberries are purple. It is the skin that makes them look blue (but that still makes them a properly blue food when eaten whole and raw). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-blue-food/190054.md?page=1)