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The Time We Ate Toxic Fruit

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The Time We Ate Toxic Fruit

A number of years ago, my oldest son brought home an assignment from school for healthy eating. One of the things that was stated on the sheet of paper was that we should be drinking skim milk. He was adamant we were doing something wrong by buying 2%. Says who? If you’ve ever seen my kids, you will understand why I buy 2%. They need that extra fat (which, by the way, is not much).  They are all athletes, and they are string bean skinny as well. They need all the calories they can get.

Besides telling us what we should and should not be eating, this piece of paper also had an assignment on it to eat a fruit or vegetable that we had never tried before, and report back. You wouldn’t think this would be a difficult task, and yet it was. My kids are really good eaters. They eat beets, asparagus, artichokes, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and even fiddleheads! There really wasn’t anything at the grocery store that we haven’t at least tried.

I could have just pretended that they’d never had something like bok choy…and I probably should have. But no, my son wanted to follow instructions, so we turned to fruits. We didn’t really have many options here either. The grocery store did have a small display of tropical fruit so I picked up one of those. I have no idea what the name of the fruit was…this was probably 6 or 7 years ago.

I cut it up and we all had a bite. It was disgusting.

So I googled it. Apparently it was an ornamental fruit. And according to the page that I landed on, it could also be considered toxic if eaten in large enough quantities. Obviously there was no chance of that since it was completely nasty! I don’t remember seeing a sign at the grocery store stating that this was an ornamental fruit or that it could be toxic. Maybe I missed it. Who knows? But I never in a million years would have guessed I could be buying a toxic fruit!

No one got sick, but I can tell you that was not my favorite assignment ever!

 

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Rabia

Thursday 6th of March 2014

I think it's awfully silly for the school to assume none of the kids like fruits or vegetables. My older two eat lots of different foods. They love asparagus, beets , Brussels sprouts and more!! Good thing the fruit you tried tasted nasty!!

Michelle Nahom

Saturday 8th of March 2014

My oldest doesn't care for asparagus but he likes everything else. I make it at least once a week because my middle child loves asparagus so I just make 2 veggies that night. The school stuff drives me crazy too...the kids are always coming home telling us their health teacher told them they shouldn't drink 2% milk, they need to eat low fat, and the school even limits the calories on school lunches nowadays to combat obesity. The problem with that is one size doesn't fit all. The kid who is headed to 2.5 hours of after school sports needs more calories than one who is just going home and is not as physically active. It's disheartening to have educators and government mandates telling me what my kids need and don't need...it's silly to assume one way is best for all.

dawn

Tuesday 4th of March 2014

It's a good thing no one got food poisoning! So much for being adventurous! I have never heard of fiddleheads before.

Michelle Nahom

Saturday 8th of March 2014

Oh we love fiddleheads. They are only available in the spring...they are baby ferns. So good!

Barb

Friday 9th of August 2013

That is a funny story! A while back we had this fun thing that we would try a new fruit every week. We tried some pretty weird stuff but none that were toxic...at least that I know of :) There was one dragon fruit (I think( that was pretty to look at but not so yummy. Visiting via Friendly Friday blog hop. Nice to see you here.

Michelle Nahom

Friday 9th of August 2013

Thanks Barb! I wouldn't have even googled it except it was so gross...I couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat it. I guess they don't!

Nellie

Wednesday 19th of June 2013

Whoa! be careful! We need you to google the fruit first THEN eat it! LOL

Michelle Nahom

Friday 9th of August 2013

Who would have thought?! I never would have guessed that something I would buy in the grocery store would be toxic!!

Melissa

Wednesday 19th of June 2013

It's quite likely that I would have chosen a disastrous fruit or vegetable. Not so much because it was toxic or ornamental, but because my husband has an aversion to them and therefore his head might have spun right off his body if I told him it wasn't green beans. p.s. we drink 1%. That's as low as I'll go. Skim is like drinking water, if you ask me.

Michelle Nahom

Friday 9th of August 2013

Definitely a parenting fail, that's for sure! I would have never guessed that something I could buy at the grocery store would be toxic! I wasn't a big fan of that assignment.