The Eggplant's Journal

For my Food For Thought class, we have studied old agriculture and how the food we eat has gotten from its origin to our plate. For the action we created a family tree with the person's favorite food, and then we had to take an ingredient that is in one of the foods and find its origin with a story behind it all. The ingredient I chose was eggplant, because it was a plant in a traditional Greek dish that tasted amazing. Also I have never tasted it without another food added. What I learned about this vegetable was that the origin is not specific and that it was thought to cause insanity. A challenge for this action project was finding an ingredient and then finding the origin. The fun thing about it was getting to make a fun story behind it all.

NVA, "Family (Food) Tree" 4-21-14, Chicago:GCE

   Hi, my name is Solanum Melongena the eggplant. Many eggplants are very happy but when eaten before being put in a dish we get mad, because being in a dish is an eggplant's biggest goal. When eaten without being put in a dish we try to make it miserable to eat us, but once we are put in a dish we dance on your tongue to make you and other people happy. My grandparents once told me that their grandparents came from Southeast Asia and that they came mainly from India like most eggplants. It is really fuzzy on how we got here some say we were brought to Spain and then Sicily and France about 4,000 years ago. Another story that they told me was, that Spaniards brought us to America as "love apples". But the biggest story is that we were brought here by Thomas Jefferson when he was growing plants. For some very odd reason we were thought to cause insanity and people called us “mad apples”. I find it mean to say that we are like that and that we are deformed apples when everything about us is so different about an apple.

   You might be thinking why I am called an eggplant when obviously I'm purple and long. Well when eggplants first started we were white and oval shaped like an egg. My great great great grandparents looked like that. But besides my history, a week ago I actually was picked from a garden from Florida, where I loved the warm weather, where my family and I grew very well. Sadly I was separated and just wanting see where I would end up. The next day I ended up on a truck and I traveled for 3 days. In those three days I was meeting new vegetables and fruits. I met a tomato that I made a friendship with. I also met other eggplants that were from Southeast Asia, and they knew my cousins from there. Then I was put in a Dominic’s and I didn't like it there because of the cold weather to keep me “fresh”. Well now I’m in a car driving to a person’s house, who seemed Greek because they said that, “Yia Yia (grandmother) needs us to get ingredients for her.” My cousins have been cooked for that dish and they loved it, because it made the people happy. I can't wait to be cooked and see how much I will change to make people happy.

   Finally I’m in the house and waiting for the day I will be put in a dish. I hate being in the fridge, because it is so cold. It’s the next day and Easter is today, so grandma is going to be busy today making food. So many vegetables, and my friend the tomato is also with me but is in another dish. She is making me in moussaka liked I heard and cut me up and spread me on top of the dish. Now I’m being put in the oven. It was nice to give me my life’s story and family history. Bye!

REFERENCES:
 

"Eggplant Profile." Diane Huntrods, Iowa State University. n.d - Retrieved: 4-15-14

"Eggplant (Solanum Melonggena)." Kris Hirst. About.com. n.d - Retrieved: 4-15-14

"Eggplant History." Peggy Filippone, About.com, n.d - Retrieved: 4-16-14

"The Prettiest Vegetable." n.p., Organic Gardening, n.d - Retrieved: 4-16-14

"EGGPLANT." University of Arizona, n.d - Retrieved: 4-17-14