The Politics of Carrot Color

Wild and rather fascinating:  Why are carrots orange? It is political

They’re orange for entirely political reasons: in the 17th century, Dutch growers cultivated orange carrots as a tribute to William of Orange – who lead the the struggle for Dutch independence – and the color stuck.

Who knew?

Go read the whole thing (it is brief).

h/t: Fruits and Votes

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Moosebreath says:

    And here I clicked on this post hoping for an explanation of John Boehner’s tanning regime.

  2. michael reynolds says:

    Moose wins the thread right out of the gate.

  3. john personna says:

    Orange is the most appetizing color to me … ah, but I’ve been shaped by a life of orange carrots.

    (Would purple really look as good?)

  4. Tim Lambert says:

    Alas, the source that Next Nature gives for this actually says that the political origin story is “probably apocryphal” and “Some astute historian managed to install the myth that the work an unexpected mutation was developed especially to thank King William I as a tribute to independence from Spain”