Main Piece:

Participant – “My mother told me as a kid that I should always eat all my carrots so that my eyesight was fantastic, but she probably just told me that because I had terrible eyesight just like everyone else in my family.”

Context:

The participant was having a discussion with me about what we liked to eat as a child and what we refused to eat. This led her to bring up the ways her mom would influence her to eat her vegetables.

Background:

The participant was born in and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and is currently a second semester freshman at the University of Southern California. She is a Law, History, and Culture major with a minor in Art History.           

Analysis:

This is another common phrase told to many children in order to get them to eat their vegetables. I was also told this as a child, as were most of my friends. Although eating carrots does not directly improve one’s eyesight, there is some scientific basis behind this belief. This is often how folk medicine and folk beliefs comes to fruition, they stem from some place of truth and develop into something more elaborate.