Gestation and the greengrocer
I asked a colleague whose wife is expecting how their baby was coming along.
"It's the size of a jicama," he said.
When did gestation get mixed up with greengrocers?
It seems Babycenter.com sends expectant parents weekly in utero updates: "Poppyseed to pumpkin: How big is your baby?"
I take it as a sign of these foodie times that Babycenter compares growing fetuses to produce, some of it rather obscure before the Food Network helped bring kumquats (10 weeks), Chinese cabbage (28 weeks) and Crenshaw melons (36 weeks) to mainstream supermarkets -- and wombs.
Three weeks have passed since I heard about my colleague's jicama, so I checked back. His wife is at 35 weeks now, just five weeks or so away from delivering their beautiful, bouncing pumpkin.
"We're up to a honeydew now!" he said. "Good thing we got the bigger car seat."
Full-term jicama. Sun file photo
Comments
I doubt that many expectant mothers would look forward with pleasure to going through labor in order to deliver a pumpkin.
Posted by: hmpstd | March 12, 2010 7:19 AM
Does a poppyseed have a soul?
Posted by: Laura Lee | March 12, 2010 7:46 AM
Considering that most people cannot accurately identify what a "one serving" of 90% of particular foods should be (shakes head).Over the winter i saw enormous grapefruits about the size of a small melon, so even fruit analogies leave much to be desired.
captcha: of ordinal: When my mother came to visit me in the natal ward when i was hours old " you must be the mother of the BIG baby". Yup, we're anything but ordinary.
Posted by: Meekrat | March 12, 2010 8:29 AM
Blogger Deb at SmittenKitchen.com actually took a picture of her baby with his fruit/veggie size after he was born (early). Even if the produce is a bit on the big size--just like most babies nowadays--at least it gives parents some idea.
Posted by: Beth | March 12, 2010 8:32 AM
"...colleague who's wife is..."
Really? This is the most basic grammar? Who is v whose... Shocking.
I'm shocked, too. Too much time looking for jicama art, not enough reading over my copy. Ugh. LV
Posted by: anon.e.mouse | March 12, 2010 8:56 AM
Actually, Beth, birth weights have been decreasing for the past 15 years or so.
Posted by: sean | March 12, 2010 9:00 AM
everybody knows tumors are fruit-sized
Posted by: Anonymous | March 12, 2010 11:15 AM
it's true, tumors are fruit sized!
I like in the beginning of Man Against Food when the guy is about to eat something particularly large, how he sizes it next to a baby. I can recall once that a single slice of pizza was larger than a baby.
Posted by: Joyce W. | March 12, 2010 2:01 PM
puh ... puh ... is this mike on?
Posted by: shecky | March 12, 2010 5:33 PM
My first Grandson was born Sunday morning, over a week early. I had sent my DIL a box of chocolate covered strawberries to arrive this Tuesday, thinking she could munch her way through the last week. When they arrived on Tuesday my son sent me a picture saying "Dad the strawberries are as big as George Thomas' head. Well, they were big, but not nearly as sweet.
Posted by: Jack Ziegler | March 12, 2010 10:49 PM
Well, so much for having a salad today.
Urp.
Posted by: El Generalissimo | March 13, 2010 11:14 AM
Congratulations, Jack Z. Hope you enjoy the grandfather role!
Posted by: Dahlink | March 13, 2010 12:20 PM
Thank you, we are thrilled.
Posted by: Jack Ziegler | March 14, 2010 12:00 AM
Congratulations, Jack Z! Your best days are ahead of you!
Posted by: Eve | March 15, 2010 10:57 AM
Jack Z,
They sell T-shirts that say "If I'd known grandkids were so great I would have had them first."
Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | March 15, 2010 10:00 PM