When Bell Peppers Cry

One of Sam’s favorite things to do now is to help me “cook” in the kitchen. What this means really is that I am training her to be my sous-chef. She dumps vegetables in the salad bowl, puts scraps in the compost tub, tries to spin the salad spinner, and insists on juicing lemons and limes by herself. (“Sammy do that!” is the most frequently heard phrase in the house these days.) She is also becoming quite adept at eating all of the carefully prepared vegetables before they can make it into the salad bowl. Especially red and orange bell peppers. While I was chopping peppers today, my sous-chef and I had the following conversation:

Me: Ok, Sammy, watch: I am chopping the peppers.
Sam: Sam do that?
Me: No, honey, not yet. Knives require a lot of skill to use and you will have to wait til you are older and can handle them properly.
Sam: Sam eat pepper?
Me: Yes, honey, you can eat some pepper as soon as I chop them.
Sam: Pepper crying.
Me: What did you say?
Sam: Pepper crying!
Me: Did you say that the peppers are crying?
Sam: Yeah. (Now she is munching on peppers).
Me: Why are the peppers crying? Are they crying because I am chopping them?
Sam: (grinning) Yeah. Peppers crying. (Munch!)

So if you are thinking to adopt a vegetarian diet because you can’t bear the thought of causing your food pain and death, think again. Apparently, bell peppers cry when you chop them for salad.