The Voices team took our mobile recording cart to the Duke Farmers Market on July 27, 2018, and asked passersby to tell us about their favorite fruit or vegetable — and an early memory of that item.
Transcript
[Market sounds and voices]
[Susannah] It’s a sunny, hot Friday in July, and the Duke Farmers Market is packed. Vendors are selling fresh produce, flowers, empanadas (that smell incredible)… but we’re not looking for any of that today. We’re looking for some answers.
[Jacqueline] My question is, what is your favorite fruit or vegetable and what is your earliest memory of that?
[Susannah] Welcome to Voices of Duke Health. This is our first installment of “Question of Day,” where we take our Mobile Recording Cart around the hospital to see what people have to say. To see what you have to say. Today we parked in a hallway next to the Farmers Market—so you will hear an occasional door opening and closing. Now, back to the question at hand.
[Jacqueline] My name is Jacqueline Marx and I’m a chaplain intern. My favorite fruit is the peach, and my favorite vegetable is the little yellow summer tomato. And I am so happy because I’m answering this question on the day when it’s not only in season, but both those things are right outside at the Farmers Market. Earliest memory, I would say I was about three or five years old and living in East Tennessee, and eating those things right off the farm.
[Ray] Hi, I’m Ray and my favorite vegetable or fruit is avocado. And my earliest memory with avocado was actually, embarrassingly enough, eating it on a sandwich when I was 20 years old. But it’s awesome and it goes good on everything.
[Melissa] Hi, my name is Melissa. My favorite vegetable are peas, and my earliest memory of them is my mom reading me a book growing up entitled, “Eat Your Peas, Louise,” and I thought that was very entertaining. And it’s just kind of stuck since then.
[Zina] My name is Zina and my favorite fruit is a tangerine. My earliest memory was when I was three, maybe four, and was given one on Christmas morning as my little snack before breakfast. So I can actually open up my Christmas gifts before breakfast. So it was it was a good memory for me.
[Susanne] Hi, I’m Susanne Harris. My favorite fruit and vegetable is yellow summer squash. I have wonderful memories of visiting my grandmother for the summer in Massachusetts and tending to her garden and picking fresh yellow squash.
[Tracy] So my name’s Tracy Gosselin, and my favorite vegetable is beets. I learned early on as a kid I was allergic to bees, and how do I remember the beets? Well, we were having beets for dinner that night. As I’ve grown up I’ve grown to enjoy beets, cold or hot, pickled or not pickled, hot and spicy, or sweet. And even though it’s associated with not a good memory, they’re still one of my favorite vegetables.
[Rahul] My name is Rahul Krishnaswamy. I am an undergraduate here at Duke University. And my favorite vegetable is probably red beets, and that’s a pretty unpopular choice, I know. But I love it because, number one, I grew up with it. My grandma always used to make it for me when I visited her in India. And I guess every time I go back to India she still makes it for me and it triggers a lot of my childhood memories. So that’s why I like it.
[Susannah] Theme music for Question of the Day is by Blue Dot Sessions. To learn more about Voices of Duke Health and to sign up to have a conversation in our listening booth, visit www.listeningbooth.info .
