Zucchini or Cucumber... it's not that hard!

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sonjavon
sonjavon Posts: 1,019 Member
in Food and Nutrition
The other day I was at the grocery store and bought zucchini and yellow squash. As I was checking out the cashier asked me if my zucchini were cucumbers. When I told her that they were zucchini she kind of laughed and said, "I never can tell the difference." I told her that cucumbers have bumps - zucchini are darker and are smooth. Then the kicker came... she asked, "Do they still taste like cucumbers?" WOW.... Seriously?

So tonight, my husband took me to Applebees for dinner. (By the way the Asiago Peppercorn Steak is awesome - on their under 550 cal menu). I asked the waitress what the seasonal vegetables were. She said, "Broccoli, Carrots and ummmmm.... cucumbers?" I just shook my head and told her that would be fine... knowing I'd be getting zucchini.

I find it really sad that people don't know their vegetables and fruits. I can't tell you how often I have to tell the cashier at the grocery store what my vegetables/fruits are... and I don't eat anything exotic! The best was the look on the one girl's face when I came through with fresh ginger... I let her sweat it out for awhile before telling her what it was. Am I the only one buying produce?

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  • noseovertail
    noseovertail Posts: 99
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    I've had that happen as well. I always have to pay close attention to the register screen to make sure they aren't overcharging me because they enter it in as something entirely different than it is. I only buy organic produce and last time I was shopping the cashier kept saying out loud "Ooooh another organic one, eh? ANOTHER organic one? Jeez, this one's organic too!" and he had to call in another cashier for the organic code. I thought to myself 'I cannot be the only one purchasing this stuff, can I???' Then when I asked for paper bags instead of plastic it took him a good few minutes to even find where they kept them. *smacks head* I wonder how he would have reacted if I remembered to bring my own tote bags.
  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    I'm going to guess the cashier is pretty new to it. I worked as a cashier at a grocery store in high school, and you learned those numbers quick as well as the difference between veggies and fruit over course of time. I still remember the darn banana code - 4011. And for organic, they should know it is the same number just with a 9 in front. So organic bananas will be 94011 Then genetically modified start with an 8 so GM bananas would be 84011. That's a tip for people to keep an eye out to not buy GM. Yuck.

    Sorry, I'm a little ridiculous. :laugh: But also zucchini has a stem and cucumbers don't. That's another way to tell :tongue:
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    My boyfriend gets them confused all the time and he eats a lot of vegetables. I don't understand how he can confuse them. I think he just doesn't pay attention to a lot of details when it comes to food.

    I ordered a "Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Feta and Candied Walnuts" at a restaurant a couple months ago. What did I get? Strawberries on romaine lettuce with chevre. I can't even remember if there were walnuts, but I'm guessing not. I'm not a big food snob and I didn't bother sending it back. But geez! If you are out of spinach and feta, just say so. If your CHEF doesn't know what these things ARE, then you need to find a new chef!

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