{"id":5293,"date":"2021-02-28T00:01:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T06:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5293"},"modified":"2021-02-27T14:04:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T20:04:58","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-732-featuring-giselle-potter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5293","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #732: Featuring Giselle Potter"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Because once people have eaten apples and bananas, purple potatoes and
yellow tomatoes, kiwifruit and sugar snap peas and spaghetti squash …
who knows <\/em>what they’ll try next?”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nThe next time you eat passion fruit, a donut peach, or purple asparagus, you can give a note of thanks to produce pioneer Frieda Caplan, the subject of a new picture book biography from Mara Rockliff<\/a><\/strong>. Illustrated by Giselle Potter<\/a><\/strong> and arriving on shelves last month (Beach Lane Books), Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is informative, eye-opening, and<\/em> will have you reaching for the nearest fruits. <\/p>\n

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The book opens with Frieda hard at work at the Seventh Street produce market in Los Angeles. She sees potatoes, tomatoes, and apples “as far as the eye could see.” Why not, Frieda wondered, give something new<\/em> a try? When she offers mushrooms to customers, the men at the market tell her: “Nobody eats those.” But Frieda didn’t give up. She kept selling them, people started eating them, and she became known as the Mushroom Queen. <\/p>\n

Soon after getting her own spot at the produce market, she kept selling mushrooms \u2014 but also Chinese gooseberries, jicama, blood oranges, sugar snap peas, Asian pears, dragon fruit, purple potatoes, and more. She knew it was a food people would want to try if she got a “funny feeling in her elbows when she tasted something new and special.” She even developed her own recipes for the produce. Farmers and cooks consulted her, and reporters asked her about “the next big thing.” Eventually, her daughters joined her in the business. A closing author’s note fleshes out even more detail about Frieda and her family: <\/p>\n

When Frieda started selling produce, the average supermarket carried about sixty-five kinds of fruits and vegetables. Now shoppers can find seven to eight-hundred, many of them introduced by Frieda’s. But Frieda Caplan did much more than sell Americans on tomatillos and alfalfa sprouts, or even mangosteen and quince. She taught us that tasting unfamiliar foods could be a fun adventure \u2014 and delicious, too.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(My favorite fact from the closing note is that, when Frieda was named “Produce Man of the Year” in 1979, she gave the award back. Not longer after that, it was renamed “Produce Marketer of the Year.”)<\/p>\n

Mara Rockliff’s text captures Caplan’s resilience and determination. Giselle Potter’s palette is dominated by a punchy purple hue \u2014 Frieda is always depicted in purple \u2014 juxtaposed with vivid greens, blues, and reds in various shades. The spreads featuring produce markets, filled with eye-catching details (and all kinds<\/em> of produce), are carefully composed and never too busy. Below are some spreads so that you can see for yourself.
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“Now, there was nothing wrong with a potato.
Still, Frieda thought, why not give something new a try?”<\/em>
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“Especially if it was crispy … crunchy … juicy …”<\/em>
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“It took a while for everybody to get used to Frieda’s funny-looking fruits. …”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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“But if Frieda felt it in her elbows, she knew it was going to catch on … eventually.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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\nTRY IT! HOW FRIEDA CAPLAN CHANGED THE WAY WE EAT. Text copyright \u00a9 2021 by Mara Rockliff. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2021 by Giselle Potter and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Beach Lane Books, New York.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * Jules’s Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n

1)<\/strong><\/font> Walks. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> David Levithan’s The Mysterious Disappearance Of Aidan S. (As Told To His Brother)<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. Soooo good.
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\n3)<\/strong><\/font> Nomadland<\/em> and this piece<\/a><\/strong> on Frances McDormand.<\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> Actresses like her, who don’t have the lines on their faces erased. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> This piece<\/a><\/strong> on wordless picture books. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> My vinyl copy of one of my favorite albums<\/a><\/strong> arrived \u2014 The Innocence Mission’s Birds of My Neighborhood<\/em>. It was originally released in 1999 but was just released on vinyl for us nerdy fans. This is one of the albums I listened to over and over and over<\/em> again right after my brother’s death. It means a lot to me, as does all of this band’s music. (Oh, it’s also where I found my oldest daughter’s name.) <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> It has one of the world’s most perfect folk songs on it.
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