Food & drink takeaways – 23 September
Extra long carrots, super heavy cucumbers and highly artistic tomatoes.
Just some of the food and drink delights for which we have to thank 23 September.
Click on the links for extra helpings.
A curated taster menu of every day’s food & drink associations
Food records
2016
Guinness record for the longest carrot – measuring 6.245m (20ft 5.86in) - created by UK grower Joe Atherton at the UK National Giant Vegetables Championships in Malvern, Worcestershire
2023
Guinness record for the heaviest cucumber – 13.388 kg (29 lb 8.2 oz) – created by Vincent Sjodin (UK) at the UK National Giant Vegetables Championships in Malvern, Worcestershire
2023
Guinness record for the longest luffa (or loofah) plant – a member of the pumpkin, squash and gourd family – created by Joe Atherton at the UK National Giant Vegetables Championships in Malvern, Worcestershire
Atherton is known as the "king of the long vegetables": he currently also holds the world titles for longest carrot (see above), longest parsnip (6.55 m; 21 ft 5.87 in) and longest beetroot (8.56 m; 28 ft), to name just a few.
Food art of the day
Tomatoes by Finnish painter Pekka Halonen, born on this day in 1865. "Halonen was a painter of Finnish landscapes and people in the national romantic style."
Food birthdays
1880
Scottish scientist and nutrition expert, Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work to eliminate world hunger
1920
Welsh nutritionist, studied the effects of wartime starvation
1952
Irish former chef and co-founder of Roly’s Bistro in Dublin
1958
Spanish chef
1976
Michelin-star American chef and inventor known for his use of molecular gastronomy
