Carrot



The carrot is an orange (normally, although many eastern varieties are purple) root vegetable related to such others as parsley, fennel, dill and cumin. Originating in Afghanistan, it is an excellent source of Vitamin A which is metabolised from the orange carotenoid β-carotene which gives it its characteristic colour. Carrots are also a relatively good source of fibre.

Woo
Carrots were the subject of a very pointed (har!) and partially successful woo during WWII.

UK fighter pilot John Cunningham (Cat's Eyes) was the first person to shoot down an enemy plane with the help of radar. The existence, or at least the success, of radar was concealed by crediting a high carrot (vitamin A) diet. As there was already a German folklore myth that carrots improved night vision, the subterfuge worked. Along the same lines, British pilots were given bilberry (a herb) which purportedly improved night vision.

Although deficiency of Vitamin A causes night blindness, a surfeit does not improve it and can be toxic, as anyone who's eaten a polar bear's liver will know. Luckily, carrots don't actually contain vitamin A, your liver metabolizes beta-carotene into Vitamin A when needed and the excess is stored in your fat cells. If you reach capacity there, at that point the beta-carotene finds its way to your skin skills and gives you a weird albeit harmless condition where you turn orange.

With the stick
The carrot and stick is a popular motivational technique to subjugate horses, donkeys, and mules. The offer of a carrot to a horse (or donkey etc.) as reward is attached to a stick that makes the carrot just out of reach. Some instances has an additional stick to strike the animal to help it along. The promise of Heaven and threat of Hell in the Abrahamic religions is perhaps the ultimate example of the carrot-and-stick method.