The Red Pepper

Sometime ago, someone told me that the red pepper contains more Vitamin C than citrus fruit. Apparently this is true:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1197490/Why-pepper-worth-salt-Vitamin-C.html

So I began to eat more red peppers than I used to. I mean, I use them in meals and salads; I don’t just bite into them like an apple. However, maybe I should start eating them that way; for now it is socially acceptable to chow down on a piece of fruit in public, but not vegetables. Perhaps I am ahead of the times and things will change. There will be a new saying: “A red pepper a day keeps the doctor away.”

One weekend, I had to travel to the USA. I had a red pepper that I had not got around to eating, but I did not want to leave it in the hotel room, either. At American Customs, I declared that I had it and, of course, they took me aside and confiscated it. Red peppers were on some seasonal list that keeps changing; I remember once I had an apple and, at the customs, they only looked to see whether it had a label on it and they let me keep it.

Once in the States, I bought a new red pepper and I was curious as to whether or not Canadian Customs would also confiscate it. I wanted to test the system, see how it works, but in the end I decided to eat it.