The [Other] / [Same Different] Vegetable

"[Side A ] The Other Vegetable The way fruits and vegetables have been named is much like how people categorise and perceive one another. We take note of places of origin, distinctive appearances and make comparisons with what we know. While we may be more discreet about doing that to people, most dont think twice about calling a gourd hairy or emphasising that a bawang (onion) is from Bombay. Many fruit and vegetable names indicate the outsiders from or through whom they originate, as seen from the speakers of the respective languages. These names also communicate the feelings and ideas that communities have or have had about one another. And since Singaporeans inherited these names from colonisers and ancestors from other lands, some of these perceptions, often biased, are not even our own. [Side B] The Same Different Vegetable Are Japanese tomatoes grown in Thailand still Japanese? Is premium better than speciality? Is a sweet corn labelled sweet corn sweeter than a sweet corn simply labelled corn? I added vegetable-labelling language to plant taxonomy to critique the scientific and commercial classification systems. Despite how they seem, both create value through distinction and are therefore compatible."