Pumped up pumpkin
It's Halloween weekend and in the West, kids will be hollowing out huge gourds to make ghostly jack-o?lanterns. But Pauline D. Loh is more concerned about eating the squashes.
Halloween is an ancient festival that goes back to Gaelic roots. It is believed to have evolved from Samhain, the festival marking the end of the lighter months and the beginning of the darker half of the year. It was commonly celebrated as the festival of the dead, perhaps because so many vegetables are dying off as the Earth prepares for winter. But the end of October is also a season of plenty where all the summer's crops are harvested. None brightens the graying landscape as much as the golden globes of pumpkins.
It is the color of health, a bright, appetizing orange, which broadcasts to the world that it has a healthy dose of beta-carotene and it will happily keep you in the pink of health.
