My history lobe is a bit rusty but after emancipation, black folks grew a lot of watermelon because it was easy and cheap to grow and it sold well. It was a symbol of the time as well as former slaves reaching financial independence. As usual, shitheads will turn any symbol against it's people as a tool of oppression (see DEI as a recent example) so watermelon was associated with black people in the worst way. Now the racism has died down a lot but to this day some people will say (and think) that black people love watermelon and think of it as a poverty food.
It goes way deeper but that should be the semi-accurate gist.
I'm so fucking happy to be seeing this meme without a racist context. Maybe I troll the wrong corners of the internet but all I see this captioned with other places is zero effort racist jokes.
Not sure how the food science works out but she's a remarkably small woman so I always figured that meant less food to meet caloric needs. I've had many conversations with her about her lifestyle and unfortunately I think it's a lost cause. She absolutely HATES exerting herself. Most of her excercise comes from running errands and shopping.
My family is all very very obesity prone and acts psychotic about it. Everyone. They (try to) eat low-cal well-seasoned food. Mom will barely lose weight at 1000 cal/day unless she's doing cardio (she won't) the family dinner table looks pitiful. I mean, they make it look nice visually, but if all four of us are staying healthy it looks like a salad and baked chicken. Nobody is forced to eat healthy or shamed.
Almost always salad or raw/boiled vegetables and a protein. Boiled cheesy broccoli is a treat there. Eggs for breakfast. Yogurt and fruit for lunch. It's almost unreal sometimes. I lucked out as I just do 2-3000 cal a day and keep an eye on it and I'm set. 1500 if I'm overweight and 4000 if I fall under but I think that the lifestyle they maintain has permanently marred the way I look at food.
All this to say we both are and aren't food people in my family.
It's so well known and pervasive I can ask my conservative 'friend' "what do you think the founder of Gateway just pleaded guilty to?" And with no prior knowledge he knows what he did and can become defensive.
I almost wanted to do a switch too and tell him he actually pleaded guilty of fraud.
My history lobe is a bit rusty but after emancipation, black folks grew a lot of watermelon because it was easy and cheap to grow and it sold well. It was a symbol of the time as well as former slaves reaching financial independence. As usual, shitheads will turn any symbol against it's people as a tool of oppression (see DEI as a recent example) so watermelon was associated with black people in the worst way. Now the racism has died down a lot but to this day some people will say (and think) that black people love watermelon and think of it as a poverty food.
It goes way deeper but that should be the semi-accurate gist.