Thank you for reminding the world that that Lindy West piece exists. It’s such a treasure.

I feel like it’s just part of the beet experience.

SAME. I was like, Howard Dean did what???

I think that’s generally the MO for total assholes, yeah.

Holy shit, someone’s grumpy! Hope taking out your anger by insulting people discussing avocados makes you feel better.

Yeah, the quarters method is the neatest technique I’ve tried, and it works even on slightly underripe avocados. The stab’n’twist pit-removal method is dangerous, first of all, it doesn’t really work if the avocado isn’t perfectly ripe, and then you get the pit stuck on the blade half the time, which is a whole other…

Wow, you’re an asshole.

I think a lot of professional cooks do it, too. It just seems pointlessly risky!

The countless people with avocado-related hand injuries do, yes.

hah, nope, you’ll still get pink hands when you peel ‘em.

You eat the skin?

7. Remove pit. Do not use knife unless feeling very confident.

It happened to TWO people I know! This is real shit!

I don’t understand why everyone is so dedicated to the “hack the blade into the seed to get it out” method. It’s so dangerous! When I was slicing avocados in a kitchen, I figured out that it’s way easier and safer to slice it in half, then in quarters, then twisting the quarters apart leaves 3/4 of the pit exposed, so…

That is AMAZING. My favorite: “my partner had her eyes closed and thought I was offering her a Rolo.”

I used to work in a shop that used antique machinery. I was warned to keep track of my hands so as to avoid “pancake fingers.”

HOLY GOD

The very rich. People who don’t have to wash their own dishes.

My best advice? Don’t even try to cut them until they’re cooked. Steaming them is probably easiest: Put your beets into a big piece of tinfoil and wrap the foil around. Drop in a couple tablespoons of water along with the beets, and then seal it up super tight so that the steam doesn’t escape. If you’ve got big…

My main takeaway here is that we really need to bring back home ec. Basic knife skills are important for feeding yourself. Everyone should know the basics of cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.