Interesting Celery Fact No. 92

Celery's remarkable curative properties are well documented, but less has been written about the use of celery as a narcotic. Whilst all celery has a significant opiate content, in most it is locked away in the undigestible portions. In the exotic Bolivian Mountain Celery, however, the opiates are stored on the surface, and can even be accessed by licking. Chewing a stick of this celery results in addiction in 2 out of 3 cases. This explains why travellers from Europe and the USA, accustomed to our cultures veneration of celery as the greatest of all foodstuffs, find the South American fear and revulsion of the plant hard to understand. Returning travellers often tell stories of local celery sellers in the street market wearing Italian suits and sunglasses.