The cultivated carrot as we know it today is a far cry from the wild carrot found growing about 5,000 years ago in the area now known as Afghanistan. These wild varieties were purple or black, and had a tough, fibrous texture, and carrots only became orange in the 1500's when patriotic Dutch growers developed a carrot in an attempt to nationalize the country's favorite vegetable.

In 1940 Britain's Air Ministry invented the carrot myth, which was that a diet of carrots gave pilots night vision in order to see Nazi bombers attacking at night. This propaganda was spread to conceal the fiercely kept secret of Royal Air Force's interception radar, which was able to pinpoint enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel. The Germans fell for these lies because this myth was already a part of their folklore.