If you were to come into the animal department kitchen and crack open one of our 6 refrigerators/freezers, you’d probably see a lot of items you’d find in your own fridge at home: apples, oranges, broccoli, carrots… frozen dead mice, mealworms, etc. You know, the usual. 😉
Although we receive a few donations, we purchase most of our produce from the local grocery store, and have to restock our fridges about once a week. The look on some of the clerks’ faces, as I load a very full cart of greens, bananas, sweet potatoes, and other produce onto their check-out line, is usually pretty priceless. I get asked a lot if I’m a vegetarian, and also complimented on my very healthy eating habits! I explain that I’m a keeper, and that all this food is for animals, and then everyone’s usually very curious about which animal eats which fruit or veggie. Sweet potatoes? Pig, muskrats, bears. Cantaloupe? Lemurs. Mustard greens? Bearded dragons.
I love when they ask me questions–it’s a great opportunity to invite them out to the museum to check out our animal diets for themselves!
This is a great post – exactly the type of things that people love to know (as Sherry mentioned, “behind the scenes). THANKS!
Good post Kristin. I thought you did a nice job with humor too. It was funny to hear if people asked if you were a vegetarian! I remember seeing you at Kroger not too long ago, and your cart did look a little different than most! Keep up the good work!