Thursday 9 June 2011

How to Eat a Pomegranate

(or: Bring Back the Diagram)

Video tutorials are great for lots of reasons, but instant comprehension isn't one of them. 

Thinking there had to a simple way to peel a pomegranate, I  looked online. Fully half an hour and several YouTube videos later, I had an answer. First, however, I'd had to watch a few minutes of each tutorial to find out whether they were showing the underwater peeling method, which I didn't want. Then I had to sit through what felt like hours of people showing and pointing at all sides of a pomegranate, all sides of the knife they were going to use, both sides of their cutting boards....

It's interesting to know that their grandmothers taught them this method. It's equally interesting to see their kitchens, their hairstyles, the funny way they keep moving their hands while they talk. But that's not the information I'm looking for.

One page, one drawing, that's all it needed. So here it is.

(For a further demonstration of the superior power of diagrams, compare just about any knitting video tutorial to any post on TECHknitting. There's just no contest.)

13 comments:

Helga Pearson said...

Hello Grumpy! *laugh. Have to agree with you on this one. A symbolic visual really is often worth a thousand words...or YouTube videos as the case may be. If you havent read it yet you should pick up Scott Mccloud's 'Understanding Comics'. He has a lot of great stuff to say on the topic.

Helena said...

Ha! I once was seraching YouTube to figure out how to put on a sari. Good times. Lots of "help." I finally thought I succeeded only to later realized I'd dressed myself in a mirror-image reverse and my pleats were on the wrong side.

Lori said...

Yes! The well drawn, concise diagram is way better than a long drawn out youtube tutorial!

And now I want a pomegranate (which I can't spell correctly on the first go, ever).

heleen said...

You are right, but not everyone can draw as well as you can. Plus, it also has to do with the 'art' of leaving out everything that is not necessary, which is not easy for many people.
Thanks for that link to TECHknitting!

cursivearts said...

We had a pomegranate tree in my yard as a kid, and we would just slice them in half and pull the seeds out with our fingers. Of course, we also weren't allowed back inside until we'd been hosed off.

Anairam said...

Great diagram! Now I just have to go find a pomegranate ...

Jan said...

Never knew this! Will be anxious for winter to come back to try it out. We usually juice ours. We roll it around vigorously on all sides, so you can kinda hear the seeds popping inside. Then we pierce it with a knife over a bowl, and the juice comes flowing out. So yummy either way!

K and A Alesandrini said...

Too often 'diagrams' are just illustrations to go with long rambling written instructions. But we LOVE good diagrams, especially when the diagram can speak for itself, without words. Yours is a nice example.

Billy said...

You're so right! But don't forget to mention that pomegranate juice STAINS clothes, that's quite a piece of important information.

And it tastes soooooo good with pear!

Happy pomegranate season to you.

Jenny said...

Agreed! Lovely illustration!

Anonymous said...

This is what I always do with my pomegranates http://howtofixstuff.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-eat-pomegranate.html

atsuko dy said...

hahaha So true! I found your site through Pinterest; enjoying going through all your tutorials.

Candle said...

This fruit is evil. I remember the first day when we met each other. It squirt on my eye and I almost died.