The Courgette
In which fresh produce is lost in translation.
1. int. grocery store. day.
JESS, a young Australian traveller, finds herself in a small English village. She walks through aisles of vegetables, until she finds a staff member.
JESS
Excuse me, where do you keep your zucchinis?
SANDY
The what?
JESS
Zucchinis.
SANDY
Is it a vegetable?
JESS
Yea.
(Puzzled) You’ve never heard of a “zucchini” before?
SANDY
No.
JESS
(Unsure) Well, it’s like…green like a cucumber. But not a cucumber. Sort of like a smaller, longer eggplant?
SANDY
What’s an “eggplant”?
JESS
(Squinting) The big, purple thing that’s kind of hollow?
SANDY
You mean an aubergine?
JESS
Yea OK, that. It’s like that, but green and small and longer and it’s got like, a flower-thing on top.
SANDY
(Blank faced) No, I don’t know what you mean. We don’t have those.
JESS
Are you telling me you’ve never heard of a zucchini?
SANDY
Yes.