“Why’s it green? It looks like the devil.” – Tiny Tina, Borderlands 2/ Assault On Dragon Keep.

The above quote is found as part of a side quest in the fantasy themed DLC for Borderlands 2. Post-Crumpocalyptic is the name of the quest and requires that the player seeks out crumpets to eat. The character Tiny Tina tells of her love of crumpets, a love so strong that crumpets are the only thing she eats which prompts the other characters to offer her some salad.

I hated vegetables growing up. It’s probably fair to say I still do, lettuce being a big no for me. Lettuce seems to have a weird bitter, gassy taste like I’ve just walked into a place where someone did a particularly bad fart. The leafy green is one thing I’ve never been able to enjoy.

My lack of enjoyment of vegetables has been changed over time by my parents encouraging me to try things, I’m probably healthy enough with how often I have carrots, cauliflower or green beans. Tina in the game is thirteen years old and had to survive without parents to encourage a change of attitude so it’s understandable how she found a food that she liked and stuck to it. It’s also really good that her friends are there for her to help fill the gap, to offer new experiences.

There’s also the point that when we’re young we’re told not to eat food that’s gone green as that would be mould, which is bad bacteria. I imagine the parentless Tina would have learned that same survival idea before she lost her mother and stuck to it. T

The association with the devil is from old folklore where green is the colour of the devil, possibly because green is like nature, wild and untameable. We sometimes use black or red but green connects to these mythical monsters so lettuce or cucumber in a salad would be green and therefore look like the devil.

As a joke it gets a quick laugh in the game, but when we really think about it this quote is intelligent in a few ways.