Separating Fact from Pulp Fiction

Title Credits to Kate Kuisel

While mulling over which food to research next for our “polarizing foods” segment, we considered onions, olives, and pulpy orange juice. Immediately, senior Kate Kuisel interrupted with a adamant statement: “Don’t even get me started on pulpy orange juice.” We had found our new polarizing food! Before taking to the halls of magnet to discover an accurate, representative, consensus on whether orange juice should be served with pulp, let’s give you our opinions.

Caroline: Honestly, this is a polarizing food I’m actually not that passionate about. I like normal, pulpless orange juice more than pulpy juice, but if pulpy orange juice is the only option, I will drink it.

Savannah: PulpLESS, every time! Orange juice is delicious, and I don’t see any reason to ruin a wonderful, cold glass of OJ with slimy chunks of what’s meant to be eaten as a snack.

After interviewing many students, we came to the conclusion that pulpy orange juice is not nearly as polarizing as we thought – no one liked orange juice with pulp! Some attributed their dislike of pulp to its texture, which, according to Kaisen Grooves, is “disgusting.” Jack Katalano even said that “pulp is nasty,” which Lily agreed with, enforcing that “pulp is gross”. Izzy also corroborated this sentiment, reinforcing that “pulp is disgusting.”

However unpleasant the texture may be, Raptors also dislike pulp for other reasons. For example, Mrs. Desbrow feels that she “should not have to chew her juice”, and Anna Clifford and Marshall argue that pulp’s flaw lies in the fact that “it gets stuck in your teeth.” Nola’s annoyance with pulp is due to the fact that it “looks like grass”.

We had a lot of pulp-haters, the majority of whom had unsubstantiated reasoning.

And there are more students at this school that you might believe who say they don’t like OJ (What?!). For example, Junior Juliet Johnson says she doesn’t like orange juice “because it has a lot of sugar,” and Adriana Carter says “I don’t know, I just don’t like oranges or orange juice.” Jamison agrees.

But there are those unique and rare raptors out there who do enjoy pulp in their OJ. For example, Stuart Philp say he likes “some pulp. I don’t want to feel like wet, mowed grass is sliding down my throat. But with no pulp, I feel like I’m drinking a Capri Sun, and I hate Capri Sun.” And Steven Sloscher and Ricky say they like pulp “because it tastes more real” and “it’s sort of unique.” Mrs. Langley agrees saying “I’m good chewing pulp” and “it has more flavor.”

Also on the fence is Mr. Johnston, who likes “a little pulp, because it’s good for you.” He kept insisting that it is “part of the orange.”

The most passionate advocate for pulp was Mr. McCormick who emphatically told us with lots of hand motions, “Pulp all the way… you need the pulp because pulp is life. There are so many calories in the juice, it fills me up. I feel like I’m getting something better out of it. I need some fiber! I’ve got to poop!”

You’ve heard the general consensus from Raptors about whether or not OJ should have pulp, now vote to tell us what you think! And stay tuned for the next segment of polarizing foods.