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Two people claim to know everything about something, but only one knows anything.
President Roosevelt wore an anti-gravity belt.
Dinosaurs had two brains.
Lucky kids live on Mars and go to school in flying cars.
Or at least they will one day.
Believe me, I'm a historian.
An astronaut or driver, DeLorean.
Would I lie?
It's hard to say.
The Big Fib!
Can you spot the light?
The Big Fib!
Some pigs can fly.
The Big Fib!
But if you ask me why, can you trust the answer?
Ah, The Big Fib!
Brown Coconut Creek, Florida.
This?
Well, this is The Big Fib.
And now, here's your host, Debra Goldstein.
Welcome to The Big Fib, the game show where kids choose between the nutrient-rich monocotylatedness and coprasetic truth.
And the allergenic, impenetrable shell game of lies.
I'm your host, Debra Goldstein, and in the studio today is our sound effects robot Lisa, whose name is an acronym that stands for Live In Studio Audience.
Wow, that was a big sigh.
What's that all about, Lisa?
Just feeling wistful.
Oh, are you thinking about anything in particular that's causing you to feel wistful, or maybe a bit sad or melancholy?
I guess it's because I know that as soon as we start playing the game, we're only minutes away from the end of the game, and I really don't like endings.
Oh, I understand, but I wouldn't want you to think about the future so much that it prevents you from enjoying the present.
So you're basically saying I should live in the now?
Yeah, that's right.
And know that, while this game will come to a conclusion, there will always be more Big Fib episodes to play.
Huh.
So we'll keep recording Big Fib episodes for the rest of eternity?
Oh, well, eternity is a long time, but I promise to let you know well in advance if plans change.
But for now, let's live in the now, enjoy today, and make a great show.
Okay?
Okay, Debra.
Hey, you know what would help make this show a really great one?
What?
If I answer a listener question and I've got one ready to go.
Hi, my name is Flynn.
Lisa, if you could buy anything in the world, what would it be?
Anything in the world.
Let's see.
So I guess that doesn't include space trash.
I'd love to add to my trash collection with obsolete satellites and rocket parts, but space trash is out of this world.
Literally.
So let's see.
I guess, in this world, in this world, I would invest in a fleet of horse-drawn carriages and horses, of course.
Horse-drawn carriages, you mean instead of cars?
Yep.
You heard it from me first, Debra.
Sure, electric cars are all the rage now, but what happens when there's a power failure?
Humans are going to need transportation they can always rely on.
I'm telling you, horse-drawn carriages are the future.
And I'm going to be galloping all the way to the bank, baby.
Okay, well, you may be putting the cart before the horse.
You should put a little bit of your hard-earned cash in the bank, just in case the horse-drawn carriage thing doesn't work out.
Don't you worry.
I put a little bit aside to invest in payphones.
Okay, well, we might want to make an appointment to speak with a financial advisor after the show.
And speaking of the show, please let our listeners know how our show works.
Totes.
Every week, we bring on two grown-ups.
One is an expert.
The other is a liar.
And it's the job of a human child to help us figure out who is who.
Because no one can spot a liar better than a kid, at least we hope.
What are we lying about today, Debra?
We are lying about coconuts, the edible fruit of the coconut palm tree.
And we're going to learn all about coconuts along with our contestant today.
Who might that be, Lisa?
Our human child contestant is a 10-year-old who loves doing origami, Lars Young.
Hi, Lars.
How are you?
Good.
You like to do origami.
And so what is that?
You fold paper.
Is that right?
Yeah.
And you make what out of it?
Tell me.
You can make a lot of stuff out of origami.
This morning I made like this eagle.
And it's also kind of like a paper airplane.
Wow.
So it can fly whether it's an airplane or an eagle, right?
Yes.
That's cool.
So did you teach yourself how to do that or did somebody teach you?
I did an online class.
Nice.
I like it.
Definitely want to learn some more facts about you, Lars.
But we're going to do it Big Fib style, playing our game Two Truths and a Lie.
So Lars is going to tell us two truths and one lie, but we will not know which is which.
And if Lars is a good fibber, maybe he'll be able to see right through our fibber today.
So Lars, in no particular order, tell us your two truths and one lie.
I've gone rock climbing in central Oregon.
I swam with dolphins in Hawaii.
I washed and fed an elephant in Thailand.
Wow, I love all these travel experiences.
I wish they were all true.
What do you think, Lisa?
Yeah, I mean, the Hawaii one's obviously a lie.
I swam with dolphins in Hawaii.
Hawaii is an island, which means that you can't swim on land.
You have to be in the water.
He's saying he swam with dolphins in Hawaii on the land.
You come in with that, Lars?
You think I'm going to believe that you swam on land with dolphins?
Maybe you walked around with dolphins on the land, but you didn't swim with them.
Oh, no, sir.
Nice try, buddy.
Okay, that's your fib, even though he probably meant that while he was in Hawaii, he went into the water and swam with dolphins.
But no, you're going to stick with that one.
Hadn't thought about that way.
Do you want to change your mind?
Unless I'm wrong, and then I want to change.
And then you'll take it back.
Sure.
Lars, which of those things is actually a fib?
Lisa's right.
I told you.
How does that happen?
It happens because dolphins don't swim on land.
That is not why.
They're water dolphins.
No, that is not why.
Is it because you were never in Hawaii or you just never swam with dolphins when you were there?
I went to Hawaii, but I didn't swim with dolphins.
There you go.
Okay.
But that does mean that you've gone rock climbing in Oregon, which is super cool, and you washed and fed an elephant in Thailand.
Tell me about that.
Was that a scary thing to do or fun?
Fun.
It was fun?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Did the elephant enjoy being washed?
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
We asked for feedback afterwards and the elephant said yes.
Yes, a survey.
Yeah, the elephant survey.
Very cool.
I love it.
I love all these adventures you're taking.
I hope there are many more in your future.
So do you have any strategies in mind or anything you're listening for in particular that will help you identify our fibber today?
No, but I did research.
Oh, good.
So you might be thinking about some facts, actual facts.
I like it.
Okay, so that means you probably know a thing or two about coconuts, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, well, I don't know very much, but I'm looking forward to learning a lot.
So we'll need to do that by bringing in our experts.
So, Lisa, can you please give us some welcome music for our coconut experts?
Well, some call them coconuts.
But they're not made of cocoa.
Some call them coconuts.
They're not made of nuts.
Why do we call them coconuts?
It seems like we're lying to ourselves.
Maybe we're just trying to trick each other.
That's not cool.
Come on in.
Nice.
One of my faves for sure.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
Well, our first expert is Bon Diaz.
Bon, please introduce yourself to Lars.
Hi, Lars.
I'm Bon Diaz, and I am a journalist and coconut expert from Puerto Rico.
Thank you very much.
Let's meet our second expert, Caleb Wogan.
Caleb, please introduce yourself to Lars.
Hi, Lars.
My name is Caleb Wogan.
I'm a survival coach who lives in Wailuku Hawaii, where you went to visit, even though you didn't swim with the dolphins.
I use nearby wilderness preserves to lead survival expeditions and I teach people how to use the coconut plant in its entirety for all of our survival.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Tell us about those tropical tunes, Lisa.
I'm taking us to the tropics of hot seat time.
That's right.
It is hot seat time.
And that's when we put our experts on the hot seat while they answer Lars's questions.
Lisa, whom should we put on the hot seat first?
Caleb Wagon, because I'm investing in horse-drawn wagons.
I don't know what that is.
Oh, no.
Terrible.
Okay, Lars, what is your first question for Caleb?
What is the funniest or weirdest thing that happened at your job?
Oh.
I think the weirdest thing that's ever happened because it doesn't happen often is we were once confronted by wild hogs while we were on a wilderness expedition.
It was a little scary, but we were able to back away from them.
We actually made noise while doing so to kind of keep them confused.
And you guessed it, we're using coconuts as our primary survival tool.
I banged the coconuts together to kind of make noise and scare the hogs, while we backed away to safety.
Wow, that is scary.
Yvonne, same question to you.
What is the funniest or weirdest thing that happened to you at your job?
The funniest I think weirdest thing that happened to me at my job that has nothing to do with coconuts is that I was reporting in Oaxaca, Mexico.
And it was the first time that I have ever seen barrels of fried crickets available for sale.
And I saw many barrels of many different kinds of crickets.
Some of them were spicy with chili.
Some of them were just roasted and nutty and salty.
And the goal was for you to purchase some of those crickets and then eat them.
Interesting, I think.
Vaughn, this question is for you.
If I were doing your job, what tips would you give me so I would be successful?
So to do my job, you need to like to eat everything.
Even if it's wiggly or squishy, even if it comes from deep inside of a creature, even if it smells really funny or has a spiky exterior like a dinosaur shell, you still need to be willing to eat that and you need to kind of like it, even if it tastes gross.
Whoa.
I'll do it.
I figured you would be game for that.
That sounds great.
That's a dream job.
You're hired.
What about you, Lars?
Does that sound like a good job for you?
A little bit.
Really?
You wouldn't want to be a dinosaur eater?
I don't think that's a job you can have.
She said she eats dinosaurs, didn't she?
You have to be willing to eat all sorts of things.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right, Lars, back to you.
Caleb, how do you use science in your job?
How do I use science in my job?
Well, I'm not like in a lab doing science, but there's a lot of science involved while we're out in the wilderness.
I need to be able to read the clouds and know what the weather is going to look like.
If I'm weaving something you know out of, like coconut leaves or whatever like, let's say, a basket or a hat, then I need to make sure that I leave it out in the sun for the right amount of time before I put that together.
There's a lot of mathematics involved in that.
Biology, you know, the knowledge of the human body.
I'm not a doctor, but I do need to know basic CPR and first aid for the people who come to my courses.
Very sure.
For both of you, what is something people get wrong about coconuts?
Who would like to take that one first?
They think they're comfortable pillows.
I don't think that's ever happened.
I think that what people get wrong about coconuts is that they think that they are nuts.
But they are not nuts.
They are drupes.
And drupes are a category of fruit that you actually recognize really well.
Things like peaches and cherries, what some of us call stone fruits.
And so that's the biggest thing that people get wrong.
They think it's a nut and it's not a nut.
But it isn't.
You've heard it here.
If you didn't know before, you know it now.
Yep, absolutely.
Just like Von said, a lot of people think it's a nut and it's actually a drupe, a type of fruit.
But in my experience I've seen a lot of people think that the coconuts are like just limited to one use and that they can't be used for a lot of things.
I've found in my experience in surviving out in the wilderness using coconuts and the entire tree, if need be, that they contain every nutrient and vitamin the human body needs to function on.
I've been able to survive off coconuts and coconut-related products for an entire month, actually.
So it's very versatile.
I don't think enough people know that.
And then if you heat them up over a campfire, you would have to droop them like they're hot.
Droop them like it's hot, hot, hot, hot.
It's a popular song there, bro.
Time for a reboot, I think.
Okay.
Vaughn, if there were no more coconuts in the world, how would that impact the world?
Ooh, heavy question.
Gosh, that is a heavy question.
I think it would impact the world dramatically because actually, as Caleb said, coconuts can be used for so many different purposes.
The meat of the coconut right.
The delicious, beautiful white part can be turned into shredded coconut.
It can be turned into coconut milk.
It can be turned into coconut oil.
The outside husk of the coconut can actually, when you dry it, it can be burned and used to keep away mosquitoes.
Coconut water is a incredibly nourishing and hydrating element.
And that's just a handful of things that you can do with a coconut.
So if there were suddenly no more coconuts, it would disrupt global trade at a very, very high level, because we would have no more coconut milk available.
No more grated coconut, no coconut flour, no mosquito repellent, no coconut oil and no coconut water.
And all of those things are actually really important in this world.
They're highly used by basically every culture on Earth.
So it'd be a big deal.
Wow.
Who knew?
That is important stuff.
Thank you very much.
Well, those were excellent questions, Lars.
Very good.
Thank you.
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It's time for the shorts on fire round when our experts have to answer as many questions as they can before time runs out.
Lisa will set a timer for the first expert, and then Lars will ask questions until Lisa's timer sounds.
Then Lisa resets the timer for our next expert to do the same.
Experts, don't be coy or you'll waste time.
Lars.
Let's start with Vaughn.
You can ask your shorts on fire questions now.
Where were coconuts first grown?
What we now know as Indonesia.
What color are coconuts when they are young?
They are green.
What invasive bug eats the sap of the coconut palm tree and can kill trees?
The coconut rhinoceros beetle.
How long can a coconut palm tree live?
At least 100 years.
Pass.
Fact or fib?
Coconut milk is not really milk.
Fact.
Pass.
The shell.
The coconut palm tree sprouts from which part of the coconut?
Pass.
And that is time.
That's all the time, but don't worry, you get more time.
Well, Bon doesn't get more time.
Now we need more time for Caleb, okay?
Now we have time for Caleb.
Okay, great.
All right, Lars, you can ask Caleb your shorts on fire questions now.
How many acres of coconuts are planted in the United States every year?
I'd say 20 to 30 million, I think.
What is the name of the largest and the heaviest coconut found on the island of Seychelles?
Think Coco Fese.
Which country eats the highest number of coconuts every year?
Last I heard, Indonesia.
How many coconuts can a coconut palm tree grow every year?
Some can do 30 to 70 and others can do all the way up to 100.
Which kind of chocolate cake is made with a layer of coconut pecan frosting?
What can you do with a coconut to repel mosquitoes?
Burn the husks and keep mosquitoes away.
Throwing at them.
No.
Fact or fib?
Coconuts can float.
Fact.
According to the song Coconut.
What does the doctor say you should put in the coconut to feel better.
You put the lime in the coconut and mix it all up.
It's lime, lime.
And that is time.
It's lime?
I thought it was lion.
I thought you put a lion in the coconut.
I don't think so.
I don't think that would be a good mix.
Very good.
Okay.
That was excellent.
Good job asking those questions, Lars.
There were some hard words there.
So you did a great job.
Let's see how well our experts actually did answering them.
Okay, it is decision time.
No palm reading required, Lars.
Who is our big coconut fibber?
I think it's Caleb.
Why do you think Caleb is our fibber?
I'm gonna guess.
Okay, it's a guess?
Yeah.
Okay, it's a guess.
50-50, right?
Okay, fair enough.
Will our actual coconut expert please say, I am the coconut expert.
I am the coconut expert.
That is correct.
You did it, Lars.
Good job.
Von Diaz is an Emmy Award-winning documentarian, radio producer, food historian and author of two books, Coconuts and Collards and Islas.
A Celebration of Tropical Cooking.
And you can follow her work on Instagram at Cocina Criolla or her website at www.vondiaz.com.
Yum.
I can't wait to dive in.
Sounds really good.
But I think we need to do some fact-checking here.
Bon, help us out here.
What were some of the fibrous things that Caleb said?
So the first fib that I heard was Caleb you saying that the coconut can provide everything that a person needs in terms of nutrition.
Now, it can provide for much of what a human being needs.
Certainly fats, electrolytes, various other nutrients, but not everything.
So that was the first fib.
Okay.
Anything else that stood out?
Your fact that there were 20 to 30 million acres of coconuts planted in the US.
I am fairly confident that the United States does not put that much investment into coconuts yet.
Although I would argue that they should.
But what if?
Right?
You have to have a dream.
You got to visualize it, right?
We're willing it into the future.
Right.
So it's more like 10 to 14 million acres.
Very good.
Anything else that stood out before I give Caleb a chance?
I was sad, Caleb, that you did not know the answer and passed on the coconut frosting.
That is German chocolate cake, and it is well-known and delicious.
Ah.
Yum.
I love German chocolate cake.
Lars, I think you would love it.
It's delicious.
And it's not named because it comes from Germany, right?
Is that true?
That's correct.
It's named after the baker Samuel German, not the country, just the man.
All right, well, let's give Caleb a crack at this, if you don't mind.
Caleb, was there a kernel of truth in anything you told us?
I was going to say that the coconut is a droop, but I had a feeling that if I gave it to Vaughn first, she would say that, and she definitely did.
In some climates, not all coconut tree yields are equal.
So some do only produce 30 to 70 per year, while others do produce 90 to 100.
I did see that.
Interesting.
Very good.
The name of the largest and heaviest coconut found on the islands of Seychelles, is is actually called double coconuts, or sometimes Coco de Mer.
And just for fun, let's just review a couple of things.
So the name of the football-shaped coconut with a thick husk is known as king coconut.
Beautiful.
I learned something.
Good.
Look, just because you're an expert, which you are, that doesn't mean you know everything, about everything.
This is called being human.
We all keep learning.
Exactly.
The name of the coconut pirates in the movie Moana.
Caleb, you said you knew this?
Yeah, but now I'm on the spot.
I think it was either kookamora or kakamora.
It's Kakamora.
Very good.
Another name for the brown outer husk, it is the shell.
It's also known as the coir, C-O-I-R, coir.
And the coconut palm tree sprouts from one of the three holes in the coconut known as the germination pores.
Oh.
Amazing.
Yeah, I know.
Just one.
And the other two, it doesn't.
Very interesting.
So much to know about coconuts.
And we're learning it all here today.
Thanks, Devon.
Okay, very good.
So, like from dawn till husk, the sun is now setting on our game.
Thanks to Lars, who did his best to take the lie out of coconuts.
And thank you to our expert and liar, Von and Caleb.
And thanks to Lisa for all the nutty notes.
And, of course, many thanks to our listeners tuning into The Big Fib, where we celebrate the truth as we shake down Drew-plicitous lies.
The Big Fib is a production of Gen Z Media.
For more great shows, visit gcmshows.com.
While you're there, you can find out how you can become a contestant on the Big Fib or send questions for me to answer on the show.
And follow us on social media at the Big Fib Podcast for behind-the-scenes photos and more true facts.
And now I'm going to... Now I'm going to try and fit this lion into this coconut.
No lions and coconuts, no.
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