pumpkin

Men complain about way too much these days: Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, women who swipe left on Tinder, "Barbie" or other movies with female leads, pronouns in social media bios, pumpkin spice lattes, whatever Joe Rogan is telling them to be angry about.

I discovered this Oakland-made condiment at a Bay Area farmers market last fall, intrigued by the addition of pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds to what looked like a traditional Asian-style chili crisp base of oil and dry chiles.

It’s made with pumpkin seeds, coconut oil and lima beans, among other ingredients, but it tastes mind-bogglingly like the real thing.

“The proximity to Halloween as well as the shape and initial color of the tank’s primer drew inevitable comparisons to a pumpkin by Union Oil staff,” he said.

A 1997 article in The Times points to Paul Doyle, a refinery maintenance worker who thought it would be great to paint the tank to “look like an overgrown vegetable from a pumpkin patch.”