Alicia Silverstone assured fans she’s “alive and well” after succumbing to one of life’s most irresistible, yet potentially dangerous, instincts: What’s that pretty-looking plant? Can I eat it? I ate it. Oops, is this poisonous?
On Instagram yesterday, Silverstone shared a video from England, where she plucked an orange-ish plant from someone’s yard and took a bite because it kinda looked like a tomato. (Which, for the record, Silverstone pronounced “to-mah-to” — unclear if it was just to do a fun voice, or that’s actually how she says it). As Silverstone then pointed out, it was definitely not a tomato.
Even she could tell the insides didn’t look like a tomato, nor did the leaves attached to the plant. As for the taste, well, Silverstone certainly picked up on something that led her to say, “I don’t think you should eat this.”
It turns out Silverstone was nearly on the right track when she said the plant tasted a bit like pepper. That’s because the plant was likely a pseudocapsicum, which means “fake pepper,” though the plant is more widely known as either “Jerusalem cherry” or “winter cherry.” And, yes, as many in the comments of Silverstone’s post pointed out — they’re a little bit poisonous.
Alexis Nelson, the popular TikToker who goes by Black Forager, offered a succinct breakdown of the plant. As Nelson explained, winter cherries are “mildly toxic,” but Silverstone was never in any real danger: “If she ate like seven of them, maybe she had a tummy ache. Maybe she got… the poops. But otherwise, homegirl’s fine.”
Nelson was also baffled by those who were incorrectly spouting off online that Silverstone had actually eaten a legitimately dangerous poisonous form of nightshade (she definitely did not). However, there was also plenty of bewilderment for Silverstone herself. When it comes to picking a random fruit you don’t recognize from someone’s garden and eating it, Nelson offered some very strict guidelines: “Don’t do that It’s giving… clueless.”
Michaela Coel in ‘The Christophers.’Claudette Barius/NEON