A reader writes:
The post on how fruits perceive each other ripening explains a long-puzzling Latin proverb" “uva uvam videndo varia fit," i.e. "A grape becomes different by seeing another grape."
This proverb is found in the ancient commentaries to Juvenal’s Satire 2.81, which itself says that a grape picks up its color from another grape. It seems to be an ancient agricultural belief common to the Romans, Greeks, and Persians.
It is nice to see that modern science is confirming traditional practices.
The Dish 