Cardinal Decides Not to Eat Those Nuts

Spring. Cardinals. Nuts. Nothing odd there.

But when Sean Cardinal O'Malley was attending a meal with the local Nigerian immigrant community following their two-and-a-half-hour Mass, he was offered some nuts:

"Afterwards there was a meal with plenty of Nigerian food. At the beginning of the celebration they offered to me, as a sign of hospitality, a plate of some very fancy nuts, so I took one and said to Father Oscar, 'Am I supposed to eat it?' and he replied, 'If you eat it, you won’t sleep for two weeks.' So, after a little consideration, I gracefully declined the offer!"

I'll bet good money that those were cola nuts -- they have a pinkish meat and I'm not exaggerating to say that they are packed to the rafters with caffeine.

Cola nuts are found across the Sahel of West Africa, and are commonly offered to guests as hospitality. I've also heard them used metaphorically to describe the act of bribery.

You break off a little bit of the nut, and nibble -- slowly -- on the tiniest bit of it. What if you eat lots of them often? Your teeth will look like _________ (fill in the blank with your favorite, offensive redneck stained teeth joke).

This Cardinal appears to be getting some good advice from at least one of his flock: be careful when a Nigerian guy offers you some nuts.