I love figs, but I think it isn’t weird, because it is completely beside the point of the story. Which was that the prisoner lived by example despite even the looming spectacle of certain death. Not “figs are bad for you”, more like “I am sticking to my diet, because it is how I live”.
Mind you, I am not very good at telling stories. I heard it years ago, and tried finding it via search engine in hopes of finding a better telling of it.
