on fruit

[anotheranon]

The fruit post, as semi-promised.

Why a post on fruit - I mean, why bother, we all eat it, right? Not necessarily - until the past couple of months I've not eaten much of it. Ever. In my life. So it is actually worth talking about when I do :P

It wasn't for lack of encouragement. Though my parents gave up when I was still a toddler, I got constant nagging to eat something fruity from friends and family for years. By college my friends had finally got me drinking orange juice (no pulp, please!) Around the same time or later, I was finally able to stomach my first raw fruit - bananas, because they had no seeds, fibers, pits, or peels. Peaches were ok with cottage cheese, but everything else had to be cooked (apple pie) or juiced (grape, apple).

A few weeks after getting bitten by the weight bug from Stumptuous and reading the nutrition info there, I found myself at hadesgirl's, with a plate full of ripe strawberries.....

And discovered, they aren't too bad(!)

So, in the past couple of months I've sampled strawberries (again! With dense, sticky chocolate sauce!), blueberries, pears (steamed with cinnamon), figs (like wet banana bread in a kid-leather pouch - in a good way)...and been surprised that, again, they aren't too bad. I'd even suggest that they were sometimes good!

I think a lot of my reluctance in the past hinged on the fact that I had various implements of orthodontic torture in my mouth for most of my childhood - I was spared full braces but had almost everything else from retainers to buttons on my teeth (don't ask). Whenever anything resembling a seed or pulp got underneath, it was rubbed by my appliances and was painful as hell! No wonder I hated the stuff!

So, I'm finally learning to eat fruit after all this time. My mom will be thrilled :P

But I still hate raw apples. Cardboardy texture and waxy peel, eww!

Comments

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Try organic apples (or cultivate a friendship with somebody who has an apple tree) ... there's a tremendous textural difference between what you find in a regular grocery store and the real thing (which won't be waxed ... I echo your "eww!"). Also, different varieties of apples have different textures ... your description sounds to me as if you tried Red or Golden Delicious, which is a very soft apple. Royal Gala, Fuji and Macintosh are much crisper. And if you can get your hands on a cooking apple (like Winesap, which is damned hard to find these days) ... those are crunch heaven! (the varieties defined as "cooking" apples tend to be hard, so that they won't turn to mush when baked in a pie or other dessert).