I don't read a lot of non-fiction (as Kevin will tell you, as he is mostly patiently waiting for me to finish Pale Blue Dot, which he loaned me a month ago and I informed him the other day that I am on page 30), but I received an ARC of this book from the publisher and started to flip through the first few pages. It turned into a fascinating read!

This book makes me want to travel to far-away places just to eat exotic fruits. And it make me incredibly annoyed at the paltry selection that we have here in the United States. Why don't we have the ice cream bean fruit? Why are we denied the miracle fruit*, which makes sour things taste amazingly sweet? It turns out fruit is tied to all sorts of political nonsense, but that doesn't keep people from constantly trying to bring better fruit to the Western World.

According to author Adam Leith Gollner, we Westerners may be introduced to a new banana relatively soon, as our own hardy Cavendish banana is facing extinction from a mutant strain of a fungus known as Panama Disease Race 4. The original Panama Disease did away with "top banana" Gros Michael in the 1960s, introducing us to the Cavendish. And now we're facing the same problem again. Not that I want the Cavendish to disappear, but who knew there are over 1,000 types of bananas out there; to name a few:

- blood banana
- sugared-fig banana
- pregnant banana
- ice cream banana (which tastes just like it sounds)
- popoulou banana (bright pink inside and tastes like an apple)
- haa haa banana (bright orange inside)
- Burmese Blue banana (guess what color?)

You can see several of these varieties on this page, along with many other I didn't list.

This book also allows you to terrify your friends with disturbing facts about pesticides and fruit. The number pesticides on your average apple is just disturbing. Or the dying of oranges to make them orange, which is banned in England, Australia, and Norway, but not in the good 'ol US of A! This practice causes Cancer in lab rats and mice, but I'm sure it's not harming you. Don't even get me started on exactly how a Wenatchee, WA based company is making Grapples. Let's just say when Frinklin tried to talk me into trying one at the local grocery store I'm really glad I said no. Something always felt wrong about those things and now I know why.

One of the most important things Gollner noted is that your average grocery store does not want people to be aware of the variety of fruits available. If so, everyone would be asking for these amazing fruits. "Every five requests are seen as representing the desires of a hundred customers. Demand for quality fruits can help reverse the trend of fruit homogenization." The key is that consumers must be aware of the fruit varieties. As the author notes,

"Fruits are often sold without being identified by variety; they're just straberries, not Monarchs, Seascapes, or Albons. The strawberries we buy in North America and Europe -- firm, red, cold resistant varieties like Camarosa, Elsanta, Diamante, Ventana-- are as reliable as they are flavorless. Little do we realize that there were 1,362 varieties of strawberry described in the 1926 compendium The Small Fruits of New York.

There has been a conscious decision by the produce industry to wean shoppers away from varieties. If consumers start learning about all the varieties of fruits, that means they'll start demanding quality."

So get out there and start demanding ice cream bananas!

For anyone who is a fan of Salt: A World History or Spice: The History of Temptation, this is a natural fit. Or if you're just looking to for a great read about an incredibly interesting topic, this fit that bill as well.

The Fruit Hunters is due out in May 2008 in hardcover from Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster. ISBN is 9780743296946. Cover art shown is the Canadian Edition, I don't have the final cover art of the US Edition.

*Miracle fruit can be ordered from this web site. Some friends and I are planning a miracle fruit party at some point in the future!

Posted by: Ensie at 01:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 725 words, total size 5 kb.