The Death of Fruit

By drkevin

Mon, 26 May 2025
  • 276 reads
5 comments
 

It's hard to say when the murder occurred. It could have been a slow torture, or just a few brutal blows.

But somewhere between the 1970's and 2010, fruit has been killed stone dead. Bananas are lurid green, pears are painted stones, strawberries are giant tasteless bullets with white insides, and apples have become wet cardboard. I feel very sorry for anyone under thirty who may never have experienced the true taste of fruit. It is nothing less than a crime against vegetation.

Luckily for me, I can at least remember the halcyon days. Like the time when I worked at the local cricket ground selling cushions. The best job I've ever had, weeding out collectible coins, watching world class players and even getting a conversation with the school deputy headmaster (almost unrecognisable without his tie and cane). At the end of one hot day I went to the barrow selling fruit and bought a peach. It was so soft, ripe, tangy and succulent I could have glimpsed heaven. 

And I compare this to the polystyrene imposter foisted on people today. Spending a fortune on the completely unacceptable. Never knowing the difference.

So where has the decline come from?

There's a long list of possibilities. Genetic modification to multiply yields, liberal use of chemicals to eliminate pests and a move from local seasonal crops, to year round long haul crops, to name three.

As an example, bananas are probably green these days because massive bulk buying by big retailers means they have to be picked prematurely and stored for relatively long periods in chilled conditions. They would otherwise rot before the bulk purchase could be trickle retailed. However, because they're picked so soon, the plant cannot sustain the ripening process naturally, with the required exposure of sun, nutrients and water. They are effectively disabled. Just my opinion and theory....

We could, of course, revert to tinned fruit.

If it wasn't worse.

 

Certificate 12
Non-fiction
Nature
Opinion
Miscellaneous
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

Invest in fruit trees - maybe not bananas, but you could grow most of the others, even in a pot if it's big enough.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Agree completely with you. No wonder children prefer sweets! And who would choose foul things such as those you describe, just because they are meant to be healthy? All the joy has gone. I think it must be the best part, if you visit the countries fruit comes from, even tomatoes, to eat them ripe and warm from the sun. We have spent so much of our drive for progress on saving time and effort, while losing fundamental pleasures of having senses, being alive

 

Submitted by drkevin on

Thanks very much for your comments. Probably a similar argument could apply to vegetables, although more of these may be home grown. I remember trying to cook some swede once, and giving up after an hour of boiling it. The kitchen was dripping with condensation and the swede remained oblivious. A fossilised mangelworzel, it seems.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

swede does need cutting up quite small, which is really hard as it is REALLY HARD. Can't think how people used to make them into halloween lanterns before pumpkins were a thing! They must have seemed like progress for sure :0)

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Best! Of course with your climate you can't plant your own fruit trees, anyway who can wait? We want instant fruit. Now. But micro doesn't work so well either.

In my opinion, yes tinned is probably just as good- ripe at least. You forgot to mention irradiating.

Keep well! Tom