What is your favourite fruit?

[Kojiro]

I am studying the effects of fruit in the body. Many authors on this topic consider that fruit is the most natural, most healthy and best food for human beings. I am not sure if they are right or not, probably they are. Anyway, I would like to know your opinion on what is the best fruit according to you. By best fruit I mean whether the one which you like the most or the one you think it best fits the body. And do you also think it is one of the best foods for human beings?

 

In my case I really enjoy oranges, which are one of the best fruits for sure!

Edited April 11, 2023 by Kojiro

[C T]

I live in Southeast Asia and there's a huge huge variety of fruits to be had. There are many different types of bananas, mangoes, citrus fruits, pineapples, melons, durians and even papayas. 

 

One can almost thrive solely as a fruitarian here. 

 

My favs are mangosteens, pineapples, watermelons, durians and soursop. 

 

Mangosteens and soursops, according to some sources, are classified as superfruits, supposedly packed with health-enhancing nutrients. 

 

As with anything, moderation is key. 

 

https://nomadparadise.com/asian-fruits/

Edited April 11, 2023 by C T

[zerostao]

 Forbidden 

[steve]

If I had to choose a single favorite - watermelon, partly due to how it reminds me of my grandfather. He used to sprinkle some salt on it which I still do. Sometimes he would cut an opening and fill it with vodka, let it soak in for a few hours.

 

 

[C T]

14 minutes ago, steve said:

If I had to choose a single favorite - watermelon, partly due to how it reminds me of my grandfather. He used to sprinkle some salt on it which I still do. Sometimes he would cut an opening and fill it with vodka, let it soak in for a few hours.

 

 

How amazing! Sounds weird to most, but a tiny pinch of sea salt on watermelon is surprisingly dulishus! No idea about vodka though, but imagine it must be tipsily satisfying 🤭😅 

 

Similarly, I'd add a pinch or two of salt on pineapple too. Also on some types of mango that are slightly sourish-sweet. 

 

 

[silent thunder]

My fave is whatever's in season

 

Each summer during the heatwave I become a dull fledged fruitarian for a few weeks.

[C T]

42 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

My fave is whatever's in season

 

Each summer during the heatwave I become a dull fledged fruitarian for a few weeks.

I think you're an f short

[C T]

Mangoes galore! 

 

[C T]

 

Most expensive fruit in these parts. Premium ones can cost up to USD 100+ a fruit. 

[Taomeow]

2 hours ago, steve said:

If I had to choose a single favorite - watermelon, partly due to how it reminds me of my grandfather. He used to sprinkle some salt on it which I still do. Sometimes he would cut an opening and fill it with vodka, let it soak in for a few hours.

 

 

 

Have you tried filling it with champagne and cognac?  That's how I was served drunken watermelon in Armenia, on more than one long gone but not forgotten occasion.  Sometimes they'd throw in ripe apricots and peaches, pitted and halved.  Heaven on earth.  

[Taomeow]

8 hours ago, Kojiro said:

I am studying the effects of fruit in the body. Many authors on this topic consider that fruit is the most natural, most healthy and best food for human beings. I am not sure if they are right or not, probably they are. Anyway, I would like to know your opinion on what is the best fruit according to you. By best fruit I mean whether the one which you like the most or the one you think it best fits the body. And do you also think it is one of the best foods for human beings?

 

In my case I really enjoy oranges, which are one of the best fruits for sure!

 

We most definitely didn't evolve on fruit.  Far as I know, except for the tropics, nowhere on earth were fruits edible until painstakingly and expertly cultivated.  I have encountered wild apples and pears, e.g., still growing in some forests in Europe.  The former are very small and bitter.  The latter are so hard that you can break a tooth before you find out what they taste like.  (Like cardboard.)  Most temperate climate fruits are fruits of civilization.  Don't know the story behind the tropical ones, except for dates -- those were also cultivated, thousands of years ago, and took a while to become edible.

 

In the 90s I used to know a whole community of "fruitarians" in LA.  The kookiest people ever.  Possibly because the human brain is comprised of 60% fat -- not obtainable from fruit -- and, importantly, the outer fat layer on the neuronal dendrites serves the same purpose as insulation on electric wire:  when it starts thinning out and disappearing (which it does on all fatless diets), the brain turns into a jumble of interferences.  

 

To quote Homer Simpson, "butter your bacon, boy!"  

 

Another problem with immoderate consumption of fruits -- modern commercial ones have been selectively bred for sweetness (to name just one problem, there's tons more), and have waaaay too much sugar.  In moderation, and the least sweet varieties you can find (e.g. the only apples I eat here in the US are Granny Smith) are fine.  Though "moderation" is a very individual parameter. 

 

As for my favorite fruits -- well, those are berries, real ones.  All of them.  Mostly the ones I haven't had in a very long time.  Sour cherries from Ukraine...  oh boy.  They only sound sour, in reality they are just intense, intense everything -- sourness, sweetness, juiciness, color, fragrance, esthetic appeal...  everything.  Second only to wild strawberries sometimes referred to as fragola (and sometimes mistaken for a cultivated variety, which is not even remotely the same.)  Berries are perhaps the exception to the cultivation rule -- many are fine quite naturally.  We probably supplemented our prehistoric diet with those, and some ancient  Native American recipes seem to reflect that, e.g. pemmican, originally made with bone marrow mixed with dried and powdered wild berries.   

[steve]

58 minutes ago, C T said:

Mangoes galore! 

 

 

Speaking of mangoes...

My family is teasingly referred to as "the pickle family" at a local Indian restaurant for my love of achar!.

[Kojiro]

29 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

 

We most definitely didn't evolve on fruit.  Far as I know, except for the tropics, nowhere on earth were fruits edible until painstakingly and expertly cultivated.  I have encountered wild apples and pears, e.g., still growing in some forests in Europe.  The former are very small and bitter.  The latter are so hard that you can break a tooth before you find out what they taste like.  (Like cardboard.)  Most temperate climate fruits are fruits of civilization.  Don't know the story behind the tropical ones, except for dates -- those were also cultivated, thousands of years ago, and took a while to become edible.

 

In the 90s I used to know a whole community of "fruitarians" in LA.  The kookiest people ever.  Possibly because the human brain is comprised of 60% fat -- not obtainable from fruit -- and, importantly, the outer fat layer on the neuronal dendrites serves the same purpose as insulation on electric wire:  when it starts thinning out and disappearing (which it does on all fatless diets), the brain turns into a jumble of interferences.  

 

To quote Homer Simpson, "butter your bacon, boy!"  

 

Another problem with immoderate consumption of fruits -- modern commercial ones have been selectively bred for sweetness (to name just one problem, there's tons more), and have waaaay too much sugar.  In moderation, and the least sweet varieties you can find (e.g. the only apples I eat here in the US are Granny Smith) are fine.  Though "moderation" is a very individual parameter. 

 

As for my favorite fruits -- well, those are berries, real ones.  All of them.  Mostly the ones I haven't had in a very long time.  Sour cherries from Ukraine...  oh boy.  They only sound sour, in reality they are just intense, intense everything -- sourness, sweetness, juiciness, color, fragrance, esthetic appeal...  everything.  Second only to wild strawberries sometimes referred to as fragola (and sometimes mistaken for a cultivated variety, which is not even remotely the same.)  Berries are perhaps the exception to the cultivation rule -- many are fine quite naturally.  We probably supplemented our prehistoric diet with those, and some ancient  Native American recipes seem to reflect that, e.g. pemmican, originally made with bone marrow mixed with dried and powdered wild berries.   

Interesting, it is good to read a different kind of opinion always, thanks for sharing. Some authors emphasize that fruits are the best food for healing and cleansing the body, that is why some highly toxemic individuals can't eat them. I like the theory that it is the original and natural food of human beings, but I admit it is very controversial and impossible to demonstrate.

 

One strong argument fruitarians always have is that the highest apes, which are the mammals most closely related to us, eat largely fruits. I think it is an argument to bear in mind, as our teeth and digestive organs resembles theirs

Edited April 11, 2023 by Kojiro

[silent thunder]

1 hour ago, C T said:

Mangoes galore! 

 

Paradise!

[Kojiro]

I see people like mangoes, indeed a delicious fruit! One of my favourites too, together with watermelons, sweet grapes, oranges, etc., etc., etc.,

[liminal_luke]

My pal Greg has a favorite saying: Seventy-five years from now nobody will care about the -- glazed donut, In-and-Out burger, date milkshake, etc -- you eat today.  I never fail to gain weight after a few day's stay at his double-wide mobile home. Perhaps the big daily bowls of corn flakes with banana are to blame? While individual tolerance varies, I believe that people with any degree of metabolic dysfunction (Luke bashfully raises his hand) are well-advised to be careful with fruit.

 

That said, if you're ever at a Mexican juice shop that offers mamay smoothies I wouldn't hesitate.  Seventy-five years from now...

 

  

[Taomeow]

16 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

My pal Greg has a favorite saying: Seventy-five years from now nobody will care about the -- glazed donut, In-and-Out burger, date milkshake, etc -- you eat today.  I never fail to gain weight after a few day's stay at his double-wide mobile home. Perhaps the big daily bowls of corn flakes with banana are to blame? While individual tolerance varies, I believe that people with any degree of metabolic dysfunction (Luke bashfully raises his hand) are well-advised to be careful with fruit.

 

That said, if you're ever at a Mexican juice shop that offers mamay smoothies I wouldn't hesitate.  Seventy-five years from now...

 

  

 

Mexican fruit salad from a street vendor!  Prepared, as you watch, with a humongous machete at high speed! 

 

I always bought it when I used to travel to Tijuana, and learned to make it at home (minus the jicama, could never get into that.)  Papaya+every fruit that's in season, the more the merrier+cucumbers+jicama ("no jicama por favor")+lime juice, cayenne pepper flakes, and salt.  The only way I eat papaya ever since.    

Edited April 11, 2023 by Taomeow

[Kojiro]

2 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

Mexican fruit salad from a street vendor!  Prepared, as you watch, with a humongous machete at high speed! 

 

I always bought it when I used to travel to Tijuana, and learned to make it at home (minus the jicama, could never get into that.)  Papaya+every fruit that's in season, the more the merrier+cucumbers+jicama ("no jicama por favor")+lime juice, cayenne pepper flakes, and salt.  The only way I eat papaya ever since.    

One strong argument fruitarians always have is that the highest apes, which are the mammals most closely related to us, eat largely fruits. I think it is an argument to bear in mind, as our teeth and digestive organs ressembles theirs. what are your thoughts on this argument?

[thelerner]

I hate to discriminate, the right fruit at the right time can be orgasmic.  Had some blackberries this morning, only 2 actually, both on a fruit plate.  Soo good.  Maybe its because there were only two.  When pineapple is at its sweet juicy best I'll eat till my mouth burns.  Perfectly ripe, slightly chilled honeydew, is something I'd marry or more likely have a short term fling with.

 

Not off topic, since its a fruit, avocado is something my body craves, deeply satisfying.  I second Taomeow's call out to Mexican street vendors.  Here in Chicago, particularly the south side, they serve up something special.  

 

 

[Taomeow]

20 minutes ago, Kojiro said:

One strong argument fruitarians always have is that the highest apes, which are the mammals most closely related to us, eat largely fruits. I think it is an argument to bear in mind, as our teeth and digestive organs ressembles theirs. what are your thoughts on this argument?

 

Humans and chimps share 98.8% of DNA.  And yet you wouldn't mistake one for the other.  The butterfly effect of the 1.2% difference between our species translates into massively different organisms.  So any conclusions about us humans having been designed to eat what chimps eat might be valid for any human who has the same amount of fur as a chimp, is not bipedal, has much larger and stronger jaws but a lighter and shorter body, and has a brain three times smaller.  (Incidentally, there's a rather well-argued theory that we owe the size of our brain that set us so far apart from our furry primate relatives to the consumption of animal fat by our ancestors.)  Not that I doubt that chimps are smart and, on some differently defined terms, might be smarter than we are.  Yet we are who we are and can't score any points with mother nature by adopting the dietary style of a different species, however closely related.  So I don't think trying to copy this one aspect of the overall chimphood would serve any aspect of our humanhood.   

[steve]

I found this article interesting -

https://nature.berkeley.edu/miltonlab/pdfs/backbasics.pdf

[Gerard]

18 hours ago, Kojiro said:

Many authors on this topic consider that fruit is the most natural, most healthy and best food for human beings. I am not sure if they are right or not, 

 

They are wrong. Try this experiment:

 

1. Cold winter in northern Scotland. They offer you two meals to eat:

 

A. Fruit salad

B. Warm stew made of chunks of beef with onions, carrots and turnips in a rich beef gravy.

 

2. Hot summer in Thailand. Two options:

 

A. Dragon fruit 

B. The stew mentioned above.

 

It's all about Yin & Yang and the four seasons. You eat according to them. 

 

I don't have one particular preference as I like several ones, including the one mentioned above. 

[Gerard]

9 hours ago, Kojiro said:

I see people like mangoes, indeed a delicious fruit!

 

 Not recommended fruit for certain animals notably Horse people as they are very warming. It's a summer fruit in Australia I don't dare to touch. 

[steve]

Reminds me of one of the best desserts I’ve ever tasted - Thai fruit salad with chili’s and fish sauce.

Amazing!

https://www.thaitastetherapy.com/en/healthy-food-2/spicy-fruit-salad/

[C T]

2 hours ago, Gerard said:

 

 Not recommended fruit for certain animals notably Horse people as they are very warming. It's a summer fruit in Australia I don't dare to touch. 

Not warming like the stew you mentioned, but according to tcm, mangoes, as with a number of other fruits like longans, lychees, rambutans (to name a few) promote damp heat, which then upsets gut flora.