Wednesday, December 14, 2005

In which I reveal my freakishness

So, to prove to you that I'm truly a freak, I'm going to make a confession: I like bruised fruit.

"Sure, Torn, that's a bit odd, but certainly far from freakland," you may be thinking.

Well let me tell you why I like bruised fruit. In the market, I watch as people endlessly handle the fruits and vegetables in order to find "the best" one.

I don't know why people do this, we all know that color is often manipulated by the distributor, so it is not the conclusive indicator of flavor/freshness as in times past. And anyway, unless there's a worm hanging out of it, the whole batch tends to be similar.

But how I see it is that hundreds of people handle, inspect and then reject the bruised fruit in favor of the more visually appealing. (I think people must feel they are ENTITLED to the finest specimen for the money, but the whole entitlement thing is another post.)

How does this make the fruit feel? I mean its whole purpose is either to provide nutrition or make a new tree and all the bruised ones get is rejection, rejection, rejection.

Rejection feels shitty and I swear the bruised fruit tastes better because it appreciates the chance to fulfill its purpose.

Yes, I believe the fruit is grateful, and therefore tastes better.

See? I told you I'm a freak.

12 comments:

_Psycho said...

It's all in your heads ;)

jjd said...

freak!

must be canadian thing ;-)

Adam said...

This is the second blog post this week where there has been a wierd synchonicity with what is in my blog for today. Well its my podcast but same thing.

Two words: My Dad.

Snooze said...

I thought I was the only freak that felt sorry for bruised fruit. This post made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

The Wisdom of Wislon said...

Hello unique freak ;-)

I don't like bruised bananas i'm afraid, the blackness puts me right off!

Congratulations on your Canadian citizenship!!! liked the shirt too, very smart ;-)

St. Dickeybird said...

Don't forget that the other customers may have dirty hands.
By choosing the passed-over goodies, you also get free fruit-sauce, courtesy of their filthy fingers.
Mmmmmmmmmmm

Patricia said...

ok for those of us who read you daily, i gotta say. not much of a confession. we're already way ahead of you on the torn-is-a-freak confession.

next, preferring bruised fruit is just plain wrong. i'm the one you'll find digging under the cardboard to the (hopefully) fresher layer underneath.

of course, i've never actually tasted an appreciative piece of fruit so i'm willing to allow for the fact that i could be wrong.

dantallion said...

Huh boy. You and I are BOTH freakish about stuff like this. Let's just say I have some similar quirks.

epicurist said...

Um, ok. So let me get this straight. You feel sorry for the bruised fruits' "feelings", then you kill it, by chowing down on it?

Chunks said...

Well, now I've heard it all!! Co-dependence issues with bruised fruit! Heehee!

I think if fruit is soft enough to be bruised then it is probably just at the right level of "ripe"...I gotta say though, I pick over the fruit pile until I find just the "right" ones. Entitled never really entered my mind, my motivation is more about whether the kids will be inclined to eat it.

Heehee funny post!

The Raven said...

I could send you the banana that met it's demise in my backpack. I forgot about the poor thing and it spent a week on the bottom of the bag, having text books and laptops jammed on top of it. By the time I found it, it has liquified. I did truly feel bad about that.

S said...

I like the way you think!