apples, bananas and oranges = poor people fruits

bananas were everywhere, all over the kitchen countertops, in baskets, on window sills. apples were there too, as were oranges and once in awhile green grapes. in the summer we would eat plums and watermelon and peaches, honeydew and cantaloupe less frequently, but i knew what they were, i could accurately describe to you their taste and texture. mangos, as well as papayas and avocados, were exotic and foreign sounding terms that meant absolutely nothing to me. in high school i thought the word avocado was interchangeable with the word artichoke. as far as i knew, either term could be used to describe the same vegetable.

the first person to introduce me to the avocado was a rich hippy from out west. i was 19 years old and we were attending summer classes in vermont. during a break we walked the mile or so into town to get lunch from the local co-op. he bought us bag of organic blue tortilla chips and an avocado. the avocado was perfectly ripe and its skin slid clean off. i couldn’t believe it was so green! and he couldn’t believe that at the age of 19 i had never seen or eaten an avocado.

one summer later, the mango was introduced to me by a group of elitist rich kids from the bay area. they were ironic and immature and couldn’t stop complaining about the poor quality of new york city produce. understandably, nothing could compare to the fruit bore of the family orchard. one day, walking through chinatown, we stumbled upon a display of fruit that all the rich kids agreed was good and fresh. i bought myself a mango, learned how to eat it by watching the others, and never let on that this was my first experience with the fruit.

the papaya i discovered all on my own just a few months ago. now that i have successfully assimilated into the new york city culture of tropical, subtropical and asian fruits, i can peruse the aisles of the Whole Foods Market with ease. i’ve now been to australia and europe and hong kong and the caribbean, gaining knowledge and confidence and an artillery against the wealthy. i’ve been a vegetarian, a vegan, a raw-foodist, and a follower of macrobiotics.
these yuppie food experiments have made it much easier for me to blend in with the wealthy, and i now know the names of just as many fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs, and roots as they do.