During Christmas, I kept a basket of North Carolina apples on our dining table. They were beautiful to look at, and when I bit into one I felt a little like Eve.
We have intentionally limited our consumption of fruits and veggies over the last couple years to things grown locally, and apples don't do well here. Fortunately, in North Florida, we have a nice variety of fruits abundantly available throughout the year: citrus of all kinds, loquats, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, mulberries, muscadine grapes, melons, persimmons. . . and mangoes only a little south of here (I admit to extending the boundaries a bit for mangoes). It's not much of a sacrifice. But I miss apples.
Placing the basket on the table at Christmas and eating them sparingly throughout the season felt like an extravagance - like receiving an orange in the toe of one's stocking must have felt like to Northerners back in the day.
Michael Pollan, in his new book Food Rules, lists as the last one: "Break the rules once in a while." Holidays seem the right time to turn an apple (or an orange if you're in apple country) into a gift.
Very well said. I am trying to do this more. I have local persimmons from a friend's tree right now. That is a treat, and one that is quite seasonal!
Posted by: Suna | January 14, 2010 at 06:43 PM