Eat more fruit with this one weird trick

Growing up, my brother and I often took a piece of fruit to school. A whole orange, apple, or banana. Often ever-so-slightly too large for my lunchbox, they'd float around my bag getting bruised.

It's an experience that I don't think ever endeared me to becoming a fruit-eater.

But in 2016 I visited Thailand where I ate more fruit than I think I ever had before. On almost every corner, I could find someone selling little bags of prepared fruit. Pineapple, melons, mango and more. Prepared before my very eyes. Fresh, and ready to just throw down as I explored.

That small change made all the difference in the world.

Fruiting plants

Here at The Outpost we're now growing our own apples, mandarins, berries, bananas, feijoas, and grapes pretty reliably. But harvest time had started to feel like more of a burden than something to look forward to.

I froze it, I cooked with it, I dried it. A harvest meant work.

But eating it fresh almost seemed like a step too far. I wish I had a good reason for that, but I don't. You would think after all the trouble to plant and grow them that I'd be stuffing my face.

Unfortunately some weird mental barrier kept holding me back.

Then I thought back to Thailand.

A kitchen ritual

I don't mind eating apple skin, but I don't like biting into whole apples. I'm not saying that makes sense, but I am acknowledging it's true.

So I began standing at the kitchen for about 60 seconds, taking the time to remove the apple core, and then slice it thinly, because that's what I like.

I'd peel my mandarin or banana before I sat down to eat it, meaning I didn't have to get up and put the rubbish away later.

And for such a tiny silly thing, it's had an out-sized effect on my fruit consumption. It turns out there's a certain mindful peace that comes from preparing a piece of fruit. I pretty much ate our entire harvest of apples fresh this year, for the first time.

Maybe it's just me

My brother has always consumed a lot of fruit, but it's featured less in my diet. The 12 years of squishy bag-fruit left an impression I suppose.

I'm looking forward to the day we finally succeed in growing a pineapple. I learned some neat tricks watching those talented fruit-sellers in Thailand that I'm itching to use.

But now I find myself looking forward to fruit harvests too. Nothing I've found on the market compares to our heritage apple varieties, which absolutely burst with flavour.

And I just wondered, what if it's not just me? I know preparing fruit isn't an option for everyone. Disability, chronic illness, and arthritis are real barriers. "Cut up your food and get rid of the yukky bits before you eat it" seems like such generic advice too.

But I also think, culturally, New Zealanders are not used to preparing our fruit. We get handled a whole piece, and we learn to eat it without tools. Or at least I was.

And in other cultures, that's not how they do it. Prepared fruit is just available. Basically everywhere.

So maybe it's not so silly afterall. And if you want to eat more fruit, maybe you should give this weird trick a try too.