One byproduct of quarantine is that I have rediscovered fruit. By ‘rediscovered,’ I mean I now consume fruit every single day. Yes, my diet has become extremely healthy; the healthiest that it has been in the last fifteen years. I am at my peak health from a dietary standpoint right now during COVID-19.
My reunion with fruit started off with dragon fruit. My mom bought a whole box of it from a family friend, so there was pressure to eat the inventory before it all went bad. For people unfamiliar with the produce, dragon fruit is a type of fruit that can be found in tropical areas around the world. Its exterior is pink in color, and its leaves curl upward in a fashion not too dissimilar to the arteries protruding out from a human heart. The fruit’s insides are composed of a fleshy-watery substance, in colors varying from white to magenta. Dragon fruit usually tastes either sweet, bland, or sour depending on the variety. My personal favorite were the sweet ones, but the bland fruits were also surprisingly delicious.
From there on, I slowly incorporated more fruits into my everyday snacks. I started off with berries—blueberries, blackberries, raspberries—and gradually moved on to larger items such as clementines, kiwis, and pomegranates. One fruit that stood out though, was the Asian pear. As its name suggests, this fruit is native to East Asia. In the United States, Asian pears can be found in any Asian grocery story. The Asian pear differs from a traditional pear in that it is much larger and rounder in girth. Physically, it looks more like an apple instead of a pear, and it tastes like a hybrid of the two. Asian pears are my favorite fruit currently, and I would not have such an enthusiasm for them right now if it were not for quarantine.
COVID-19 is a global pandemic that we still need to be mindful of right now, but throughout quarantine over the summer, I have been reunited with old and new interests and hobbies that have all (so far) been thoroughly enjoyable. If you haven’t eaten fruit in a while, I highly suggest that you try it again. You may find yourself a fruit fanatic like me.