Tropical Fruits

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Tropical Fruits
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The Pineapple

• The Indian, Guaraní name for pineapple is
  nana, which signifies perfumed. The French
  word for pineapple, ananas, derives from
  this. The Spanish called pineapples piñas
  because they looked like pinecones.
• José de Acosta (1590) Pineapples have an
  excellent smell and are very pleasant and
  delightful in taste.

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• Thomas Gage (1648) But I cannot forget that
  which they call piña, or pineapple not the
  pineapple of the high pine tree, but a pineapple
  that groweth upon a lower shrub with prickly
  leaves, and is bigger than our biggest musk
  melons in England, when it is ripe it is yellow
  without and within. Without, it is full of little
  bunches, and within, so juicy and cool that
  nothing is more dangerous than to eat much of it.
  Before they eat it, they cut it in round slices,
  and lay it a while in salt and water, and so
  being scoured half an hour in that salt and water
  which taketh much of the rawness and coldness
  from it, they then put it into dishes with more
  fresh water, and eat it thus. But the better way
  of eating it is preserved, which is absolutely
  the best preserve in all that country.

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• Ilarione da Bergamo This fruit is
  inappropriately called piña by the Americans
  because of its shape resembling an Italian
  pinecone, but its real name is ananas and it is
  the fruit that the plant delineated on page 59
  of the MS produces. It is very singular fruit
  in America, too though there it is found in
  abundance - because of its exquisite sweet
  flavour with a tinge of sourness and because of
  its very delicate aroma. I liked them a lot and
  ate quite a few of them during the time of my
  stay in these lands. They thrive in warm
  climates, but the ripe fruits are taken
  everywhere to sell. The skin is cut the same way
  as a watermelon. Then it is divided into slices,
  with a little pulverised sugar on top. And when
  it is eaten, it fills the mouth and the chin with
  a very delicate juice. From this fruit American
  women make a preserve that is quite unique.

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• Portuguese naturalise pineapples in India,
  Madagascar, Java and Indonesia.
• Pineapples cannot be transported fresh to Europe
  because they go off during the long voyage.
• Dutch grow pineapples in hothouses from 17th
  century. French and British follow.

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Charles II receives a pineapple from his gardener
John Rose (1670)
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Pineapple teapot (1760)
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Earl of Dundonalds folly (1777)
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Avocados

• Native to Central America. Esteemed by the Mayas
  and the Aztecs. Nahuatl name is awaguatl, which
  the Spanish transcribe as avocado.
• The Spanish eat avocados in guacamole, as a
  sauce, and the also sometimes served them as a
  dessert, in conjunction with sugar. The French
  transport avocados from America to their colonies
  in the Indian Ocean like Mauritius.
• Mexicans are still the main consumers of
  avocados, eating an estimated 15 kilos per head
  of avocados each year.

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Bananas

• Originate from the Old World rather than the New
  World, but soon domesticated in the New World
• Spanish call the banana plátano, owing to its
  supposed resemblance to the European plane tree.
• Banana plants grow from rhizomes, not seeds.
• Only eaten in large quantities in Europe from
  1920s.

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Reception

• Tropical fruits symbolise America.
• Travellers mention them often in accounts.
• Represent sweetness, sensuality and luxury.

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• On arrival in Trinidad in 1833 Captain J. E.
  Alexander reported that he saw the treasures, in
  the shape of vegetables and fruits, which are
  here bestowed in luxurious abundance by a
  bountiful nature . . .The eye delighted to wander
  over the heaps of pomegranates, guavas,
  shaddocks, oranges, limes, custard-apples,
  mangoes, pines, and grenadillos, which could be
  purchased for very trifling sums.
• Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley at a banquet in Cuba
  in 1849 guests find an immense profusion of
  crystal, alabaster, or porcelain vases, and
  canastillas (small baskets) of silver, loaded
  with a vast variety of fruits. Mameys which
  says Madame de Merlin, are Alimento de las almas
  bienaventuradas en los valles del otro mundo,
  segun la creencia de los habitantes de Haiti,
  and the zapatillas suaves, which she declares
  have a gusto silvestre.

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Casta Paintings
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Natural History Images
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Agostino Brunias (18C)
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Jean Baptiste Debret (Brazil, 19C)
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Plant names

• Plants named after the European fruits they
  resemble.
• Sometimes also named after the physical
  properties they possess.
• Indian names occasionally used or adapted by
  Spanish.

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Banana Republics

• 19C expansion of fruit trade.
• United Fruit Company (founded 1899)
• Plantations established throughout Central
  America.
• Workers exploited.
• US and European companies control government.

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• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 1
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 2
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 3
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 4
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 5
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 6
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 7
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 8
• YouTube - Banana is my Business - parte 9