Fruit

Any produce market here offers juicy pineapple, delicious mangoes, exotic passion fruit, sweet watermelon and mouth-watering papaya. The flavour of these tropical fruits far exceeds the paltry imported versions you can buy in Canada and once you’ve tasted pineapple that has been allowed to ripen in the sun and picked that day, with its bright yellow colour and its sugary sweet juice, you can never really be satisfied with the slightly tart and rather tough “pineapple” sold in the Safeway produce section.

Yes, one can get rather spoiled having all of these fresh tropical fruits so readily available, and as those in the Northern Hemisphere head into the doldrums of November dreading the “fresh produce-less” winter months ahead, one can imagine that heaven’s gardens are cultivated solely with mangoes and passion fruit.

I would likely have believed that myself a few months ago, but I had an experience yesterday that showed me how easy it is for the “exotic” to become mundane. I was invited to a birthday party that was attended by several members of the ex-patriate community here in Masaka; there was a delicious spread on the buffet table and we ate on an outdoor patio with a stunning view of the surrounding area. It was a really lovely time; the chocolate birthday cake was served with ice cream, but then a fruit salad appeared on the table...

This salad had cubes of fresh mango and pineapple and was elegantly served in an emptied out watermelon. It was received politely until people noticed that mixed into the local fruit were fresh blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. It was quite the sight to witness what happened next. Within minutes, the berries had disappeared from the salad leaving only the tropical fruit in the bowl; the British, American, Danish and Canadian guests couldn’t scoop those berries fast enough! I don’t even think the Ugandan guests got the chance to taste the foreign fruit.

It became clear to me that depending on the context, the “familiar” can easily become the “exotic.” (and by the way, I didn’t get any berries either! Guess I’m stuck with boring old papaya and guava....sigh.....)