It’s great to travel the world and try amazing new foods on offer. For example: barbequed tarantulas in Cambodia, deep-fried cockroaches in Thailand, and braised guinea pig in Peru. And it doesn’t stop here when it comes to fine cuisine, there are deep-fried bats in Bolivia, eel pies in Japan, and toasted witchetty grubs in Australia.
To be honest, I’ve not eaten any of this stuff. Firstly, because none of its kosher and secondly, it just doesn’t suit my palate. I wonder though if I did not keep kosher if I would try some of these foods…
A large part of traveling to a foreign country is discovering and indulging in some new foods. I find it exciting to walk past street vendors and see and smell what they are cooking.
The good news is there is one food area that can be found kosher everywhere. Fruit! And I like fruit a lot. Some years ago after visiting an organic exotic fruit farm in North Queensland, I learned that there is more fruit in the world than I will ever experience. “You can try a newfruit every day of your life,” the tour guide said, “and did you know that there are over 500 types of avocadoes!”
On the farm we got to try a number of strange-looking delicious fruits. The guide explained that many exotic fruits around the world never make it to supermarket shelves because of their short shelf life. Apples, bananas, and oranges can keep for months, but some tropical fruits are rotten within a day after picking them.
We tried one fruit that appeared spoiled on the outside, but when cut open it revealed a juicy and delicious pulp. “Six hours after it’s picked,” said the guide, “it looks rotten, thus it would never sell.”
There is the special blessing one makes when eating a new fruit for the first time in a season. I spent a few months traveling around northern Brazil and parts of Columbia where I got to recite the ‘Shehecheyanu’ blessing on a new fruit almost every day. The variety of jungle fruits G-d created is mind boggling.
This is a typical days worth of fruit while traveling
It has always amazed me how the fruits amongst the seven species the land of Israel is blessed with are superfoods. They are not apples, bananas and oranges; rather, they are: grapes, pomegranates, figs, dates, and olives. These fruits are all incredibly potent, packed with nutrients, antioxidants, and every one of them a powerhouse of goodness.
Thursday 16th January this year is the new year for fruit treas. Tu B’shvat does not tend to be one of people’s top Jewish holidays but for me it is. I like fruit and there is so much of it around the world. Besides, it’s healthy and tastes good. on Tu B’shvat is a great time to make the decision to get healthier by eating more fruit.
