Fruit Is Boring
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
"... Against such things there is no law." Well, perhaps there ought to be. Granted, fruit is good for you. No argument there. Nutritionists all agree: you can't go wrong with lots of fruit in your diet.
But fruit's so boring. Apples, bananas, oranges, perhaps a pear or a peach. For breakfast, there are the old standbys: grapefruit and melons. As for ice cream sundaes, what are you going to stick on top except a cherry? A grape? Or a fig? Same old, same old. Even your cobblers like apple cobbler, peach cobbler, or cherry cobbler by their very name betray the boring nature of fruit. You have to "cobble" something together to make it interesting.
If you want some fruitful variety, some grocer in your neighborhood probably stocks kiwis, papaya, mangos, pomegranates, and the like. But who wants to go to all that trouble?
I was thinking about this not long ago when I read a report in American Demographics that Americans have become increasing intrigued by ethnic foods. Quaker Oats, for example, is now focusing its marketing strategy on Near East cuisine, hoping to sell more couscous than oats or potatoes.
Our taste for food continues to evolve. Right now, we seem to prefer spicy foods and sauces compared to the choices of a generation ago. We're becoming couscous conscious. Ethnic food is in; traditional fare is out. By 2008, the sale of ethnic food is anticipated to grow by fifty percent, reaching sales of $75 billion! Just who is spending these billions of dollars to purchase and consume ethnic foods? If you answer, "Ethnic minorities," you're wrong. The typical, mainstream consumer -- not ethnic communities -- will account for up to 75 percent of those sales.
Ethnic food is not boring. Fruit is.
But -- and here I concede the point -- fruit is good for us. Boring or not, it should be a part of my diet.
So when the Apostle Paul tells me there should be more fruit in my life, I'm yawning. Yeah, yeah, I know. More love, more joy, more patience, more peace, more gentleness, more self-control. Blah, blah, blah. It's not like no one has been beating this into my brain since I was in Sunday school.
Still, I have to admit: my life and my relationship with God, my wife, my children, my friends, my coworkers would be greatly enhanced with more fruit in my diet.
So, boring or not, I need to push away that plate of couscous, and reach for the apple of love, the orange of kindness, the pear of patience, the peach of.... Well, you get the idea.
But fruit's so boring. Apples, bananas, oranges, perhaps a pear or a peach. For breakfast, there are the old standbys: grapefruit and melons. As for ice cream sundaes, what are you going to stick on top except a cherry? A grape? Or a fig? Same old, same old. Even your cobblers like apple cobbler, peach cobbler, or cherry cobbler by their very name betray the boring nature of fruit. You have to "cobble" something together to make it interesting.
If you want some fruitful variety, some grocer in your neighborhood probably stocks kiwis, papaya, mangos, pomegranates, and the like. But who wants to go to all that trouble?
I was thinking about this not long ago when I read a report in American Demographics that Americans have become increasing intrigued by ethnic foods. Quaker Oats, for example, is now focusing its marketing strategy on Near East cuisine, hoping to sell more couscous than oats or potatoes.
Our taste for food continues to evolve. Right now, we seem to prefer spicy foods and sauces compared to the choices of a generation ago. We're becoming couscous conscious. Ethnic food is in; traditional fare is out. By 2008, the sale of ethnic food is anticipated to grow by fifty percent, reaching sales of $75 billion! Just who is spending these billions of dollars to purchase and consume ethnic foods? If you answer, "Ethnic minorities," you're wrong. The typical, mainstream consumer -- not ethnic communities -- will account for up to 75 percent of those sales.
Ethnic food is not boring. Fruit is.
But -- and here I concede the point -- fruit is good for us. Boring or not, it should be a part of my diet.
So when the Apostle Paul tells me there should be more fruit in my life, I'm yawning. Yeah, yeah, I know. More love, more joy, more patience, more peace, more gentleness, more self-control. Blah, blah, blah. It's not like no one has been beating this into my brain since I was in Sunday school.
Still, I have to admit: my life and my relationship with God, my wife, my children, my friends, my coworkers would be greatly enhanced with more fruit in my diet.
So, boring or not, I need to push away that plate of couscous, and reach for the apple of love, the orange of kindness, the pear of patience, the peach of.... Well, you get the idea.
