As a vegan and professed lover of fruits and vegetables, there is rarely any sort of produce that I might turn up my nose at- Brussels sprout and beets aside. Funny to think that as a kid, anything green and theoretically edible was the most revolting thing to find on my dinner plate. Yes, I’ve come a long way, because I wouldn’t so much as touch those same harvest gems that I enjoy to no end these days. Of course I still have some reservation when it comes to certain offerings that truly rubbed me the wrong way many years ago, and an unfair bias does still exist against a couple of the most innocuous items found in your standard market, such as pears.
Finding them piled in a heap at the end of the cafeteria’s line up of lackluster dishes, I decided to take a chance and give those otherwise unappetizing fruits another chance. Stealing a few away into my messenger bag, I returned to the privacy of my room to slice into the pale green flesh and see what lay beneath. Small seeds tucked comfortably into the center, like a few small children tucked safely into the covers of their bed, I immediately noticed my attitude towards this edible oddity was quickly shifting to a more positive light. Something about it just seemed so delicate while still remaining strong between my teeth. Unlike the pears of yore, this ripe beauty yielded readily to a firm bite, quickly contrasting from my memory of the rock-solid, stone-like fruits that had been forced upon me. Sweet but in a very modest way, anyone would be hard pressed to say that they didn’t like pears such as this.
Admittedly, these aren’t exactly going to top my list of favorite fruits, as few things could top my affinity for Fuji apples, but I think that pears could at least join the running now.