Papaya used to be a popular fruit as a valuable nutrient addition because of its rich content in vitamin A and minerals. It was the commonest fruit in fruit shops when I was young. Now other fruits have almost replaced papaya. One has to go searching for this fruit in the place where Anna and I now live.
It is is easy to cultivate; yields fruits in a year or two if a good variety is planted and fruit can be used in variety of ways in fresh and cooked form. It is still the cheapest among other fruits.
I remember late Professor Malathi Jadhav, while working at CMC Vellore bringing papaya fruit cut in slices to share with the post graduate students during morning coffee time to impress on the nutrient value of this fruit. She wanted them to be advocates for planting papaya saplings in the kitchen garden, while talking to parents of the children coming to the hospital.
I find something strange and disturbing. As this fruit is still the cheapest, some people associate it to be 'not so good fruit’. We assess the value of a cloth, car, house, kitchenware, etc in terms of its cost. The good ones are costlier. The cheaper ones are of poor quality. They apply the same logic to papaya fruit, which is one of the reasons for its declining popularity, according one of the fruit vendors that I talked to recently.
What a paradox! Good quality food can be cheap and affordable. Another reason against being driven by the market driven ethos of value linked to cost!
Anna has planted at least five varieties of papaya saplings in our garden.
M.C.Mathew(text an photo)
It is is easy to cultivate; yields fruits in a year or two if a good variety is planted and fruit can be used in variety of ways in fresh and cooked form. It is still the cheapest among other fruits.
I remember late Professor Malathi Jadhav, while working at CMC Vellore bringing papaya fruit cut in slices to share with the post graduate students during morning coffee time to impress on the nutrient value of this fruit. She wanted them to be advocates for planting papaya saplings in the kitchen garden, while talking to parents of the children coming to the hospital.
I find something strange and disturbing. As this fruit is still the cheapest, some people associate it to be 'not so good fruit’. We assess the value of a cloth, car, house, kitchenware, etc in terms of its cost. The good ones are costlier. The cheaper ones are of poor quality. They apply the same logic to papaya fruit, which is one of the reasons for its declining popularity, according one of the fruit vendors that I talked to recently.
What a paradox! Good quality food can be cheap and affordable. Another reason against being driven by the market driven ethos of value linked to cost!
Anna has planted at least five varieties of papaya saplings in our garden.
M.C.Mathew(text an photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment