Fruit of Nature

Odd as it may seem, I had an interesting thought today as I was driving to work.

I was listening to an NPR piece about how the PawPaw fruit is becoming a real "thing" in foodie circles, even to the extent that it is being celebrated at festivals named in its honor. Yet the PawPaw is not a particularly viable product, from a commercial viewpoint. To an extent, maybe, but not in a significant way. So, it seems, these festivals are not about the money, as festivals usually are.

That got me thinking. If the festivals are not about milking the PawPaw for every possible penny, what are they about? And then it occurred to me: maybe we as a population are not as crass as I am wont to believe. Maybe, sometimes, we celebrate the gifts Nature gives to us simply because we're glad to have them. Maybe we're not as crass as I thought.

And then I began to wonder about other festivals that celebrate fruit and nuts and eggs and chicken and god-know-what-else that are, to our way of thinking, the bounties of Nature. And the more I wondered, the more I wanted to know.

So, here's the idea: explore these festivals and try to get to the bottom of them. Why are they celebrated? Why did they start? Are they truly celebrations of Nature? Are they, or were they, noncommercial in their origins?

I want to know. Maybe someone else has already written about it. I hope not. I want to learn first-hand, not through the fruits (no pun intended) of someone else's work.