Eulogy for a Grapefruit

‘Take One a Day,’ it says, ‘Avoid Grapefruit or Grapefruit Products.’

Oh no.

Disaster.

One of the pains of getting old it seems is that you have to spurn your favourite fruit.

I’m not sure why the medical world has to single out this particular fruit. What harm has it ever done to anyone. Are there tablets which specify - don’t eat Strawberries? or avoid Kiwi Fruit? I think not.

So now I am staring at two recently bought Grapefruit and thinking - now what. I was particularly proud of them as in recent years I’ve found it increasingly hard to find Grapefruit in the shops, or Grapefruit juice. It just seemed to disappear.

I’ve spoken of my love of Grapefruit before … and AMM has personal experience of my liking for it, having observed my choices at breakfast while travelling. (Victoria Hotel, Talamanca, Ibiza for a notorious example.)

Through intensive research (5 minutes or less on the internet) I discovered a wealth of poetry and literature in general dedicated to the Grapefruit.

The late American Poet, Craig Arnold, wrote a ‘Meditation on a Grapefruit.’ He describes peeling a Grapefruit as, ‘a devout involvement of the hands and senses.’

Yoko Ono created an activity book for adults in 1964 called ‘Grapefruit - A Book of Instructions and Drawings.’ One of my favourite activities in the book is ‘Instead of a mirror, go stand in front of a variety of other people to see how it feels.’

One last one … from the Chinese poet Liu Xia who writes, ‘A life without pain, is an unpicked fruit.’

I sense a note of over cautiousness in the medical world though. It seems I’d need to drink 1.5 litres of Grapefruit juice a day before it counteracts the medication. Which, if I could find it in the shops anyway, I probably would do.

Off to find someone to give my last two grapefruit to.

R