Pineapple Chunks

I don’t remember eating fresh pineapple as a kid.  Sure, we had canned pineapple as well as canned peaches, pears, and fruit cocktail while I was growing up, along with fresh fruit such as bananas, Red Delicious apples in season, occasionally grapes, plus oranges and tangerines at Christmas time.

Maybe other families frequently served fresh pineapple chunks here in southeastern Ohio among the rolling foothills of the Appalachians during the '50's, '60's and early '70's, but I doubt it.  Although I suppose my family was atypical for the times in the sense both my parents had an education and attended college, my family was typical middle class, and had all grown up here in this county.  Both my parents had grown up during the Great Depression, so understood the value of stretching the dollar, especially with five children in the house, and certainly taught us all to appreciate the in-season fresh fruit we did have.  Fresh pineapple, however, simply never appeared on the dinner table, as it probably didn’t on most other folks’ around here, too.

Perhaps transportation and shipping, and its ensuing costs in procuring and obtaining fresh produce, especially from more exotic locales, had not developed to today’s standards.  For example, even though it’s not fresh produce, I ordered Canadian coffee last Friday through Amazon, and Saturday morning, much to my surprise, the FedEx man pulled up to the house with my order.  Quite impressive.  Quite easy.  Orders from earlier decades definitely did not have the same advantages we have today.

I remember having my first taste of fresh pineapple after college, and discovered, to my surprise, it didn’t taste much like its canned version.  I really liked the sweet, fresh version.  By the time I had progressed to buying a fresh pineapple, I had to figure out how to cut it up as I had never seen anyone do that, but luckily, I found it easy to do.  

Certain foods seem to be regional favorites, almost part of a culture.  When a friend’s daughter, who had grown up here, accepted a job in NYC, eventually meeting her fiancé there, she told her mother not to plan on fixing any “Midwestern food” for her bridal shower. 

I didn’t understand.  As far as I knew, nothing labeled “Midwestern food” existed.  Grits and black eyed peas, to me were Southern, but I had never heard anything called “Midwestern,” except an area of the country and an accent.  My friend smiled when I asked, “What’s Midwestern food?”

 My friend explained her daughter had banned ham, green bean casserole, baked beans, potato salad and anything involving jello.  To me, those were excellent food choices, staples almost.  So I had to ask, “What do they eat?”  She laughed, and explained people on the East Coast eat lots of seafood and pasta. 

Maybe fresh pineapple isn’t “Midwestern food” then, although it’s certainly become readily available here, and I love it.  The important point, however, is something I can take from my childhood.   We all need to keep fresh pineapple in mind as it’s a reminder, particularly to me, to seek and try new things I wouldn’t ordinarily encounter during an ordinary day.  I would hate to think I had missed out on the fresh pineapple in my life.