It’s Sunday noon and I’m watching the movie “Notting Hill” and before a scene comes on, I admittedly giggle. The scene in question was unfolding as his friends are setting him up with women cause Alec Baldwin has shown up on the doorstep of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant is crushed.
The girl refuses the offer of a dish at dinner and says she is a fruitarian. When Hugh Grant’s character asks what that is she says that “We believe that fruits and vegetables have feelings so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat what has fallen from the tree or bush and that are in fact dead already.” So he asks, “these carrots?” “Have been murdered. Yes.”
So the scene elicits silence from the actors on the screen and amplifies the absurdity of dating and trying to find a person that is at all normal. But as it went past, I thought for a second and Googled “fruitarian.” It returned 105,000 results! And I have to say, though I’ve seen this movie many times and totally anticipate the scene, I hadn’t given much though to a fruitarian diet, which I see now is a subset of versions of a vegan diet.
Wikipedia is the top of the hits and defines fruitarianism through first definitions of fruit & fruitarian
Fruitarian definition of fruit
Commonly the term “fruit” is used when referring to plant fruits that are sweet, fleshy and contain seeds within the plant fruit (for example, plums, apples, and oranges). However, there are other foods that are not typically considered to be fruits in a culinary sense but are botanically, such as berries, bell peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, nuts and grains.[3]
Fruitarians use differing definitions of what is considered a “fruit.” For example, Herbert M. Shelton, a founder of Orthopathy, included non-fleshy fruits such as nuts, within the definition of fruit.[4]
Definition of fruitarian
Some fruitarians will eat only what falls (or would fall) naturally from a plant; that is: foods that can be harvested without killing the plant.[5][6][7] These foods consist primarily of culinary fruits, nuts, and seeds.[8] According to author Adam Gollner, some fruitarians eat only fallen fruit.[9] Some do not eat grains, believing it is unnatural to do so,[10] and some fruitarians feel that it is improper for humans to eat seeds[11] as they contain future plants,[9] or nuts and seeds,[12] or any foods besides juicy fruits.[13] Others believe they should eat only plants that spread seeds when the plant is eaten.[14] Others eat seeds and some cooked foods.[15] Some fruitarians use the botanical definitions of fruits and consume pulses, such as many beans and peas[16] or legumes, or pulses and legumes. Still further definitions include raw fruits, dried fruits, nuts, honey and olive oil,[17] or fruits, nuts, beans and chocolate [18]
Reading through more of the Wikipedia entry I see that both Ghandi and Idi Amin were reportedly fruitarian at some time in their lives, makes my eyebrows go up. I don’t think I’d find too many ways to connect them otherwise! There are a number of first-person blogs as well as resources to support people choosing a fruitarian diet. Some of them were pretty interesting, since I’ve seen the movie a million times, I didn’t need to focus much to stay up on the happily ever after ending.
I don’t want to dismiss the concept since I have never met anyone who described themselves as fruitarian but I think the health risks would be something to consider. Also, since I live in middle America, I’m not sure food supply would be so easy to have year-round. We have too cold & short days during the winter.
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