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British Newspaper Discovers Jackfruit

A Michelin-starred restaurant handed two dead ducks to animal rights protesters, and more food news today

by James Hansen Updated
The Guardian’s jackfruit article is a staple food of many countries Food Revolution Network

Jackfruit is the latest foodstuff to be misrepresented

Following the deployment of durian as a flavour symbol for domestic abuse, jackfruit is the latest fruit to be misrepresented in the media. A piece published in the Guardian today states that, “it is not the weirdest plant anyone has put in a tin”; that honour goes to the Jamaican staple, ackee. It is also, the article says, a “gross-looking lump of fibre,” and a “spectacularly ugly, smelly, unfarmed, unharvested pest-plant.” Jackfruit is also — not per the paper — the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; a staple food in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Jamaica, Malaysia, and Taiwan; cultivated, harvested, and eaten.

Further commentary from the food world questions the central premise that the fruit needs to be somehow “transformed” to be enjoyable; and, on the closing statement: “Think of jackfruit as a triffid: they don’t even talk about farming it. It merely is, everywhere.” Who are “they?”

It also made the actual front page of the print version of the Guardian today. (See top right, “the new star of vegan cuisine.”) No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No

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