🍍Pineapples: "A pleasure bordering on pain"

“Pine-apple is great,” wrote English essayist Charles Lamb in [“A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig,”]( published in 1823. “She is indeed almost too transcendent—a delight, if not sinful, yet so like to sinning, that really a tender-conscienced person would do well to pause—too ravishing for mortal taste, she woundeth and excoriateth the lips that approach her—like lovers’ kisses, she biteth—she is a pleasure bordering on pain from the fierceness and insanity of her relish.” These days we might not express it quite so enthusiastically but do still like our pineapple: [As Nina-Sophia Miralles at the Paris Review notes]( since 2014 the spiky [bromeliad’s]( motif has made a steady resurgence on wallpaper and statement socks. And no wonder. Underneath the fruit’s sturdy, [Fibonacci-sequenced]( spirals is a potent cocktail: the tart taste of elitism, a sweet dash of Southern hospitality, and a commanding ability to tenderize meat. Any way you slice it, this fruit has a profile as complex as public opinion about Hawaiian pizza. 🐦 [Tweet this]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Pineapples May 29, 2018 Tender and tart --------------------------------------------------------------- “Pine-apple is great,” wrote English essayist Charles Lamb in [“A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig,”]( published in 1823. “She is indeed almost too transcendent—a delight, if not sinful, yet so like to sinning, that really a tender-conscienced person would do well to pause—too ravishing for mortal taste, she woundeth and excoriateth the lips that approach her—like lovers’ kisses, she biteth—she is a pleasure bordering on pain from the fierceness and insanity of her relish.” These days we might not express it quite so enthusiastically but do still like our pineapple: [As Nina-Sophia Miralles at the Paris Review notes]( since 2014 the spiky [bromeliad’s]( motif has made a steady resurgence on wallpaper and statement socks. And no wonder. Underneath the fruit’s sturdy, [Fibonacci-sequenced]( spirals is a potent cocktail: the tart taste of elitism, a sweet dash of Southern hospitality, and a commanding ability to tenderize meat. Any way you slice it, this fruit has a profile as complex as public opinion about Hawaiian pizza. 🐦 [Tweet this]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( (Giphy) By the digits 2: Ranking among tourists attractions of the Dole Pineapple Plantation in Hawaii (Pearl Harbor is #1) [$2 billion:]( Global sales from pineapple exports [300 billion:]( Pineapples produced annually worldwide [52:]( Height in feet of the Big Pineapple, an Australian tourist attraction and produce stand [$2,220:]( Cost per night to stay in “SpongeBob’s Pineapple” at the Nickelodeon Hotel and Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic [$8,000:]( Equivalent cost of raising a single pineapple in Georgian England, in modern dollars [500,000:]( Copies sold of Annette Funicello’s 1960 single “Pineapple Princess” Wikimedia/Public Domain Brief history Fit for a king --------------------------------------------------------------- Christopher Columbus [brought the first pineapple to Europe]( in 1496 when he returned to Spain from his second jaunt to the Americas. King Ferdinand, the recipient of the delightful delicacy, was duly impressed with the pineapple’s sweet flavor and unique appearance. But Ferdinand’s reaction paled in comparison to how King Charles II of England felt about the fruit. Because the pineapple couldn’t yet be grown in Europe, Charles used it as a symbol of exclusivity and power. Dubbing it “King-Pine,” he brought pineapples to negotiations to remind others of his reach, and commissioned a painting of the royal gardener proffering [him a pineapple on bended knee.]( As a result of its royal reputation, the pineapple became a must-have party accessory for the British aristocracy by the 1700s. Even after gardeners found a way to cultivate it locally, the pineapple wasn’t exactly budget-friendly; they were so expensive to grow that actually eating one would have been like throwing money away. Instead, they were used only as dinner decor, passed from house to house to cut down on the expense. Some enterprising entrepreneurs even launched rental businesses—essentially Netflix for pineapples. In the Victorian period, as Kaori O’Connor writes in [Pineapple: A Global History]( industrialization and class mobility began to dilute the pineapple’s symbolic appeal. They became somewhat more accessible thanks to the introduction of the steamship, which opened imports up on a mass scale, and because some sugar plantations pivoted to pineapple production after slavery was abolished. Pineapple presented itself as a new cash crop: “hardy, remarkably easy of propagation, requiring a small amount of labour and capital,” [in the words of the London Morning Post.]( Now they were piled on the docks for auction and marketed to “the rising ‘people of the middling sort,’” O’Connor writes, “a new social class with money and aspirations” and new class anxieties: “It was… considered vitally important to know how the upper class lived, and to imitate it as far as possible. These were new social fields for the imported pineapple to conquer—and it did.” “The apple was cast as ‘honest’ and ‘upright,’ thoroughly British or American as the case might be, while the pineapple was portrayed as foreign, exotic, seductive and dangerous.” — Kaori O’Connor, [Pineapple: A Global History]( Watch this! Pineapples spiral in the [Fibonacci sequence](. That’s amazing, but what’s astounding is [that this mathematics reveals]( that SpongeBob SquarePants was living a lie. Fun fact! In 2012, scientists in Queensland, Australia, [accidentally created]( a coconut-flavored pineapple while trying to engineer a juicier fruit. Though officially called the AusFestival variety, its nickname is a bit catchier: the Piña Colada Pineapple. Giphy Pop quiz You might know Pineapple Express for its herbaceous associations. But what is it, really? A weather phenomenon that starts in the tropics and drifts up to the West CoastThe shipping route that transports pineapples from Costa Rica to the USA name that refers to the Polynesian culture craze of the 1930s and ‘40sA migration route used by hummingbirds to get from the US to Mexico and Central America Correct. Pineapple Express is an atmospheric river—a narrow region in the atmosphere that transports moisture from Hawaii and the tropical Pacific to the West Coast, sometimes resulting in heavy rainfall and snow. (It’s also the name of the train tour at Dole’s Pineapple Plantation in Hawaii.) Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Giphy Y’all come back now Southern hospitality, you say? --------------------------------------------------------------- In the US, the pineapple became a symbol not so much of elitism as hospitality, though of course the latter might borrow a little something from the former. According to [Southern Living]( the Colonial demand for fruit in general, and the scarcity of pineapple in particular, meant that a hostess who unveiled a pineapple-adorned dish was clearly rolling out the red carpet for her guests. There’s also this legend: When a New England sea captain arrived home after bartering for spices, rum, and pineapples in the Caribbean Islands, he would spear the spiky fruit on his fence posts to indicate his return. Friends and neighbors who spotted the pineapple knew it was an invitation to drop by to hear the captain’s latest tales and sample his newly acquired spirits. Colonial innkeepers added the pineapple to their signposts and advertisements to show that their hospitality was up to snuff. The symbol can still be found adorning hotels and other hospitality industry businesses today. Reuters/Henry Romero tender talk The magic enzyme --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s not a coincidence that Charles Lamb ended up on a pineapple tangent in his essay about roast pig, or that in certain parts of the world, ham and pineapple are combined as pizza toppings. Pineapple and papaya were some of [humankind’s earliest meat tenderizers](. The reason is that they possess an enzyme called bromelain, which, as How Stuff Works explains, separates the [peptide bonds that build amino acids into proteins](. Proteins, you’ll recall, are what give muscles their shape and firmness. Your tongue is subject to the same degradation, which might explain that particular pineapple zing that so fascinated Lamb. Fortunately your body also has the ability to metabolize that bromelain and regenerate these cells, so you’re not permanently tenderizing your tongue with every piña colada. Charted Hawaii became the premier place for pineapple production beginning in the early 1900s, when James Dole arrived on the island to open the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, the precursor to the Dole Food Company. Hawaii dominated the scene for a few decades, but after WWII, Thailand and the Philippines entered the pineapple picture—and they were able to supply cheaper labor, bringing costs way down. It was the beginning of the end for Hawaii’s pineapple powerplay—it slowly started declining, culminating in Dole closing its Honolulu cannery in 1991, followed by Del Monte shuttering its Hawaiian operations in 2008. These days, the Aloha State only exports about [0.13%]( of the global supply. fun fact In 2017, a pair of students from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen deposited a store-bought pineapple at an art exhibit on campus, just for kicks. When they returned a few days later, they were surprised to find that someone had erected a glass case around it. Lloyd Jack, one of the perpetrators/artists, later [claimed]( it was a thoughtful composition reflecting on the potential effects of Brexit: “The pineapple symbolizes the U.K. leaving the E.U., standing alone, attempting to survive, cut off from the outside world.” 🤔 Giphy Poll About that Hawaiian pizza... what are your feelings? [Click here to vote]( It’s pork. It’s pineapple. It’s perfection.Get out of here with your blasphemy.If it’s there, I’ll eat it. The fine print In last week’s poll about General Data Protection Regulation ([GDPR]( a whopping 85% of you said the US should adopt its own equivalent. Today’s email was written by [Stacy Conradt]( edited by [Jessanne Collins]( and produced by [Luiz Romero](. sound off ✏️ [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20pineapples.&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🤔 [What have you been obsessed with this week?](mailto:obsession%2Bprompt@qz.com?cc=&subject=%0ATake%20us%20down%20a%20rabbit%20hole.&body=) 📬 [Forward this email to a friend](mailto:replace_with_friends_email@qz.com?cc=obsession%2Bforward@qz.com&subject=%F0%9F%8D%8DPineapples%3A%20%22A%20pleasure%20bordering%20on%20pain%22&body=Thought%20you%27d%20enjoy.%20%0A%0ARead%20it%20here%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femail%2Fquartz-obsession%2F1291320%2F%0ASign%20up%20for%20the%20newsletter%20at%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fquartz-obsession) The correct answer to the quiz is A weather phenomenon that starts in the tropics and drifts up to the West Coast. 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