The Goodness of Fruits

The goodness of fruits is buried in our language. If something pays off, it is fruitful. If it pays off without much investment, it is a windfall (of fruit). If it does not pay off, it is fruitless. If something wonderful is easy to obtain, its fruit is low-hanging. “Paradise”, meanwhile, is a word that comes from the Persian for a walled enclosure, an enclosure that in Hebrew came to be synonymous with orchard. Paradise is an orchard. The fruits of trees in orchards and wilder places evolved for just one reason, as a way for plants to attract animals to gather and carry their seeds to what might be a better place. The apple was never tempting Eve to sin. It was instead, like the mango, the peach, and the guava, tempting her to carry its seeds and then (in vacating her bowels later) disperse them. In giving in to temptation, Eve shat and fertilized a baby tree.

Excerpt from “Delicious”, by Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez / p. 114, 115