Luxury Fruit

“Massacre of the Innocents” by Leon Cogniet (1824), Source Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes (Accession No. 88.6.1), (PD-Art, PD-Age)

Mala Cumana were apples from the Greek colony of Cumae in Southern Italy picked only at midnight under a full moon, supposedly to imbue them with magical properties [1A][2].  Considered a rare delicacy during the Roman Empire, the apples were preserved in wine, with honey and spices. 

King Herod the Great (infamous for the murders of his wife Mariamne and sons, as well as the Massacre of the Innocents recorded in the Bible) is known to have had Mala Cumana packed and shipped 1500 miles to his palace fortress at Masada [1B][3][4].

Luxury Fruit

PlazaFresh, based in the Netherlands, sells apples picked at midnight under a full moon today [5].  In fact, their popularity has continuously increased, since they again became available.  Though apples have been associated with magic in many cultures, this seems to have less to do with magic, than with the growing trend of luxury fruit [6A][7].

Noble Fresh Cart sells a single Crown melon – grown on a vine from which every other fruit was pruned, to increase its sweetness – for around $150 [8].  Del Monte offers a Ruby Glow pineapple, packaged as if it were a work of art, for $400 [9A].  Oishii offers a solitary strawberry, grown indoors under special lights, without the use of chemicals, for $2 [9B].

There are legitimate reasons for these prices:  selective breeding, intensive farming practices (individual vine tending, and the like), and strict quality controls (implying a high discard rate of less than perfect product) [6B].  Certainly, this amount of care can improve taste.  But the attraction of such produce is less about quality, and more about prestige.

Poverty and Malnutrition

According to the US Census Bureau, 37.9 million people were living in poverty in the United States in 2024, over 9 million of these children [10][11].  Malnutrition is closely intertwined with poverty [12].  Children living in poverty rarely have access to fresh fruit and vegetables…let alone luxury fruit.

Massacre of the Innocents

“Then Herod…sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under…Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:  ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more'” (Matt. 2: 16-18).

Along with Mala Cumana, the ancient Roman elite ate peacock, flamingo, and nightingale tongues [13][14].  Exclusivity was the draw, not flavor.  Concerned as we are for conservation today, we may consider that barbaric.

Abortions were, also, performed in the Roman Empire [15].  Do we consider that barbaric…or perhaps enlightened?  The loss of our  modern day innocents does not seem to trouble us.  Despite the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the bans in some states, there were more than a million abortions performed in the United States in 2023 [16].  The total in 2024 was on trend to be higher [17].

• More than 90% of abortions are performed on unwanted pregnancies, a large number because contraception was simply unutilized [18].
• Only 1.14% of abortions are performed to preserve the mother’s life or physical health [19].
• Less than 1% of abortions are performed for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.  Some studies place this as low as 0.4% [20].

Of course, those weren’t really children, we tell ourselves.  Merely the fruit of the womb, to be disposed of at will.  They don’t count, in our minds.  We want to have children later in life (if at all) [21].  And, of course, we want perfect children, whatever that means.  We deserve nothing less.  Children to whom we can give appropriate care…so long as they do not interfere with our lives and careers.

So how much better precisely do we treat the children who manage to survive their 9 months in the womb?  In 2022, over 5 died each day of abuse or neglect [22].   Who weeps for them?  And how about those 9 million living below the poverty line, the ones who never see fresh fruit?

In pursuit of status and our own self-interest, we have lost sight of what is truly precious.

Herod the Great ordered the execution of male children under the age of two for his benefit, too.  He viewed the Christ child as a competitor for his throne.  But Herod wound up descending into madness, luxury fruit notwithstanding.

That might be worth remembering.

—

[1]  YouTube, National Geographic, “Lost Treasures of the Bible”, Season 1, Episode 6 – The Real King Herod, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_eJqsnPknM .

[2]  Wikipedia, “Cumae”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumae.

[3]  Wikipedia, “Herod the Great”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great.

[4]  Wikipedia, “Mariamne I”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariamne_I.

[5]  PlazaFresh, “Sales and popularity of the full moon apples have continuously increased”, 10/6/23, https://www.freshplaza.com/europe/article/9565859/sales-and-popularity-of-the-full-moon-apples-have-increased-continuously/.

[6A and 6B]  New York Times, “The World of Luxury Fruit:  Does a $156 Melon Taste Sweeter?” by Livia Albeck-Ripka, 6/29/24, https://www.freshplaza.com/europe/article/9565859/sales-and-popularity-of-the-full-moon-apples-have-increased-continuously/.

[7]  The Druids Garden, “Sacred Tree Profile:  Apple’s Medicine, Magic, Mythology, and Meanings” by Dana O’Driscoll, 9/30/18, https://thedruidsgarden.com/2018/09/30/sacred-tree-profile-apples-medicine-magic-mythology-and-meanings/.

[8]  Noble Fresh Cart, Japanese Premium Crown Melon, https://noblefreshcart.com/products/japanese-premium-crown-melon?srsltid=AfmBOopHXnwvoL1HsuNFNfT035tLoGWvbI9LqLpNaQCa7cuci4MAZKtC.

[9A and 9B]  WBOC News, “Inside the World of ‘Luxury Fruit’” by Michael George, 1/16/25, https://www.wboc.com/news/inside-the-world-of-luxury-fruit/video_bf572b99-6da9-5463-ad5e-7474ce07b3f4.html.

[10]  Brightlane, “Poverty in America Awareness Month – January 2024”, 2025, https://brightlanelearning.org/2024/01/poverty-in-america/#:~:text=The%20most%20recent%20data%20from,living%20in%20poverty%20in%20America.  

[11]  United Way of the Capital Area, “Childhood Poverty in the United States”, 10/15/24, https://unitedwaynca.org/blog/child-poverty-in-america/#:~:text=Childhood%20Poverty%20in%20the%20United%20States.%20Child,States%20live%20below%20the%20federal%20poverty%20line.

[12]  National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, “The Intertwined Relationship between Malnutrition and Poverty” by Faareha Siddiqui, et al, 8/28/20, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7485412/.

[13]  Insightful Vacations, “The 8 Most Surprising Ingredients Used by Ancient Romans” by Alice Barnes-Brown, 3/15/24, https://www.insightvacations.com/blog/ancient-roman-food/.

[14]  Crystal King, “The Food of Ancient Rome” by Crystal King, https://www.crystalking.com/thefoodofancientrome.

[15]  Wikipedia, “History of abortion”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_abortion.

[16]  NPR, “Despite bans in some states, more than a million abortions were performed in 2023” by Selena Simmons-Duffin, 3/19/24, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/19/1238293143/abortion-data-how-many-us-2023#:~:text=Despite%20bans%20in%20some%20states%252C%20more%20than,provided%20in%202023.

[17]  CNN, “Monthly abortions continue to trend up in the US in 2024” by Deidre McPhillips, 8/7/24, https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/07/health/monthly-abortions-us-increase-telehealth-wecount-report/index.html#:~:text=There%20were%2014%25%20more%20abortions,according%20to%20a%20new%20report.&text=There%20were%20an%20average%20of,the%20Society%20of%20Family%20Planning. 

[18]  ScienceDirect, “The complex relationship between contraception and abortion” by John Cleland, January 2020, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1521693419300458.

[19]  Cincinnati Right to Life, “What Percentage of Abortions Are Medically Necessary?” by Human Life International, 2/15/24, https://cincinnatirighttolife.org/what-percentage-of-abortions-are-medically-necessary/. 

[20]  Brookings Institution, “Abortion in the US:  What you need to know” by Isabel Sawhill  and Kai Smith, 5/29/24, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/abortion-in-the-us-what-you-need-to-know/#:~:text=The%20vast%20majority%20of%20abortions,or%20more%20children%20(55%25).

[21]  The Week, “Why does the US fertility rate keep dropping?” by Devika Rao,   https://theweek.com/science/us-fertility-rate-declining-2023#:~:text=Data%20collected%20by%20the%20Centers,out%20of%20having%20them%20altogether.

[22]  Statista, “Number of child deaths per day due to child abuse and neglect in the United States from 1998 to 2022”, 7/5/24, https://www.statista.com/statistics/255206/number-of-child-deaths-per-day-due-to-child-abuse-and-neglect-in-the-us/.

READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com