An island is stuffed with pineapple smoothies, pineapple burgers and pineapple pie

The key to eating lots of fruit is variety, Hsueh said. “You’ll get bored if you keep eating pineapple every day.”

It’s not just an act of culinary courage. Currently, the consumption of pineapple is seen as an act of patriotism. Taiwan residents have been eating the fruit since China, by far the island’s largest foreign buyer, banned imports of its pineapples from March 1, citing dangerous pests detected in recent years. shipments.

The government of Taiwan, a democratically governed island that Beijing considers part of China, denied any infestation, saying 99.79% of its pineapples imported into China last year passed the inspection. Instead, he challenged the island’s 24 million citizens, as well as his overseas friends, to get “pineapples of freedom” as a form of protest and said he would support the prices of the pineapple. The voracious answer now raises questions about whether there is good fruit.

Three days after China announced the ban, according to Taiwanese government data, consumers ordered more than 41,000 metric tons of home-grown pineapple, almost equal to all Taiwan pineapple exports to China last year .

“We want to tell China: we are not afraid,” said Yang Yu-fan, a 34-year-old fruit grower from southern Taiwan, well known by his nickname, the Pineapple Prince.

Last Thursday, 51-year-old Huang Shiu-ru lined up at a Taipei bakery on Thursday to buy some pineapple cakes. The cakes are Taiwan’s most famous pineapple product and taste like stuffed gingerbread.

“I saw the news on TV and went past this store,” he said. “Taiwan should not trust China.”

Despite their name, however, most pineapple cakes only contain small amounts of fruit, or none. The filling is usually mainly wax gourd.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen started the culinary madness by taking on the role of promoter in pineapple head.

“Of all the pineapple products, I like pineapple palettes,” Ms. Tsai wrote Wednesday in an Instagram post that showed her talking from a pineapple-flanked platform. “And you?”

His post included a pineapple emoji. Fans responded with more emojis, including the Taiwanese flag, and responded with their favorites, from shaved pineapple ice to chicken soup with bitter melon and pineapple.

According to Taiwanese government data, China recently accounted for more than 90% of Taiwan’s pineapple exports. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said last week in a statement that the export ban was a “normal precaution for biosecurity” and criticized Taiwan’s ruling party for the use of the fruit. to dirty and attack China “.

Recent incursions by Chinese military aircraft near Taiwan have also prompted the U.S. to issue a statement calling on China to stop intimidation.

The Taiwan Affairs Office and the Chinese Ministries of Commerce and Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for further comment.

Taipei Burger Ray Restaurant is spending three or four pineapples a day lately. It offers free caramelized pineapples to its burgers, including an exclusive creation with truffle and foie gras. Acidity and acidity help balance duck liver richness, said co-owner Ray Yen.

Francesco Cipullo, an Italian chef from Chiayi County who is married to a Taiwanese woman, decided to make a Hawaiian-style pizza with Taiwanese ham, mozzarella and pineapple. He was forced to take a bite. The combination of fruit and cheese would be considered a sin in his hometown, Naples, he said.

“I had to do it for love in Taiwan,” he said. “But of course I wouldn’t try it again.”

Nutritionist Yang Sz-han warned about the potential effects of heavy pineapple consumption on public health. Although they are rich in vitamin C and rich in bromelain, which can aid digestion, he advised against eating more than a tenth of a normal-sized pineapple during the session. Potassium levels in the fruit could be dangerous for people with kidney problems, he warned, and are high in sugar.

“A whole pineapple contains about 1,000 calories,” he said, warning patriotic consumers to “pay attention to weight problems.”

Because the word “pineapple” in a local dialect is a namesake of prosperity, it is believed that eating fruit carries many new businesses. This can be seen as a nefarious notion for firefighters, medical workers and other people for whom being busy means something bad has happened.

Yu Hui-ru, a 48-year-old nurse in Taipei, said she was hit by a job after a recent weekend when she passed by a pineapple farm, drank a pineapple ice cream tea and bought cakes. of pineapple. Then, he said, he didn’t dare touch the cakes without eating, though he still plans to order a box of pineapples and give them away to patients.

Taiwan’s Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung dispelled superstitions, citing a four-year study published in the Taiwan Medical Journal that found that pineapple-eating doctors had a similar number of patients. emergency as a control group – doctors eating pineapple.

Chen said embracing the “freedom pineapples” on the island and buying overseas keep prices roughly stable, though he said there is a risk that pineapple mania could cannibalize the demand for the more than two dozen fruits Taiwan produces.

“If you eat pineapples, will you eat less mangoes?” he asked.

The Prince of the Pineapple, Mr. Yang, is happy to see support from his fellow peasants, but said it was unfortunate that the ban came when it arrived. Pineapple season actually begins in mid-March, he said, and he worries that some farmers will pick them up too soon to cover demand.

“Right now is not the time to save the pineapples !!” wrote in a widely shared Facebook post. He urged people to stop buying pineapple for a few weeks. Though, then, he fears, the island might have been the full fruit.

Write to Joyu Wang at [email protected] and Chao Deng at [email protected]