So tonight was an interesting night, and through “family event” of sorts, the answers to questions were brief. In my family, pineapples are eaten mainly raw and mainly as a breakfast food, but they do not limit it to this. We talked about how arroz con pina’s is a popular dish that is very good and that at times they are included in deserts. As to what types of desserts, they did not say. We talked about how there were different types, but the only type that I could understand was the Golden Pineapple, which I believe was is natural to Costa Rica, but the “family event” was going on at this time. My Tico dad insisted that I ask the other questions, but I abbreviated them to one to make it quicker. I asked why are pineapples important and what the symbolize, and all I got was that there was no real symbolism, while their importance lies in their export value.

            As for pineapples and the subsequent flavors that I have observed, I think the most obvious is the fact that there is pineapple juice at nearly every restaurant, and when there isn’t, it means that they are out. Of course, juice is a much more common occurrence in Costa Rica than in the United States. Is this simply because of the proximity of these juices that has led to a culture of juice or is there something more? For example, it is not hard to bring sodas in they are everywhere as well, however juice still seems to be more common.

            As for a picture, I lost my iPod and could not take a picture, lo siento.

Pineapples!

This week’s conversation with my Tica mom about pineapples was somewhat surprising.  When asking her about how the pineapple is eaten, she responded much like I expected her to.  She said that it is very commonly eaten raw, and for breakfast, but that there were so many other ways that it is used in Costa Rica.  She went on to talk of the different varieties such as jams, candies, pastries, juices, etc. that we have all witnessed since we have been here. She also added in that she uses it for seasoning in some of her meals, and that it is used in many of her different fruit juices.  She discussed how pineapple flavored or filled things are sometimes eaten as snacks and often desert as well.

When I asked her about the different types of pineapples being sold she said that there were a couple different kinds, I am going to guess these are the white and the gold one that we have discussed, but that the “piña dorada” is the most popular kind.  This was interesting because when I went to Mas X Menos the pineapple that I found advertised was the piña dorada, which we know means the golden pineapple.  As I took a closer look I became even more interested because the Dole tag said, in English, Tropical Golden Pineapple.  I found it very fascinating that the tag of a pineapple being sold, and produced, in a Spanish speaking country was being advertised with an English tag.  This made me think directly back to the Pineapple Cultures reading and the complex relationships that are formed between producing and consuming countries.  I wonder what type of relationship has been created between Costa Rica and the consumer countries it sends pineapples to.  I am going to guess that they are not great relationships, and seeing this type of thing for myself really encourages me even more to think about the implications that come along with the food I choose to eat.

As I asked my Tica mom about the pineapple’s important to the country, I got a pretty surface level answer.  She said that the pineapple is important to their diets and their economies.  The production of pineapple here has increased and their exporting of it does help their economy noticeably.  However, she did not go much deeper than this.  Luckily when I asked my Spanish teacher about bananas last week she touched on pineapples as well.  She said that she thinks pineapples are the new bananas.  They are more important to Costa Rica’s economy now, but she also mentioned how many disadvantages there is to their production.  She mentioned how the production and export is so bad for the workers and the environment that she refuses to eat them.  Granted, my Spanish teacher is more on the extreme side than most people, but it was still very interesting to hear this side of the story.  She mentioned how she knew that they were important for the country, but that she wishes their production could stop because of how harmful they are.

The conversation became surprising when I asked my Tica mom what pineapples symbolize because she did not have a real answer.  She did not speak with pride or cultural significance, she just retouched on the idea that they were good for the economy.  This brought me back to the readings, and those complex relationships.  I mentioned on my RCS for Pineapple Cultures that I would like to hear how the tropics feel about the ‘civilization’ of the pineapple, and I think that I indirectly got my answer through this blog’s prompt.  I occurred to me that it is us who create the high status and symbolic meaning of the pineapple through glorified ads and media.  We play off of tropical fruits, and tourist provoked traditions such as the pineapple in Hawaii, but in the producing companies it is just another export.  I also thought that Silvia’s take on the pineapple showed one side of that complex relationship.  She knows the cost that pineapples come at and she, being from a producing country, thinks about the implications that were mentioned in Pineapple Cultures.  I really loved this week’s prompt because of the conclusions that it has brought me to!

The pineapple is used in so many different ways here in Costa Rica that we would not usually, if ever, find in the U.S.  The pineapple is obviously eaten fresh, but it is also used as an ingredient for many things.  On our weekend trips there have been many instances where we would find pineapple jam or jelly with breakfast.  This is one the forms that we would rarely find in the U.S.  We also know that the pineapple is used in all kinds of juices and drinks.  There are simply pineapple juices, there are juices with pineapples and other fruits, and pineapple juice is more commonly used in the cocktails here compared to the U.S.  When I went to Mas X Menos to observe pineapples there I found that there were many different pastries and baked goods that use pineapples for flavoring and even filling.  Beyond this, there are even snacks that are pineapple flavor.  Pineapples are everywhere in Costa Rica!  In the U.S., we most commonly eat pineapples raw, or use them for their flavor in special dishes, but here pineapple can pretty much be used for anything.  I think that it is great that they are using the resources that they work so hard to produce

Food Journal Week 10

Similar to bananas and plantains, my abuela uses pineapples very traditionally. But there is a difference between the “white” manifestations of the fruit that I see in the U.S. and what she considers white, “traditional”, or conservative. Often in my U.S. home, we eat the fruit plain, but it is also used in up side down pineapple coffee cakes or on kabobs with meats and vegetables. Here, I’ve only encountered in solid form sliced, accompanied by other fruits, at breakfast. Notably, it is never served until it’s totally ripe. About four times now, I’ve had pineapple juice with dinner, as I’m always served a refresco. It was made from a product similar to Kool-Aid, a kind of powder mix that’s blended with sugar and water, I think. Not that I am very disappointed by how artificial that is, but I was surprised the first time I saw my abuela making it in a tropical country! Not wanting to make her think I am questioning her cooking, I didn’t ask how long she’s been making fruit drinks that way. That little unexpected difference says much about how small, originally Stateside practices have slowly made their way into some households of this country. I’m most interested still by the almost puritan attitude my abuela has about the fruits. It reminds me of how many people in the States view steak!

I wasn’t able to expand my observations of pineapple’s roles in foods here because my Belgian housemate left this morning for Nicaragua along with his camera (how unfortunate!) From prior blogs, bananas in particular, I did notice jams, juices, and canned pineapple with “lite” sugary syrup. The main difference is that there are many more brands in the U.S. all competing with more or less the same product. Costa Rica’s two most important fruits are always resting atop our fruit/vegetable stand in the kitchen. The second photo was taken at a pineapple plantation near Limon that I asked Cyril, my ex-Belgian housemate with a camera, if I could use. He said it looked rough for the guys there.

Apart from the climate, I don’t think Costa Rica has become a pineapple giant without good reason. I think that Costa Rica could be called the Switzerland of Central America for its political stability. The relatively positive conditions seem to be very attractive for foreign investors, and the Costa Rican government has historically been prone to buy into deals with companies when they have the chance. After CAFTA was passed some six or seven years ago, barriers to U.S. investment were basically eliminated. In the CAFTA countries (Costa Rica included!), U.S. companies are treated as if they were local. This has likely been very significant for the increase in pineapple exportation, along with some minor declining in banana trade. In 2009, Costa Rica was near to being the leading exporter of pineapple, coming in third place behind Thailand and the Philippines. The fruit increased in production by about 300% from the year 2000 to that time. Concurrently, exportation rates have continued to rise with production, so much so that a lot of pineapple is now imported to Costa Rican supermarket shelves from other exporting countries in the Pacific. It is funny to think that a transnational corporation could sell pineapple that it grows from an investment on Costa Rican soil to people in the U.S. and sell pineapple that it grows in another country to consumers in Costa Rica.

My abuela was curiously uninformed about the status of the pineapple, but she and my abuelo were quick to point out a few dangers they had heard about the fruit. They said that the government shouldn’t let companies destroy land in their country just for a fruit. For them, it symbolizes an intrusion into the food context of mainly coffee and somewhat bananas that they’ve developed over many, many years. Although they made no objections to bananas in this regard, they seemed rather adamant about their concerns. This is because of the social and racial connections they talked about with bananas. It’s as if bananas are grown and sent off from another country or world. But pineapple, that’s very different because they must not see black workers when they imagine it. The kind of racism that they express is very mild, surely. It is almost unconscious in the way they talk about it, as if that’s just the way it has to be. How this affects their view of the two fruits is incredible to me, and I think that I would find very different perspectives from middle-aged or younger Costa Ricans who may have less embedded prejudice and who might know more about the economic importance of the pineapple today. The fruit is like the next savior of the export sector of the economy, giving Costa Rica an opportunity especially after the fallout of Hawaiian production. While I don’t think that many Costa Ricans yet have a clear idea about what the pineapple means and symbolizes for their culture, I do think that the fruit historically represents the transnational movement of cultures and power around the globe. From our readings, the “Pineapple Diaspora” section mostly, the spread of the pineapple in connection with the spread of commerce-led colonialism is clear. 

Pineapples!

Before asking my Tica family about pineapple I reflected on when and where I have seen it since being in Costa Rica. I eat pineapple at least twice a week with breakfast and occasionally in juices. I see it in almost every fruit stand on the way to school in the mornings and in all the supermarkets. In my opinion the displays of pineapple are more centered and elaborate than the displays of bananas. On my way home from school one day last week I noticed a truck selling fruit near Mas X Menos. The fruit was in the bed of the truck, but there was one pineapple sitting on the top, almost as if it was on a throne. It reminded me of the reading where pineapple is described as the “King of fruits.” When talking to my family about pineapple, they said that pineapple can be eaten at all meals but in different ways. At breakfast it is eaten by itself or with other fruits as part of the meal, however if it is eaten at lunch or dinner, it is either in the juice, or it is eaten as a dessert after the meal. I find that to be similar with all fruit; eaten mainly for breakfast or dessert. When I asked my Tica mom if there were multiple types or kinds of pineapple, she looked very confused and said no. I then asked about the white versus the yellow pineapple, which sparked more conversation. She said there are two types of pineapple, the white, which is more acidic and the yellow which is the one used for exportation. She made it seem as though the white pineapple wasn’t very common or regarded as highly as the yellow pineapple (However, this could be because she does not like the white pineapple). I learned through my conversation with my Tica mom that the pineapple and banana have similar production processes. Although my Tica mom didn’t know much about it’s production, she believes that they are very similar and the majority of both banana and pineapple production take place in the Caribbean. I also got the impression that pineapple is very important. My Tica mom said that especially today with all the exportation, pineapple provides a lot of work  for people and it has become somewhat of a symbol of pride for Costa Rica. I find it very interesting how, even though banana and pineapple have very similar production processes they are regarded so differently. Both have the history of worker exploitation and racism, however pineapple does not take on this negativity whereas bananas are still associated with those negative connotations.

When I went to the supermarket to take pictures of pineapples I wasn’t sure what to expect. With pineapple being such an important crop in the economy, would it be found in more foods? Would it’s display be bigger than other fruits? Well, I found that its display and frequency was similar to most other fruits. As you can see in my first photo below, there are jellies and jams that are pineapple flavored, but other than that I really didn’t find many foods with pineapple in it. I wonder if this is because pineapple is really only eaten with fruit. Another thing I noticed, as shown from the second photo was the big tag on the pineapples labeled, “Dole.” Does Dole still have control over the entire pineapple industry? How much of the profits from the sale of pineapple go to Dole? Pineapple is so cheap already here and if parts of it go towards the monopolistic industry, then I can only imagine how little actually goes the producer. It would be interesting to see a pie chart breakdown of the money from pineapple sales! One thing I have learned from these foods, specifically pineapple and banana is to learn about the brands and industries controlling fruit production. I want to be more conscious of what I am buying and where it is coming from as well as where the money is going. Sometimes we forget how dependent we really are of the producing countries and if we keep exploiting them, we will end up losing a lot in the longterm.

Blog #11

As we’ve seen in our readings, pineapples mean so much more than we think they do. In Costa Rica, pineapples are this symbol of hard work, tropical sweetness and community. The hard work of cultivating pineapples has led it to be a symbol of the working classes in Costa Rica. But to the middle and upper classes, the fruit is more of a symbol of community. It is eaten sliced in the mornings with breakfast but also often served as a snack. Pineapple is a unifying fruit for Ticans where its sweetness is well known and liked, giving it a universal status throughout the country.

Pineapple is much more abundant in Costa Rica than it is in the US. In Costa Rica we have more pineapple desserts, jams, sauces and toppings. In the states I can barely think of any pineapple off the top of my head. We rarely see it in its regular form in the states whereas as in Costa Rica its sold on the back of trucks, in supermarkets and at the ferria in its whole form. Our perceptions of pineapples are also different, In the states pineapples constantly allude to the desire and mystery of the tropics and Hawaii. In Costa Rica pineapple is simply apart of everyday Tican life.

The connotations of pineapple here and the US have led me to see how greatly culture shapes our perception of even one type of food. I used to think pineapples were tropical. They were indulgent, hard to cut open but once open completely sweet, satisfying and delicious. In Costa Rica pineapples are regularity. The pineapple drinks and jams and desserts and the fruit itself are consumed everyday. It’s a cultural favorite not because it is rare or a symbol of status but simply because it is delicious. I have really enjoyed what analyzing these foods has shown me. I have this conception now about the quality of the food I consume which was completely absent before. Pineapple in the US and in Costa Rica is a perfect example. The quality is more important than where it comes from. Food should be a symbol of community and social interactions. Too often in the US are we focused on brand names or other symbol statuses. I cannot wait to take this mindset back to the US and recognize the true quality of what I am eating and then share that with others. This opportunity has really been eye opening and proved that a food is much more than it seems but, at the same time, it is simply about the product itself.

Pina

Pineapples are ubiquitous in Costa Rica. They are eaten raw in fruit salads, by themselves, blended in fruit smoothies or juices, sliced to help marinate meat, or made into a jelly to serve on top of toast. Whatever the form, pineapples are found in just about every household and are absolutely DELICIOUS.

There are a couple of different types of pineapple that are sold now, and according to mis padres ticos, they have always been the same available even before the big fruit companies came to Costa Rica. The pineapple is important to Costa Rica because it is the top export--according to mi padre tico. It is one of the most important products of Costa Rica for economic reasons. Unlike the banana or coffee, pineapples do not have too much cultural significance in Costa Rica that goes beyond its profitable nature, or its consumption availability for all Ticans. Also, unlike its symbolism of hospitality in the United States, the pineapple is pretty but doesn't hold a special symbol or signification to Ticans.

When I think of pineapples and pineapple flavors in the United States, not much comes to mind. There are of course special Tropical Skittles that might contain pineapple flavor and there is of course the actual raw fruit, but other than that, pineapple flavoring is not very common at home. Here however, pineapples are everywhere. In drinks, jams, candies, stuffed in bread, being sold on the street, etc. Below is a picture of simply the raw fruit in Mas x Menos.

Pineapple is a very common fruit and flavor here in Costa Rica. Upon trying to find a comparison to a fruit in the US, maybe berry flavored things are an equivalent? They are readily grown in the US and are therefore flavors in other kinds of foods, drinks, candies, etc. Even though there is not a strong cultural significance to pineapple, it definitely communicates the commonplace of fruit in Tican culture, and the abundance of local produce.

Pineapple

In comparison to the United States, Costa Ricans eat pineapple in other forms besides raw. My Tica mom told me that she puts pineapple in many drinks/smoothies/pies/desserts/etc. So, like the United States the pineapple is used almost exclusively as a "sweet" food, at least in my house. However, I've never had many pineapple desserts, but my mother explained that it's like the apple in North Carolina - you have large amounts of it for a relatively cheap price, so you bake many pies/cakes/etc. with pineapple in the tropics. At the market, where my family purchases their produce, there are many types of pineapples. Not only are there different shapes and sizes, but also different colors and sugar-to-acid ratios. My mother told me that she prefers the standard golden pineapple because it's so versatile and very sweet. My family has a special connection to pineapple production - my Tico cousin works on a plantation. Therefore, when I asked my mother what it symbolized, she said she always thought of her nephew and how dangerous his work was. She agreed that it was good for the economy, but she knows first-hand at what cost.

Obviously, this is so different than any of my previous notions about the pineapple. At home, in North Carolina, it's only eaten raw and doesn't have the same message or symbolism that it does for my family here. Different messages are being communicated (to use an idea from Mintz and Barthes) to two different cultures. My mother sees Costa Rica's prosperity at the expense of her nephew's safety. I see a delicious tropical fruit. My perspectives have definitely changed since this kitchen-table conversation toady. In the above photos, you can see how the pineapples are displayed in Mas por Menos - very casually, no frills, etc and how my mother cuts and prepares it for me (no special farmer technique used her, Nina). I thought it was interesting that pineapples were presented in their crates, fresh off the truck. In the States, they are usually all standing up-right, all pristine and ready for the taking. Again, I guess it's a regional difference - or Dole's fancy presentation trying to make me subconsciously eat more of the wonderfully displayed fruit?