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The Lost Art of Stealing Fruit
- mc32 9y agoI'll assure you it's not a lost art where food is relatively expensive/people can't afford it. It's a good sign when people spend so little of their income on food that the temptation to steal is severely depressed.
- nagVenkat 9y agoAs a counter point, I grew up in India where there is still some malnutrition and I stole mangoes. I was definitely not poor and my family could afford mangoes and they did buy mangoes. I stole with a bunch of friends and it was the thrill of the act rather (getting chased by the owner) than the fruit which made us stole the mangoes.
- mc32 9y agoMy guess is that the childish prankish appeal will fade as the the need to steal for sustenance fades in the distance from social memory. I think, though certainly could be wrong in my guess, is that this behavior is just a vestige of the primordial reason for stealing.
- tyingq 9y agoAt least in the US, it can be complicated, many reasons drive theft. I remember lots of kids shoplifting candy, none of them poor, when I was a kid. Interesting NPR article on it. "People with an income of $70,000 or more are 30 percent more likely to shoplift than those earning less" http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137627302/sticky-fingers-hidden-hams-a-shoplifting-history http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137627302/sticky-fingers-hidde... Of course, that covers items beyond food, so perhaps not a direct comparison.
- goialoq 9y ago"earning less" than what Unsuprisingly, NPR is misleading to create a more salacious read, and they failed to cover their tracks: https://books.google.com/books?id=EchKhEduEBwC&pg=PT50&dq=People+with+an+income+of+$70,000+or+more+are+30+percent+more+likely+to+shoplift https://books.google.com/books?id=EchKhEduEBwC&pg=PT50&dq=Pe... The research found that people who are in stores more, shoplift more.
- pbhjpbhj 9y agoWhich is the greater crime: wasting the fruit, or picking the fruit because someone else has legal title over the tree? The former certainly seems more morally reprehensible.
- mc32 9y agoThat would depend on need. In most advanced economies sustenance is likely to be a very minor cause. In any event, I'm not taking any moral stand on this, simply trying guess the disinclination to steal fruit.
- bcraven 9y agoWhilst I wish it was mulberry gin is not a common staple for the British public so I think this article is arguing for fun rather than subsistence.
- SubiculumCode 9y agoMy town in years past, as part of a tradition, planted fruit trees throughout the parkways. Cherry, plum, apple, etc. They are left mostly unpicked today. I believe they were planted to be picked, by visitors to the parkways, to be able to grab down a plum for your daughter on her tricycle. And I do. Especially the cherries.
- spaceflunky 9y agoI've long since thought municipalities should plant fruit trees where they can, but I think most people would not eat the fruit for fear of not knowing if it's some poisonous variety. There are some delectable looking blackberries that grow in some parts of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, but I've never picked them for fear they might be poisonous.
- taejo 9y agoWhy not find out? I'm not in North America, but I eat wild blackberries whenever I see ripe ones. From what I can see with a quick Google, all blackberries and black raspberries in NA are edible and delicious.
- Symbiote 9y agoI was picking some mirabelle plums from the tree in my garden in West London (this is a few years ago). Some passing teenagers asked what I was doing, so I offered them some plums, straight from the tree. "No way! My mum only buys fruit from Waitrose!" A much younger girl and her granddad took a few, although in this case it was grandad that was reluctant. It's a shame. Neighbours complained about the fruit making a mess on the pavement; if it wasn't that that particular neighbourhood was special and had a requirement for the trees to be maintained, I'm sure they'd have been replaced with something more friendly to Lexus paintwork.
- SubiculumCode 9y agoWe have been collectively programmed to trust the grocery store product over what we can reach out and grab.
- mturmon 9y agoA trio of artists in LA started a project called "Fallen Fruit" centered on appropriation of public fruit: http://fallenfruit.org/about/ http://fallenfruit.org/about/ SF people may have seen them last month at: http://fallenfruit.org/fallen-fruit-magazine-san-francisco/ http://fallenfruit.org/fallen-fruit-magazine-san-francisco/ They have mapped out fruit trees that extend into public right of way (there are a lot), hosted Fruit Jams where you could bring your own backyard fruit and herbs and collaboratively make jam, and guided nocturnal forages to harvest public fruit. It has been a delightful way to look again at the food that is around us.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y agoThis one's global: https://fallingfruit.org/ https://fallingfruit.org/
- taejo 9y agoThe German-language equivalent is https://mundraub.org https://mundraub.org -- also global, but most useful in German-speaking areas.
- JofArnold 9y agoWalking around London yesterday morning for an hour (with a step ladder!) we managed two carrier bags of tasty ripe plums. I also ate some orange things that I have no idea what they were but they tasted fantastic. There's raspberries, blackcurrents, blackberries and even (in an abandoned lot) tomatoes which my friend ate. I missed the mulberries this year but in a couple of weeks I'll also have some apples and avocados to add to that and maybe some persimmon. And this is all stuff that'd be on the floor and/or rotting later without people blinking an eye. So many fruit trees in London! And that's not even mentioning the mint, huge basil tree-bushes, rosemary, lime trees and countless other herb lying in clear sight.
- whiskers 9y agoPossibly kumquats? Edit: which reminds me of a local restaurant which has possibly the best play on words name out there: Kumquat Mae
- Symbiote 9y agoThose are unlikely to grow in Southern England, it's not warm enough. Mirabelle plums? [1] Try taking a photo and asking iNaturalist [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabelle_plum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabelle_plum [2] https://www.inaturalist.org/computer_vision_demo https://www.inaturalist.org/computer_vision_demo
- 21 9y agoI'm not sure it's smart to eat any random fruit you encounter. But I guess if it was poisonous it wouldn't be allowed to just sit there on the street.
- Symbiote 9y agoThere are plenty of poisonous plants growing all over the world. Not eating them is personal responsibility. Several of the ones you've possibly heard of from Harry Potter or general folklore (monkshood, wolfsbane, deadly nightshade, mandrake) are poisonous and wild (sometimes common) in Britain. I've known daffodils, foxgloves, rhubarb leaves, holly berries and others were toxic since early childhood.
- narrator 9y agoThe practice of the poor being able to take unharvested crops for themselves goes back to the old testament. It was an early form of social weldare. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning
- jwilk 9y agoNon-mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning
- tedajax 9y agoOddly The Book of Ruth and the word "gleaning" are some of my most vivid memories from high school English.
- samstave 9y ago"gleaning" information from something is basically "to take a richer understanding from something where the information comes to one freely, based on observance" Meaning - freely available fruits of knowledge can be derived from that which - its basically a pun. The fact that we lost the meta-knowledge around etymology is a sad thing... There is a podcast by an etymology guy that has amazing insights to words - but, in my limited experience listening to him, lacks some meta meaning -- in that glean means to to take free fruit, glean means to see deeper info, glean means to harvest deeper info from the free info given, knowledge is thought of as fruit... I was wrong -- it is known: >>>glean (v.) Look up glean at Dictionary.com early 14c., "to gather by acquisition, scrape together," especially grains left in the field after harvesting, but the earliest use in English is figurative, from Old French glener "to glean" (14c., Modern French glaner) "to glean," from Late Latin glennare "make a collection," of unknown origin. Perhaps from Gaulish (compare Old Irish do-glinn "he collects, gathers," Celtic glan "clean, pure"). Figurative sense was earlier in English than the literal one of "gather grain left by the reapers" (late 14c.). Related: Gleaned; gleaning. so.... to collect (information) from....
- posterboy 9y ago
- mynegation 9y agoMy big incentive for picking the fruit is because it is not available in stores: mulberry and crab apples are featured in the article but my favourite one is amelanchier (known by many other names [1]). Also, Bunias [2] which I - unfortunately - cannot find in North America, but can be approximated by a mix of broccoli and arugula. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunias_orientalis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunias_orientalis
- anfractuosity 9y agoWow I never knew before the berries on an amelanchier are edible.
- keithpeter 9y ago"...or the vast banks of blackberries that litter Britain’s parks and heaths, largely overlooked except by the occasional elderly Pole or Czech..." Not so Up North. I have had convivial blackberry picking sessions with many people from all walks of life as a native Brit. A good wash and pick over, then a crumble and for the last box boiling with sugar and straining to make a compote served with yoghurt and those rusk cakes. I hit the canal towpaths and nature parks in preference to road side plants. I will be researching this mulberry gin...
- twic 9y agoOr in East Anglia. One thing i've noticed on my walks in the country is that there are a lot of apple trees growing along the Iron-age tracks like the Ridgeway, Icknield Way, etc. I suppose once one traveller has thrown away an apple core, and a tree has grown from a seed, there are plenty more apples with which subsequent travellers can repeat the process. Iterate that over a thousand years and there's quite a collection.
- fencepost 9y agoApples may not be such a great choice for that - they don't reproduce to the same type from seed, many of the resulting fruits won't be much good (if you get any), and you need at least one other compatible apple tree in close proximity for pollination. Basically the fruit is based on the tree you have, but the seeds in that fruit are a combination of the trees.
- Symbiote 9y agoI can't read the article (no subscription), but I wouldn't expect many blackberries to be left in the South -- except near a busy road. If nothing else, there are enough thrifty Northerners around :-) I tried a couple of times to pick them from near the tram tracks in South London, since that's far away from any pollution, but they'd always gone before I got there.
- CM30 9y agoNot sure where you are, but there are tons of blackberries growing around here in Essex way. The fields near here are almost entirely lined with them, as are the forests and other semi rural areas. I think they were used as barriers between fields at one point and have massively spread out since then. And yes, I do sometimes see people picking them, along with the other fruit that grows in the area.
- d215 9y agoHaving juat learned that half of my prine tree was emptied out I have I a hard time right now enjoying this article. O well, I was somewhat consoled by my neighbour how pointed me to 'Les glaneurs et la glaneuse', a documentary by Agnes Varda about people who try to live on waste fruit and vegetables in Paris. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gleaners_and_I https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gleaners_and_I
- sp332 9y agoA what tree?
- mulmen 9y agoI think that's a typo and it should say prune.
- soperj 9y agoPrunes are dried plums... you don't pick them from a tree.
- joehewitt 9y agoFrench Prune and Italian Prune are the names of some European plum cultivars typically grown for the purpose of being dried, however they are also quite good eaten fresh.
- paganel 9y agoIn Romanian we still call plums as "prune", directly from Latin. My brother has lots of plum trees on his property (at the foot of the Carpathians) and most of the plums are used for making an excellent țuica (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83), while the rest is dried up in order to be eaten during the long winter months (my grandma makes an excellent dried-plums soup).
- 9y ago
- SwellJoe 9y agoI love the idea of food forests and the work of groups like Food Is Free (http://foodisfreeproject.org/ http://foodisfreeproject.org/). I don't currently have land, as I live in an RV and travel kinda full-time, but when I buy another house and settle down somewhere, I've sort of made some promises to myself: 1. I will not mow a lawn. 2. Any plant that requires maintenance has to provide food. So, I'm looking forward to having neighbors steal fruit from my yard. I want pecan trees, and fruit trees, and blackberry vines, and prickly pears, and whatever else grows well where I'm living. I'm gonna rip up the lawn and replace it with edible plants and gardens. Any one fruit tree makes more fruit than one person, or even family, can eat in a season...sure, you can can it, or freeze it, but I like the idea of grazing through the seasons, rather than hoarding.
- cafard 9y agoA relative has a fruit tree out front. He does not particularly mind when somebody walking by takes a piece. He does mind a good deal when somebody comes along with a shopping bag and starts to load up.
- SwellJoe 9y agoSounds like he should give cuttings to the neighbors, so they can all have fruit trees.
- cafard 9y agoConsidering that he lives in the town with the state's land grant university, I don't think that the neighbors are short of options. Nor his is the only such tree in the neighborhood. There are four or six within a short walk.
- biggerbistro 9y agoThese are not usually the types who would be interested in the care and maintenance of fruit trees. Why bother with all that work when you can steal from your neighbors?
- 9y ago
- dharma1 9y agoIdeas for fruit to grow in UK/London climate? Are mulberries worth it? Currently growing: Apples Cherries Figs Grapes Blueberries Raspberries Tayberries Lime and lemon (partly indoors) Siberian kiwi (no fruit yet) Goji berry (no fruit yet) Honeyberry (no fruit yet) And appropriating the neighbours' plums, pear and wild blackberries.
- joehewitt 9y agoYes, mulberries are worth it. They would be a very popular fruit if they could handle the rigors of transport. If you can track on down in the UK I'd feverishly recommend Pawpaw (Asimina triloba), a custardy fruit with such tropical flavor you'd be shocked it is native to North America.
- cpete 9y agoNice to hear somebody mention pawpaws! Here's a short intro video/article: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2011/09/29/140894570/the-pawpaw-foraging-for-americas-forgotten-fruit http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2011/09/29/140894570/the...
- dharma1 9y agoThanks! Bought a new breed of mulberry for next year - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/19/remarkable-easy-to-grow-new-varities-of-delicious-mulberries https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/19/remarka... I managed to find a supplier for pawpaw but not sure it will fruit in this climate
- joehewitt 9y agoThe article tiptoes around the issue of "stealing" referenced by the headline, as if the "stolen" fruit is only taken from public property. As you will learn if you plant fruit trees in your front yard, there are quite a lot of people who think nothing of trespassing on private property and stripping your trees. In Hawaii it's become an epidemic - most of the stolen fruit is not consumed by famished thieves, it is sold at farmers' markets. Penalties are so minimal for this crime that the same thieves return over and over with no fear of being caught. Thi issue has many of my fruit-growing friends ripping their hair out. Believe it or not, not all residential fruit trees are neglected afterthoughts - many of us put blood and sweat into these trees and live for the day we can harvest them.
- dejv 9y agoGreat point. I, as a farmer, do own quite a lot of wallnut trees that could be mistaken for public property. I am ok with random people picking random wallnuts, but most of the theft is done by organized groups that resell my fruit on farmers market. Each year I do think about reporting them to police (as amount of fruit stolen is higher then treshold of breaking law), but then I realise that amount of trouble I will get them into and probable damage to their life is higher than some wallnuts I just let it go. Now I just hope that the area will get rich enough that they will just don't care about picking my fruit and I will finally get something more then just few lefovers.
- plussed_reader 9y agoIs it really you getting them into trouble if you're doing your diligence as a farmer/business owner? You didn't make them take the product in the first place, and your hope about poverty going away(..area will get rich enough...) strikes me as naive.
- icanhackit 9y ago> strikes me as naive This is interesting because your viewpoint focuses on the law and who is technically in the right, while his viewpoint values community cohesion and well-being. This tends to be the line between conservative and liberal viewpoints regarding treatment of lawbreakers - hard line reactions which favour the capital holder versus rehabilitation, decriminalisation, consideration of the social fabric. That said, stealing someones walnuts and reselling them is a douche move. Being a centrist, I'd recommend approaching them about it and providing a warning. If you'd prefer not to approach, leave signs near the trees indicating theft will be reported and what the punishment could be. If they don't heed the warning then report them. The correct answer is often somewhere in the middle.
- lappet 9y agoI grew up stealing mangoes in India as a kid. There is something about raw mangoes that makes you want to pluck them immediately.
- anfractuosity 9y agoThere's an interesting story about mulberry trees in the UK: "Elizabeth I, sent some mulberry trees to Reading to encourage a silk industry there - the leaves are the sole food of silk worms - but it was James I who got serious and ordered them by the thousand because he wanted to take control of the silk-making business the from French. Unfortunately, the scheme failed because the gardener planted the wrong sort. Silk worms eat the soft leaves of Morus alba but had no appetite for the leathery leaves of Morus nigra, the tree that produces such delicious fruit." From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3311801/The-fruit-of-queens.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3311801/The-fruit-of-qu... I'd love to try making mulberry gin like they mention. We make damson gin each year in Autumn which tastes awesome.
- KittiHawk 9y agoSome of my fondest neighborhood memories are of neighbors inviting each other over to pick their fruit trees. My family had some apple and black cherry (this was in Canada) trees; other neighbors had plums or blackberry patches. Sometimes people would even put out a board at the end of the driveway inviting others to come take some fruit so it wouldn't go to waste. Edit: I think a lot of people have ambitions of canning or some such when they plant their fruit trees, but it's a bit of a lost art now. I don't know anyone who isn't a grandparent that actually knows how to preserve fruit.
- lazyasciiart 9y agoIt's definitely still around, and probably in a resurgent phase - see places like Serious Eats (http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/02/how-to-can-canning-pickling-preserving-ball-jars-materials-siphoning-recipes.html http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/02/how-to-can-canning-pickli...). I have several young (~30yo) friends who do it.
- pchristensen 9y agoI taught myself canning this summer. I was surprised how cheap and easy it is to get started. Basic primer: - you preserve foods by heating them to drive out air, kill bacteria, and activate the adhesive on the lids to seal the jar - high acid foods (salsa, pickles, citrus, many fruits and jams, etc) can be preserved by submerging in boiling water for 10 minutes (or more, based on altitude). This is called "water bath canning" - Low acid foods (meats, veggies, etc) need to be heated to a higher temperature (~245 F) so you need a pressure canner. I have not tried this yet. Equipment: - a pot, rack (makes dunking/lifting easier), funnel (makes filling jars so much easier), jar lifter (for lifting hot jars out of boiling water). There's a kit here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KHN602/ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KHN602/ - wide mouth mason jars (about $1/each at Amazon or Wal-Mart) I did typical nerd internet research, but it all coalesced to http://www.simplycanning.com http://www.simplycanning.com. Good material, clear instructions, good recipes. She sells a book and ebook, but there's plenty of material on the site to get started. I've had so much fun doing it that I've made way more than I can use and opened an Etsy store - https://www.etsy.com/shop/seattlesweetness https://www.etsy.com/shop/seattlesweetness. It's a really satisfying break from all the mental work programming.
- 21 9y agoSo in Turkey you can see orange trees on streets: https://i.imgur.com/MJck2yU.jpg https://i.imgur.com/MJck2yU.jpg When I saw such pictures on Instagram I wondered what happens with the fruit, or if you are allowed to pick one (looks rather high though)
- snambi 9y agoStealing is an Art?
- kbutler 9y agoWe have many fruit trees (Several peach, couple of apple, pear, a nectarine, and an apricot). When harvest time comes, we pick what we need and want to use or process, then advertise to the neighborhood that they are welcome to come and pick. Often, no one wants to invest more labor than to pick up a box off the porch.
- spaceflunky 9y agoMy parents have a guava and sour orange tree that grow along a very busy street in southern california. The oranges look delicious, but are sour as hell. They are mostly used for marinades. I feel bad for the people that have been burnt on them. The guavas are fantastic, but almost nobody in socal knows what a guava looks like. Once in a while someone will recognize the guava tree and gorge themselves. Considering good fresh guava is not only hard to come by, but around $8/lb if you can find it.
- nwatson 9y ago$8/pound for guava sounds real expensive. I can get real good Mexican guava for around $3/pound at this grocery store in North Carolina: https://www.facebook.com/Compare-Foods-Winston-Salem-NC-119656968200283/ https://www.facebook.com/Compare-Foods-Winston-Salem-NC-1196... (I suppose this varies according to season). Side note: I was born and spent a lot of time growing up in Brazil and like Guaraná in soda/soft drink form (Antarctica brand). I didn't think I'd find it when I moved here, but this store had four pallets of the stuff on display on one of my first visits.
- spaceflunky 9y agoProbably more of a regional thing. Lots of Guava is grown and sold in Florida because of the demand. I suppose that makes it easy to get up the east coast at a lower cost. Guava doesnt grow well on west coast (at least on the commercial scale) and there is much less demand, so that's why prices are so high.
- whipoodle 9y agoLots of wonderful things grow where I live! I'm particularly fond of the blackberries, lavender, and cherries. For berries and cherries I only take one or two very occasionally, and I never cut lavender, only rub my hand on it for the scent.
- Dowwie 9y agoI've got two fully mature plum trees on my property that are fruiting so well this Summer. In Spring, I released 9000 lady bugs to ward off another aphid infestation, which ruined the trees last Summer. I tend to the trees daily, removing rotting and diseased plums so to give other plums a fighting chance to ripen. The neighborhood is home to a fairly large quaker parrot population, whom I allow to eat from the top of the trees. The bottom half of the trees is netted so that the parrots won't clear out the entire crop. When I first bought the property, two years ago, I was shocked to find an entire neighborhood accustomed to helping itself to the plums-- without permission and without any kind of exchange from their own gardens. They had a prior relationship with the prior owners and expected grandfathered rights of some kind. Most of the plums I pick I end up giving to neighbors, friends, family, co-workers. It's a lovely time of year. If anyone is in the NYC area and would like some, drop me a message :)
- jacobr 9y ago> I was shocked to find an entire neighborhood accustomed to helping itself to the plums-- without permission and without any kind of exchange from their own gardens Several of my neighbours tell us and others when their raspberries and currants are ripe, there's simply too much for them to eat. I wouldn't continue without invitation from a new owner, but why would you not invite others if you have more than enough for yourself?
- Dowwie 9y agoEvery neighbor who I speak with gets an invitation. There was a population, though, that felt it unnecessary to establish even the most basic personal connection before helping itself.
- markdown 9y agoAnyone who loves fruit should watch The Fruit Hunters: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2182169/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2182169/
- decafb 9y agoAlso have a small garden with lots of fruit. Plenty to go around so I don't mind other people picking as well. Though we have safety concerns - people climbing trees and so on. We like to be in hearing distance in case something happens, also we have some ladders and other tools harvesters can use and point out good spots. Anyway my point is - just let the owner know. Most will welcome you and even assist. And make sure you are safe - no-one wants to come home and find a badly hurt stranger in his backyard. Also take care to not damage the plants. The article generally leaves me with mixed feelings. Less about the stealing. More about common sense - there are many places where I just wouldn't pick fruits - like along polluted roads, heck in public parks there is even risk there are feces on the fruit. In the countryside there are snakes living in bushes making unpleasant encounters when unprepared. I see how the author paints it as romantic, but I feel she is more painting herself as "rebel" or "original" than actually giving advise.