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Today I learned the distinction between the kiwi bird and the kiwifruit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit I
by smitty1e 1y ago
Today I learned the distinction between the kiwi bird and the kiwifruit
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit
I had always thought the latter to be a New Zealand fruit that is the source of the name "kiwi".
No, kiwifruit is Chinese. The more you know.
- TheAlchemist 1y agoYou were right actually. Yes it's Chinese, but it was popularized by New Zealand - hence the name ! The history of agriculture in New Zealand is very interesting - for such a small country, they sure figured out how to do it well and quite often in very innovative ways. It's also the country that pretty much 'invented' farm raised venison.
- nandomrumber 1y agoThere’s a streak of Dutch through the New Zealand demographic, and the Dutch have been famously fabulous farmers in at least some of the places they’ve inhabited. Netherlands, South Africa, New Zealand, Tasmania and Victoria in Australia, and at least some US states that are famous for agriculture: California, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa.
- metalman 1y agoyep, we got em here in Nova Scotia, "little dutch farmers", still doing the dutch beard thing, farming with oxen, deap knowledge of traditional farming practice, oh how they can talk, and bend your ear, best pay attention, as if they like you, they will drop a significant observation into an otherwise seemingly pointless ramble, but as they say....you have to catch it get them in Pennsylvania too, though less obviously out of a clasic painting from the 17th century
- EdwardDiego 1y agoThe Dutch largely arrived here post WW2, we were doing a bunch of agriculture before then, rest assured.
- nandomrumber 1y agoDidn’t the Dutch acquire New York back in 1613?
- EdwardDiego 1y agoHere was referring specifically to New Zealand, apologies for confusion :)
- nelblu 1y agoI'd give credit to the Hobbits, they were great farmers!
- IAmBroom 1y agoBut they suffer from the same inefficiencies as truffle-hunting pigs: they tend to eat all their produce before making it to market. Weight-conscious NZ human farmers have the advantage there.
- markdown 1y agoI've seen the word "kiwi" used to refer to the fruit in the US, which just seems odd to me, like calling a pineapple a pine. In my part of teh world its a kiwifruit, not a kiwi. A kiwi is a New Zealander. In fact while they're both named after the bird, the bird is more often called a kiwi bird than just a kiwi.
- rat87 1y agoYes us Americans just say kiwis instead of kiwifruits. Not too many kiwi birds or New Zealanders in the states so there's not much confusion
- zimpenfish 1y agoUK people also mostly just call it "kiwi" instead of "kiwifruit". Similar lack of kiwi birds but we do have a fair few kiwi people (at least in London.)
- IAmBroom 1y agoAmerican here. I can state authoritatively I've never confused a greenish fruit with an expatriate of a peri-Australian island.
- ZephyrBlu 1y agoAs a New Zealander, it seems like everywhere other than NZ the default is calling it a "kiwi" instead of "kiwifruit"
- 1y ago