A little bit about food

(My apologies for the formatting mess. The way I avoid the blogspot ban to
post pictures doesn't allow me to be any fancier with the formatting.)

Summer in the Middle East is a wonderful time for food, and especially for
fruits and vegetables. Among the (many) pictures I have of foodstuffs from
the past month, I thought I would send a few along today.

Foodies and environmental nutters in America are very much interested in
the issue of the diversity of crops grown. Where we once had hundreds of
varieties of apples in America, today you can think of 5 varieties that
account for the vast majority of production, increasing vulnerability to
diseases and pests that, say, red delicious is particularly susceptible
too. And so I always enjoy seeing new varieties of familiar fruits and
vegetables, like the 3ajjour, which is a very slightly sweet cucumber that
looks like a tiny watermelon!

Of course, summer-time staples include apricot, though its season is just
now ending. If you want to know what is coming, you need only look at the
trees. Ripening pomegranates give an idea of what is to come soon!

My favorite fruit on the planet is probably figs, which just came into
season this week. I'm slightly allergic, but watch that stop me from
eating half a kilo at a time!