Anti-Presentation

Forget the pretty tableware, forget spoons and knives, forget manners. Some eating is best enjoyed with the raw pleasure of a beast with it's kill. The messier the better.

I recently bought a big bag of heavy pink grapefruit at my local buying club. They are probably end of the season fruit so I am enjoying them with end of season fervor. I've eaten one a day for the last week and now two remain.

I started out with a neatly cut half and gently excised the pulp wedges from the membranes with a grapefruit knife so I could politely eat the juicy fruit with a spoon. I could not hold myself back however. After all the pink fruit was removed from the peels, I squeezed the spongy skins to extract the remaining juice and drank from the bowl. These are good grapefruit: tart and juicy with a sweet aftertaste.

I soon abandoned cutting and spooning for a peel-and-eat strategy. Sounds easy? First I bite into the bitter thick peel. Then I pull it off in big sheets by hand. Lots of bitter membrane remains, so I strip it off using my fingernails where necessary. Next, I gore the stem end with my thumb and separate the fruit in half. Juice runs down my wrists.

I separate a section from the half and bite a hole at the thinnest part of the wedge. I peel back both sides of the membranes and shiny pink globules appear. I bite a wedge of pulp away from the membrane attachment. Juice squirts. I am in heaven and I am a mess. I continue wedge by wedge until all I have is a pile of empty membranes, and juice-covered hands and face.

Presentation you say? Those pink shiny wedges are beautiful when they are carefully eviscerated from the membranes but this is a feasting experience similar to eating lobster in its carapace or ribs dripping with barbecue sauce. A bib isn't a bad idea.

Lycopene and fiber? Yes, grapefruit is good for you. But who cares about that when you can abandon yourself to a sensual feast?