0
SPEAKER_01
Perfect.
0
SPEAKER_01
All right.
0
SPEAKER_00
Numbers are moving.
0
SPEAKER_00
I assume it s recording.
0
SPEAKER_00
Is it?
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah, it is recording.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, perfect.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, now I m going to try something different, Monica, because my pre-recorded intro, I didn t think it was any good.
0
SPEAKER_01
Oh my God.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I m going to do a live read of the introduction.
0
SPEAKER_00
Very exciting.
0
SPEAKER_01
You second-guessed?
0
SPEAKER_00
I second-guessed.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I just read it and I didn t like it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so while I was waiting for you guys to finish Synced before, I just rewrote it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Oh wow, just now.
0
SPEAKER_00
Just now.
0
SPEAKER_01
Hot off the presses.
0
SPEAKER_00
So it s not, it s still not great.
0
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_00
But you let me know if it holds up.
0
SPEAKER_01
Great.
0
SPEAKER_00
And if it holds up, let s just put this in the episode.
0
SPEAKER_01
I love it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Okay, I m gonna close my eyes.
0
SPEAKER_01
A lot of pressure.
0
SPEAKER_00
A lot of pressure.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m David, we ve heard this before.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m David Farrier, and New Zealand accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.
0
SPEAKER_00
I crossed out a whole lot of things and the new one begins.
0
SPEAKER_00
As I explained in an earlier episode, I had to come back to New Zealand late last year because of my three-year work visa running out.
0
SPEAKER_00
Now to get a new American work visa, I had to fill in a lot of forms and pay a lot of money to some lawyers.
0
SPEAKER_00
The final piece of the puzzle was that I had to leave America and attend an interview at a US embassy somewhere abroad.
0
SPEAKER_00
America, being the helpful country that it is, wouldn t let me take a road trip to Canada or one down to Mexico.
0
SPEAKER_00
To prove my dedication to America, I d have to fly away from America to an embassy that wasn t in a country or a place nestled up against the American border.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I decided I was going to make a big trip on a plane.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I might as well fly all the way back to my country of origin, New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
How are we going so far?
0
SPEAKER_01
Pretty good.
0
SPEAKER_00
Pretty good?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Just trying to set up while I was in New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because I think it is kind of funny that I can t just go to Canada to like go to an embassy.
0
SPEAKER_00
I ve got to like, America makes you really leave.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that s true.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s true.
0
SPEAKER_00
They put you through your paces.
0
SPEAKER_01
They do.
0
SPEAKER_00
Right.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I went back to New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
I was there waiting for my new visa to be issued for about a month.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I decided I should record a few episodes of Flightless Bird about being stuck in New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
And this is a line I feel really excited about.
0
SPEAKER_00
Are you ready?
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
So welcome to a New Zealand episode of Flightless Bird, which saw this flightless bird grounded in the land of flightless birds.
0
SPEAKER_00
Get it?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because I m the flightless bird usually in America, because I can t leave America.
0
SPEAKER_00
But now I m in New Zealand, which is where all the flightless birds.
0
SPEAKER_00
Look, you should have seen the old one.
0
SPEAKER_00
It was worse.
0
SPEAKER_00
All right, theme song.
0
SPEAKER_00
Flightless.
0
SPEAKER_00
Flightless.
0
SPEAKER_00
Flightless bird touchdown in America.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m a flightless bird touchdown in America.
0
SPEAKER_00
Hi Monica, I m back in America.
0
SPEAKER_01
You re back in America.
0
SPEAKER_00
How s everything going?
0
SPEAKER_01
Everything s good, but I wanted to address something.
0
SPEAKER_00
This doesn t bode well.
0
SPEAKER_01
No, this is not a problem.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_01
For you.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s where I go straight away.
0
SPEAKER_00
Problem.
0
SPEAKER_01
I know.
0
SPEAKER_00
Panic.
0
SPEAKER_01
So you went back for your visa.
0
SPEAKER_00
I did.
0
SPEAKER_01
I currently am trying to get a travel visa.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh, incredible.
0
SPEAKER_01
And it is so complicated.
0
SPEAKER_00
What part of the world are you going to?
0
SPEAKER_01
The subcontinent.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_01
I had to ask my mom and dad so many questions today that I didn t know the answers.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh, is it like your parents  date of birth and stuff like that?
0
SPEAKER_01
I know their dates of birth.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s always a mystery to me.
0
SPEAKER_00
I always forget.
0
SPEAKER_01
I always do have to do math to figure it out, but the exact cities they were born.
0
SPEAKER_01
Another important question was, have I ever been there before?
0
SPEAKER_01
Which I have.
0
SPEAKER_01
And when I went, what were the addresses of the places I stayed and the cities, all the cities I visited and the visa number from then?
0
SPEAKER_01
And it was 1992.
0
SPEAKER_01
We don t have any of that information.
0
SPEAKER_00
It doesn t exist.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
But did you do it on the fly?
0
SPEAKER_00
Did you wing a few things or did you just get as close as possible?
0
SPEAKER_01
I just labeled the cities and I said, no visa number.
0
SPEAKER_00
I mean, yeah, it s it s it s the deepest dive into your own life you can ever have.
0
SPEAKER_01
But who s going to keep that information?
0
SPEAKER_00
And who s also, I m wondering how closely they check because with the American visa, it wants to know my last five or 10 trips in and out, dates and everything.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I m like, I don t have that.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so you re trolling through emails for different flights you ve taken and arrival times and my terribly organized diary.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh, the interesting thing about America is they want to know all your social media handles.
0
SPEAKER_00
Which is, and I just pictured this, if anyone is actually doing some kind of a search on there to see if you re saying disparaging things about America.
0
SPEAKER_00
Are they looking at your political leanings?
0
SPEAKER_00
Are they making sure that you re not a terrorist or something?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes, I m listing like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
0
SPEAKER_00
I ve got a TikTok I never use.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I m just wondering, is any poor person in the immigration department having to go through my social media and like read what I ve
0
SPEAKER_00
Like, and what s the red flag?
0
SPEAKER_00
When do they send me off to another department to go, we re not sure about this David guy?
0
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_01
Oh, this is so fascinating.
0
SPEAKER_00
Do they listen to Flightless Bird episodes and see how American I am?
0
SPEAKER_00
Does that factor in?
0
SPEAKER_00
Or is it all just to make you a bit on edge and make you sort of go, do I really want to do this?
0
SPEAKER_01
Oh, this is a great question.
0
SPEAKER_01
I wish we could talk to someone who works in that department.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I want to do an episode about immigration, because there s an interesting thing where I met a few people in New Zealand who are Americans who moved there to New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
They were just like, I want to try something different.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then a few of them have renounced their US citizenship.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know how we ve talked about the ceremony of me becoming a citizen one day?
0
SPEAKER_00
the whole thing about getting rid of your citizenship.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s such a highly charged, really full-on moment.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I was talking to someone in New Zealand who had done this, and they just talked about what they weren t expecting.
0
SPEAKER_00
They were really upset at the ceremony because everything you were sort of drilled into as an American is what a privilege this is.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so they realized giving it up, it triggered something like deep inside.
0
SPEAKER_00
They were just doing it for like a practical reason.
0
SPEAKER_00
Like they live in New Zealand now, they re not coming back to America, all the rest of it.
0
SPEAKER_00
But they had this really emotional response.
0
SPEAKER_01
I don t think I could do it, which feels crazy.
0
SPEAKER_00
And no, for the same reason that I talk about how difficult it would be for me to give up New Zealand citizenship and pledge to another country, there is this thing about wherever you re brought up, you end up feeling this deep loyalty to the place.
0
SPEAKER_01
But more than loyalty, there is a gratitude for the place.
0
SPEAKER_01
I think, that is underneath all of it.
0
SPEAKER_01
And then it feels like cheating.
0
SPEAKER_01
It feels like you cheated on your monogamous partner.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and it s the place that made you you, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
So you re like, this defines me and now I m just turning my back to this place.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so, yeah, after some of these conversations I ve had, I just thought this could be an interesting question.
0
SPEAKER_00
And as well, of people immigrating to America and becoming citizens.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then I like the idea of the reverse thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
Another interesting thing about America is that once you become a citizen, so I m on a visa, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Next step would be a green card.
0
SPEAKER_00
Right.
0
SPEAKER_00
Next step would be citizenship.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Once you ve got citizenship, if I left and went back to New Zealand, for the rest of my life, I would be filing taxes in America.
0
SPEAKER_00
And there s only two countries that do that.
0
SPEAKER_00
I can t remember the name of the other country.
0
SPEAKER_00
Basically, say I go back to New Zealand and get a job in New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
Nothing to do with America.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because I m an American citizen, for the rest of my life I have to file taxes in America.
0
SPEAKER_01
Based on what you ve earned in New Zealand?
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
I could never return here.
0
SPEAKER_00
I could have a huge falling out with you guys, be like, I don t want to do this podcast anymore.
0
SPEAKER_00
Go back to New Zealand and I go and work in an office in New Zealand.
0
SPEAKER_00
have to file U.S.
0
SPEAKER_00
taxes, pay taxes to America, fund America with my taxes for the rest of my life.
0
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
0
SPEAKER_01
If you became a citizen here and then you moved back, and then we had a big falling out, you said, I don t want to do this podcast anymore.
0
SPEAKER_01
And then you moved back to New Zealand, can you renounce the American citizenship?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes, I can.
0
SPEAKER_00
But when I do that, I would not be allowed to say it s for tax reasons.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s like a no-no.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I d have to be like, oh no, it s nothing to do with tax.
0
SPEAKER_01
They make you say why?
0
SPEAKER_00
I wanna find out.
0
SPEAKER_00
I wanna talk to someone that s been through the process and see what the situation is, because I m so, so curious.
0
SPEAKER_00
I love this.
0
SPEAKER_01
Remember we called my dad, but he didn t have much information?
0
SPEAKER_00
No, he didn t have a lot.
0
SPEAKER_01
Couldn t remember much.
0
SPEAKER_01
But also on this travel visa form, I had to fill out about them, their place of birth, and their nationality, and if they ever had a previous nationality.
0
SPEAKER_01
And for both of them, it s true.
0
SPEAKER_01
They re both American citizens, but were originally born in India.
0
SPEAKER_00
When do you find out whether you re given a thumbs up or a thumbs down?
0
SPEAKER_01
I m not so sure.
0
SPEAKER_00
You re just waiting.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m just waiting.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s all out of your hands.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s whether they deem you worthy or not.
0
SPEAKER_01
We ll probably be back by then, by the time this airs.
0
SPEAKER_01
And Dax is doing this too.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s doing this process too.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I kept thinking today when we were getting these questions, it s so much easier for him.
0
SPEAKER_01
He just says, no, no, yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
There s no complications.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s just America, America.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s all America.
0
SPEAKER_00
Here I am.
0
SPEAKER_00
Imagine if you had been a bit busy and made me fill in the forms on your behalf.
0
SPEAKER_00
I d be like, oh, she came here as a wee baby.
0
SPEAKER_00
She d give you an entire
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it s so good you didn t.
1
SPEAKER_00
You got to fill those forms in yourself.
1
SPEAKER_04
Well, good luck.
1
SPEAKER_04
Thanks.
1
SPEAKER_04
Let s hope I get there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you have any questions about New Zealand?
1
SPEAKER_04
No, but I m really excited to hear about your adventure.
1
SPEAKER_00
I haven t even said what the topic is.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay, let s just, I ll play you my little documentary.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s very specific about a very specific thing, but sometimes I think we ve got to be specific in this life, you know?
1
SPEAKER_04
Agreed.
1
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes you don t know what you re missing from home until you return.
1
SPEAKER_00
It all kind of floods back at once.
1
SPEAKER_00
And in New Zealand, it s things like all the green you see out the plane window, the fresh air that hits you when you leave the airport, and the sight of certain trees and animals.
1
SPEAKER_00
But for me, the main thing, the main thing I d forgotten I d been missing this whole time, the taste and smell of my favorite fruit, the feijoa.
1
SPEAKER_03
Oh, hi, I m Georgia.
1
SPEAKER_00
Georgia is just one of five million New Zealanders who love the Fijoa.
1
SPEAKER_00
I understand you re a fan of the Fijoa.
1
SPEAKER_03
Oh, I was about to swear.
1
SPEAKER_03
Can I say that?
1
SPEAKER_03
You can swear.
1
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_03
I fucking love a Fijoa.
1
SPEAKER_03
I love a Fijoa so much.
1
SPEAKER_03
So much.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s just part of the culture.
1
SPEAKER_03
You walk down the street and there s a tree on the side of the road and you just huck some Fijoas in your bag.
1
SPEAKER_03
What s that word that you just said?
1
SPEAKER_03
Huck.
1
SPEAKER_03
Huck.
1
SPEAKER_03
Like throw?
1
SPEAKER_03
Huck.
1
SPEAKER_03
I don t know.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s really good.
1
SPEAKER_00
I m a New Zealander and I haven t heard that word before.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s really good.
1
SPEAKER_03
Huck s a good word.
1
SPEAKER_03
You can put it into your vocab.
1
SPEAKER_00
What is it about the Fijawa that s so good?
1
SPEAKER_00
Because I feel like Americans, they don t know what they re missing.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s like a soury sweet in its own package.
1
SPEAKER_03
You don t even need to put it in anything.
1
SPEAKER_03
You can just huck it off a tree, open it, eat it.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s so good.
1
SPEAKER_00
Simply put, feijoas are the best fruit, referred to by some New Zealanders as green gold.
1
SPEAKER_00
They re green and about the size of the egg I once cracked on Rosabelle s head.
1
SPEAKER_00
Using words to describe the taste of a feijoa is doing the fruit a disservice.
1
SPEAKER_00
To understand the ecstasy of a feijoa, you ve got to use your taste buds.
1
SPEAKER_00
Some say the flavour has hints of guava, or strawberry, or pineapple.
1
SPEAKER_00
It has the softness of an avocado, with the soft, gritty texture of a pear.
1
SPEAKER_00
In a typical year, in a typical feijoa season, how many feijoas would you throw back?
1
SPEAKER_03
Honestly, if I can get a good access to feijoas, I would do 20 a day in like a sitting.
1
SPEAKER_03
Because all you do is just cut them up and then my secret hack is if you eat one half that is delicious, I ll put the other half aside so I can make sure I finish on a good feijoa.
1
SPEAKER_03
Because some of them will be duds.
1
SPEAKER_03
20 a day?
1
SPEAKER_03
I would say, easily, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
So in your lifetime, we re talking thousands of feijoas.
1
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like many New Zealanders, George s appreciation of the whījoa started in her youth.
1
SPEAKER_03
My neighbours where I grew up had a whījoa tree and I used to go on night raids.
1
SPEAKER_03
So they told us that we could come and pick whījoas off their tree, but I was always too embarrassed to do it during the day, so I would go in the dark of night.
1
SPEAKER_03
And then as I got older, when I met my fiancé, I would make him come with me to go on night raids to get whījoas off the tree.
1
SPEAKER_00
So romantic.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
Started a great relationship.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean it was.
1
SPEAKER_00
Georgia and her fiance now own a dog and are getting married later this year.
1
SPEAKER_00
Now when in America, I find myself browsing the fruit aisles of countless American grocery stores desperately seeking a glimpse of my favorite green fruit.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I always fail.
1
SPEAKER_00
sinking into a deep depression.
1
SPEAKER_00
But now I m back in New Zealand, I can embrace the Fijoa.
1
SPEAKER_00
And in this country, we re not just eating Fijoas, we re putting Fijoas in everything else.
1
SPEAKER_00
We put it in our chocolate, smoothies, ice cream, wine, champagne, and in our beer.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s become near impossible not to eat Fijoa, as they just put Fijoas in every other food and drink.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I ve driven about an hour north of Auckland City to the dreamy town of Matakana, because here they brew an award-winning Fijoa beer.
1
SPEAKER_01
This is a wild feijoa, and the vintage is 2022, and it s the best bear in New Zealand currently.
1
SPEAKER_00
Just as an aside, the transcription software I used to make Flightless Bird can t understand the New Zealand accent, so when Sean said, This is a wild feijoa, the transcript read, This is a wild vagina.
1
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, I m at the bar talking to Sean from the 8 Wired Brewery.
1
SPEAKER_00
The name of the brewery is a very New Zealand thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
Number 8 wire is a common type of wire farmers use for their fences here.
1
SPEAKER_00
Farming s big in New Zealand.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that includes sheep.
1
SPEAKER_00
And number 8 wire is everywhere, and because it s so versatile, it ends up being used on things besides fences.
1
SPEAKER_00
You might wind some number 8 wire around something to hold it in place.
1
SPEAKER_00
So number eight wire came to mean problem solving.
1
SPEAKER_00
So if Dax was in New Zealand, people might look at him fixing a car in an inventive way and say, wow, look at Dax.
1
SPEAKER_00
He has a number eight wire mentality.
1
SPEAKER_00
My point is, that s what the brewery is referencing by calling itself eight wired.
1
SPEAKER_00
You say the best beer, what makes it the best beer?
1
SPEAKER_00
Has it won an award?
1
SPEAKER_00
Is this your personal opinion?
1
SPEAKER_01
Sean pours me a pint of Fijoa beer and I take a chug.
1
SPEAKER_01
And because it s a hot summer s day in New Zealand, and because this beer tastes like Fijoas, well, this drink is heaven.
1
SPEAKER_01
You basically brew a pale ale beer, then you stick it into barrels for a couple of years, and then you mix a metric ton of feijoas, gets mixed with that, and then you sit that for about another year, and then it gets packaged up.
1
SPEAKER_01
When it s a fresh vintage, it smacks more of the feijoas, and then the older it gets, the more of the barrel-age funk comes out.
1
SPEAKER_01
So if you were to taste one of those 2014 vintages, it ll be really funky from the barrel.
1
SPEAKER_00
I take my delicious beer outside because I m not just here to drink beer, I m here to meet someone.
1
SPEAKER_02
My name s Kate Evans, I m a freelance journalist in New Zealand.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mainly write for New Zealand Geographic magazine, but I also write for some American publications like Scientific American and Biographic.
1
SPEAKER_00
More importantly for this episode, Kate has also recently written a book about Fijoas.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s called Fijoas, A Story of Obsession and Belonging, and from what I can tell it s the first in-depth book focusing on the best fruit on the planet.
1
SPEAKER_00
I wanted to learn from Kate how this fruit became so synonymous with New Zealand, as synonymous as sheep and flightless kiwi birds and number 8 wires.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s my suspicion that part of the appeal of the Fijoa is that there are so many Fijoa trees everywhere here, just growing in backyards and on sidewalks.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so at the right time of the year, Fijoas are free.
1
SPEAKER_02
I grew up about 15 minutes from where we are now in a very small town of about 500 people called Lee.
1
SPEAKER_02
My dad had a whījoa hedge and one big beautiful specimen whījoa and my sisters and I would walk home from school every day and in the autumn, which was whījoa season, the beginning of the school year for us, the ground would be covered in whījoas.
1
SPEAKER_00
Heaven.
1
SPEAKER_02
So good.
1
SPEAKER_02
And we d just get home, chuck it in our school bags and sit under the tree with a spoon and a knife, cut them open and then spoon them out and eat them.
1
SPEAKER_00
Can you just describe this because if you haven t had this experience of this just feijoas en masse falling from the sky and you just devour them when you re a kid, what sets it apart from other fruit?
1
SPEAKER_00
Because there is something very fucking special about a feijoa.
1
SPEAKER_02
Right, well one thing is the crazy abundance.
1
SPEAKER_02
There s nothing for nine months of the year and then there s just shit tons of them.
1
SPEAKER_02
for two or three months, and you can never keep up.
1
SPEAKER_02
They re always just rotting in the grass, but the day that they first fall in, they re amazing.
1
SPEAKER_02
One of the amazing things about them is the smell, so they re very fragrant, and the smell is not like any other fruit.
1
SPEAKER_02
And in the book I ended up talking to scent neuroscientists, talking about how things that are really strongly flavoured, especially things that we encounter when we re children, the scent centre of the brain is really close to the memory centre of the brain and smell can trigger memories in a way that few other senses can.
1
SPEAKER_02
And so when you cut open a feed drone it has that really distinctive smell and you haven t smelt it for like nine months of the year or years if you ve lived overseas.
1
SPEAKER_00
You re transported back to being a kid in the light of the best time of the year.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, this kind of like beautiful relaxing thing of being in the garden or in the sidewalks in the suburbs.
1
SPEAKER_00
Kay s done some digging into the feijoa situation in the US and tells me that you can sometimes find them there in farmers markets.
1
SPEAKER_00
But in America, they re called pineapple guava, which makes sense because they do sort of taste a bit like those fruits.
1
SPEAKER_00
Fijos, sorry, pineapple guavas, were brought to California in 1901 by an Italian gardener who had gotten some seeds in from France.
1
SPEAKER_00
Immediately caught the eye of a man in Santa Barbara.
1
SPEAKER_02
And this guy, Francesco Franceschi in Santa Barbara was like, this is going to be the fruit of the century.
1
SPEAKER_02
And he was passionate about Fijoas and him and a couple of other guys who were kind of involved in bringing the avocado to California as well, which obviously was a lot more successful.
1
SPEAKER_02
They were really trying to promote the Fijoa.
1
SPEAKER_00
For a while, things were looking good for the tiny green fruit.
1
SPEAKER_00
Back in 1914, an American newspaper proclaimed the Fijoa a wonder fruit that will soon be one of the most popular sugar fruits in the United States.
2
SPEAKER_00
it was the most popular new fruit since the avocado.
2
SPEAKER_00
And by 1915, seeds were selling for $6 a gram, which by today s standards is about $150.
2
SPEAKER_00
Unfortunately, after a promising start, the Fijo are ultimately tanked in the US.
2
SPEAKER_00
The fruit doesn t store very well and can go off quicker than an avocado.
2
SPEAKER_00
They re also really variable from seed to seed, so the quality of trees varies a lot.
2
SPEAKER_02
So you have to graft it or clone it in some way and they re not that easy to do that.
2
SPEAKER_00
Some feijoa trees refuse to grow feijoas at all.
2
SPEAKER_00
By the 1930s, the LA Times had taken to calling the feijoa a desirable hedge plant.
2
SPEAKER_00
This description is sacrilege to a New Zealander.
2
SPEAKER_00
Kay tells me that despite the ultimate failure of the feijoa in America, she s located a few stray trees around San Francisco and Sacramento, and other bits of California.
2
SPEAKER_02
I met some crazy feijoa fiends in Red Bluff, California, in the middle of nowhere.
2
SPEAKER_02
They would trawl the streets of Sacramento looking for street trees and them in people s gardens and they d knock on people s doors and be like, excuse me, can we clean up the mess for you?
2
SPEAKER_02
And then they d come and get all the feijoas.
2
SPEAKER_00
New Zealand has also tried to get other Fijoa products into America, but unsuccessfully.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s like the fruit was cursed by the founding fathers.
2
SPEAKER_00
42 Below is a big vodka brand here in New Zealand, and they launched a bunch of their vodka in America.
2
SPEAKER_00
Every flavour a success, except the Fijoa flavour.
2
SPEAKER_00
Apparently, when they ran their Fijoa vodka past the FDA, the FDA said no because the Fijoa doesn t exist.
2
SPEAKER_00
It seems the Fijoa s fate has been well and truly sealed in the US.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s clear I ll have to use as much of my time in New Zealand as possible guzzling as many Fijoas as I can.
2
SPEAKER_00
Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird.
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2
SPEAKER_00
And I did guzzle quite a few jars.
2
SPEAKER_01
What size are they?
2
SPEAKER_00
They re like an egg.
2
SPEAKER_00
They re egg-shaped.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so they re about an egg.
2
SPEAKER_00
But are they egg-sized?
2
SPEAKER_00
Egg-sized.
2
SPEAKER_00
Egg-sized, egg-shaped.
2
SPEAKER_01
Like a kiwi.
2
SPEAKER_01
They re like a kiwi.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, they re exactly, yeah, it s very similar size.
2
SPEAKER_00
They re a bit more oval than a kiwi.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think a kiwi is a bit more round.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Fijo s are oval-ish.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s hard to describe.
2
SPEAKER_00
And look, I need to admit something, because I came back from New Zealand a little while ago now.
2
SPEAKER_00
I bought you back some Fijo chocolate and stuff, because I was like, I can t bring the fruit back.
2
SPEAKER_00
Don t say it.
2
SPEAKER_01
You ate it all?
2
SPEAKER_00
I ate it all.
2
SPEAKER_01
David, this is a serious, okay, wow.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t know what to say.
2
SPEAKER_00
I ve got discipline problems.
2
SPEAKER_01
This is a serious issue.
2
SPEAKER_01
This is now the third time you ve attempted to like gift things.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
And there s a donut issue a while ago.
2
SPEAKER_00
Look, all I can say is I love feijoas.
2
SPEAKER_00
And sometimes if I m at my house and I get a bit sad or something or a bit down, I just want to eat chocolate.
2
SPEAKER_00
And it was for your chocolate was there.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I don t have it all.
2
SPEAKER_00
I ate it all.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well then I m not sure if it exists.
2
SPEAKER_01
I am like the FDA.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m just not sure it exists.
2
SPEAKER_00
Until I see it.
2
SPEAKER_00
That sounds like that s made up.
2
SPEAKER_00
I have on good authority from someone that talked to the FDA that that s exactly the reason that this Fijo Vodka didn t get in.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because literally 42 Below, every other flavor they imported, Fijo, which is their most popular flavor in New Zealand, they couldn t get in.
2
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_00
So you ve never heard of the Pineapple Guava?
2
SPEAKER_00
Okay, so that s the thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
You can get them here, apparently.
2
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_00
I will, look, Monica, I will find you a pineapple guava, aka a feijoa, in the future, and I will bring you some, and you can try a feijoa.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m gonna look it up.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, look at pineapple guava, and just see if you ve seen them at a farmer s market, because we are in California, and this is where some of them do grow.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, wow.
2
SPEAKER_01
It kind of looks like a lime.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, fair.
2
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, it has a little hat.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s got a little hat.
2
SPEAKER_00
It does have a little hat.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s where it attaches on to the tree.
2
SPEAKER_01
Or it looks a little bit like an interesting shape cucumber.
2
SPEAKER_00
Wild takes.
2
SPEAKER_00
This is why it never took off in America, because people walked by these fruit and they re like, that s a little tiny cucumber.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t feel like a cucumber that s tiny.
2
SPEAKER_00
I ll just get an ordinary cucumber.
2
SPEAKER_00
Are you eating fruit?
2
SPEAKER_00
Because my favorite fruit, the passion fruit and the kiwi fruit.
2
SPEAKER_01
I am not a big fruit person.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s definitely lacking from my diet.
2
SPEAKER_00
You re more a veggie gal.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I would say more veggie gal.
2
SPEAKER_01
If I m at the grocery store, one out of five times I buy fruit.
2
SPEAKER_00
One out of five?
2
SPEAKER_00
I m a 10 out of 10.
2
SPEAKER_01
Lemon and lime and stuff for that s not, I don t count that, because I m mainly like cooking with those things.
2
SPEAKER_00
So you re not getting big, because one thing I love about California is all these punnets of fruit everywhere.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s strawberries and there s blackberries and then there s apples and pears and all the, and watermelon, chopping into a big watermelon, pineapple.
2
SPEAKER_01
I like pineapple.
2
SPEAKER_01
I like watermelon.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t love apples.
2
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_01
If they re in a salad cut up, I like that, but I never enjoy just biting straight into an apple.
2
SPEAKER_01
It hurts my teeth.
2
SPEAKER_00
Did you have a bad experience with an apple as a child?
2
SPEAKER_00
Like one that was a bit too flowery or something a bit too tart or something?
2
SPEAKER_01
No, it just doesn t feel fun to eat.
2
SPEAKER_01
It doesn t feel pleasurable for me to eat.
2
SPEAKER_01
If I m buying fruit at the grocery store, it s either likely a banana or blueberries.
2
SPEAKER_01
Blueberries is my go.
2
SPEAKER_00
Those are great choices and combine those into a smoothie and you ve got a delicious smoothie.
2
SPEAKER_01
But then you have to clean the blender and stuff.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think that fruit feel complicated.
2
SPEAKER_01
You always have to do something.
2
SPEAKER_01
You have to wash the berries.
2
SPEAKER_01
I need them to be as easy as an almond where you just eat it so fast, but you can t.
2
SPEAKER_01
You have to wash the berries.
2
SPEAKER_01
You have to cut up the apple.
2
SPEAKER_01
You have to peel the orange, peel the banana.
2
SPEAKER_01
The banana has fruit flies.
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, oh.
2
SPEAKER_00
The fruit flies do come for the banana.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_00
So fast.
3
SPEAKER_01
Where are they?
3
SPEAKER_01
I m in an apartment.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s no bugs.
3
SPEAKER_01
I pop a banana out.
3
SPEAKER_01
Have they hitched a ride on the fucking banana?
3
SPEAKER_01
It s fucked.
3
SPEAKER_03
I do wonder about fruit flies.
3
SPEAKER_03
Are they born in the banana?
3
SPEAKER_03
Why?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and if there s not a banana around, you don t see them.
3
SPEAKER_01
I never see a fruit fly just sitting on a wall or just relaxing.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t know what the fuck.
3
SPEAKER_01
Where are they?
3
SPEAKER_01
Are they in the house, behind a book or something, waiting until... What s that, banana?
3
SPEAKER_01
There s gonna be 500 of us in your kitchen when you wake up tomorrow.
3
SPEAKER_03
No, I don t know where they... We need to look at where they come from.
3
SPEAKER_01
You know we do, because it s crazy, right?
3
SPEAKER_03
I have a bad feeling they emerge from the banana.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, they re hitching a ride.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I mean, it makes sense, right?
3
SPEAKER_03
Because they do not exist otherwise.
3
SPEAKER_01
And the banana hits a certain level of ripeness, usually overripe.
3
SPEAKER_01
The thing about the fruit fly, they move so slowly.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s like they re lazy.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I hate, I d rather have a fast moving insect.
3
SPEAKER_01
The slow moving, lazy thing.
3
SPEAKER_01
Horrible.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, no, I would agree on this.
3
SPEAKER_01
My other question was about washing fruit.
3
SPEAKER_03
Oh, OK.
3
SPEAKER_01
You do need to wash fruit here, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
Because they ll be sprayed with various things.
3
SPEAKER_03
Exactly.
3
SPEAKER_01
OK.
3
SPEAKER_01
Same in New Zealand.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you always wash.
3
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes, though, I m so hungry for fruit.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t wash and I just chew them back.
3
SPEAKER_03
And then you get rabies.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then you get your rabies shots.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t feel great.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
So are you intrigued by the Fijo so far?
3
SPEAKER_01
I am.
3
SPEAKER_03
It sounds good.
3
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_03
I really like, you said it in the doc, nuances of strawberries, pineapples, kiwis, apples, and mint.
3
SPEAKER_03
That s a lot of flavor yet.
3
SPEAKER_03
It s also called the guava.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, the pineapple guava is the American name.
3
SPEAKER_03
Guava is a specific taste.
3
SPEAKER_01
I wouldn t liken it to a guava.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, for me, the kiwi fruit is just so part of being a New Zealander.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re seasonal, so they re not all year round, but a certain time of the year, they are just everywhere.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re falling from the sky off these trees.
3
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
And you just- Wait, kiwis.
3
SPEAKER_03
Are you calling this a kiwi fruit?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, did I call it kiwi just then?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, I meant feijoas.
3
SPEAKER_03
Oh, okay, okay, okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh my God.
3
SPEAKER_03
Because earlier when you said the kiwi fruit is your favorite, you meant a kiwi fruit.
3
SPEAKER_01
I meant a kiwi fruit.
3
SPEAKER_03
Okay, not a feijoa.
3
SPEAKER_01
No, we don t call them, so in New Zealand we call them kiwi fruit, we don t call them kiwis.
3
SPEAKER_03
Right, because it s confusing, because you re people.
3
SPEAKER_01
Because we have a people and a bird.
3
SPEAKER_03
Oh God.
3
SPEAKER_01
So yeah, we have to say kiwi fruit.
3
SPEAKER_01
Right.
3
SPEAKER_01
Just so it s clear that what we re eating.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, feijoas are falling from the sky all the time.
3
SPEAKER_03
So are Fijo, how do they rank in your favour?
3
SPEAKER_03
What are your top 10 favourite fruits?
3
SPEAKER_01
I d say they re tied with the passion fruit.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then I go in through all the berries.
3
SPEAKER_01
I love blueberries.
3
SPEAKER_01
I love boysenberries.
3
SPEAKER_01
I love blackberries.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then I ll get into pineapple, melons, that kind of thing.
3
SPEAKER_03
Oh yeah, that s the other thing.
3
SPEAKER_03
Melons, not for me.
3
SPEAKER_03
Cantaloupe, no thanks.
3
SPEAKER_03
Honeydew, no thanks.
3
SPEAKER_01
What s honey?
3
SPEAKER_01
I haven t had honeydew.
3
SPEAKER_03
Oh, it s- Is that a type of melon?
3
SPEAKER_03
It s a type of melon.
3
SPEAKER_03
It s like greenish, I think.
3
SPEAKER_03
It tastes just fine.
3
SPEAKER_03
Cantaloupe, not for me.
3
SPEAKER_03
Do you know about the cantaloupe?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, I m nodding like I do, but I m like, what is it?
3
SPEAKER_03
I wonder if you d like the cantaloupe.
3
SPEAKER_01
Sounds like antelope.
3
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, it sure does.
3
SPEAKER_03
It is with a C.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, yeah, I ve seen them.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve never chopped into one.
3
SPEAKER_01
You ve never had one, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
No.
3
SPEAKER_03
But see, see, they require chopping and like the mango, you have to, I love a mango, but you have to, ding, ding, ding, India, they have lots of mangoes there, but you have to like cut it.
3
SPEAKER_03
It s hard to cut.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, some of the prep is hard.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, pineapples are very intimidating to chop them up.
3
SPEAKER_03
Exactly.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, the stuff like that.
3
SPEAKER_03
And then the strawberries have little hats that you have to then throw away.
3
SPEAKER_03
Oh God, does that Feijoa hat have to be thrown away?
3
SPEAKER_01
Or can you eat it?
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay, so you can eat the Feijoa in a variety of ways.
3
SPEAKER_01
You can chop it in half with a knife, and then you just get a spoon and you spoon out the contents.
3
SPEAKER_03
Oh, so you can t eat the exterior?
3
SPEAKER_01
Some people do.
3
SPEAKER_01
So the other way of eating it is you can eat the exterior.
3
SPEAKER_01
I would never in a million years eat the exterior.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, really?
3
SPEAKER_01
Some people do, and it s such a tart skin.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s not for me.
3
SPEAKER_01
What I do though, I will bite through it to have, instead of getting a knife to chop it, I ll chop it with my mouth.
3
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then I ll suck out the insides and get my tongue in there.
3
SPEAKER_01
You just clean it out with your tongue.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, it s the best.
3
SPEAKER_03
Wow.
3
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_03
I m intrigued.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
Are you ready to learn some more about the feature?
3
SPEAKER_03
About the fake fruit.
3
SPEAKER_01
We re not done.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
Onwards.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_04
So they re native to Uruguay and the three southernmost states of Brazil and a little tiny corner of Argentina.
3
SPEAKER_01
I thought that maybe the feijoa was a New Zealand thing.
3
SPEAKER_01
But of course, as Kate explained, other places had the fruit before us.
3
SPEAKER_04
I later discovered that Colombians are obsessed with it, even though it s not native to Colombia.
3
SPEAKER_04
Colombians from the Andes.
3
SPEAKER_04
And people from Georgia, the country of Georgia, not the state of Georgia, and Azerbaijan really love them.
3
SPEAKER_01
I d been thinking more about why Fijoas, this wonderful fruit, hadn t taken off in America.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I remembered something else Cater told me.
3
SPEAKER_01
We were talking about the distinctive smell of the fruit.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s a good smell, and maybe a smell I d smelt somewhere else too?
3
SPEAKER_04
So the main component of the feijoa smell is a compound called methylbenzoate, which is really mostly only found in such concentration of feijoas.
3
SPEAKER_04
And apparently also when cocaine meets air in certain circumstances, like humid circumstances, it can combine to form methylbenzoate.
3
SPEAKER_04
So airport sniffer dogs have been trained to recognize that smell to detect the presence of cocaine.
3
SPEAKER_04
So maybe don t bring heaps of feijoas back in your luggage when you re getting back into LA airport.
3
SPEAKER_01
Maybe that s the real reason the Fijo of Vodka never got FDA approval.
3
SPEAKER_01
They thought it was just full of cocaine.
3
SPEAKER_01
I was gonna bring some Fijos back for Monica and Rob, but this has me running scared.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m getting a fresh visa, and I don t really want to get into an argument with customs about why my bag stinks of coke.
3
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While researching the Fijoa, I joined a few Facebook groups, one simply called Fijoa, and had 111,000 followers, most of them seem to be from New Zealand.
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I also joined a page called the Fijoa Appreciation Group, and this had a more international flavour.
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There I stumbled on Rebecca, a rare American who loves the Fijoa as much as me.
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She told me she lives in San Jose and has a blog called The Wonderful Fijoa.
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I live in San Jose, California, which is in Silicon Valley.
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But before it was Silicon Valley, it was known as the Valley of Hearts Delight, the Santa Clara Valley, a major fruit growing region historically since the 19th century.
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So a lot of people have fruit trees.
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And my boyfriend and I moved into a house in San Jose about 15 years ago.
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And it had this big old tree in the back that we didn t pay much attention to.
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And then around September, October, it started dropping all these
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interesting green fruit.
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I actually did Google image search green fruits and then I saw the fruit and I said, oh, that s the fruit.
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Rebecca had discovered the feijoa and she and her husband, they ve never looked back.
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We were like, can we eat these?
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Are they toxic?
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And started eating some of them and it was like, wow, these are really good.
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I really recommend reading Rebecca s blog, feedyourrecipes.wordpress.com.
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She s got a load of recipes there and a really comprehensive history of the fruits rise and fall in California.
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the feijoa was first introduced in California in the early 1900s.
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It was promoted as the next avocado, according to one article I found from 1915.
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And it was planted widely, and then people gave up because the fruit just didn t do as well.
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And I think the reason is the climate in California.
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is not conducive to really great feijoas in a lot of areas.
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It s too hot and too dry.
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So the tree was planted with a lot of excitement, and then the farmers just found it wasn t selling that well, so they didn t continue.
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Look, I live in hope that one day the feijoa will take off in America, and that I won t have to come all the way back to New Zealand to eat it.
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Rebecca hopes for the sunnier future too.
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OK, you got to pitch the Fijoa to an American that s never had one before.
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They re like, I don t need a new fruit.
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I ve got all the fruit I need in my life.
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What s your pitch to sell the Fijoa to someone s heart and soul?
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This is a really good, really special fruit, like no other fruit you ve tasted.
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Give it a try.
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You ll like it.
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I d never met a person who didn t like it after they tried it.
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She s pretty much right, except she hasn t met my dad, Alistair Farrier.
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And as this episode wraps up, and in the pursuit of journalistic integrity, I have to add that not everyone here likes the Fijoa.
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My dad, well, I think he hates them, which he explains to me in his typically reserved New Zealand way.
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No, I don t have... No, David, no, I ve... Fijo s are not... They re alright.
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They re alright in their time, but... I love Fijo s.
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They re one of my favourite fruits.
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You can t get them in America.
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Well, that s unfortunate.
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You ve got plenty of other fruits you can eat, though.
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If you don t like Fijo s, what s your favourite fruit?
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Oh, that...
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Tamarillo s?
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Tamarillo s very nice.
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Yeah.
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What is it that you don t like about the Fijo?
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Unusual flavour.
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Alright if you re desperate.
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Yeah.
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It s Alistair.
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That was, oh, I love when your parents join us for this show.
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Yeah, they get so visibly uncomfortable if ever I bring a recording device out.
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I m sure.
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And just, yeah, very, very reserved.
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You can force things out of them.
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And that was my dad just being, oh, he hates Fijo so much.
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It was such a dad vibe.
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Dads are so dad-like.
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They have such a fingerprint.
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Yeah, how does it happen?
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I don t know.
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Time, they age like a fine wine or something.
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They age in the exact same way, apparently, every single one.
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Okay, but the way he spoke about it being fine if you have to, is how I feel about apples.
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Right, you re like, I don t hate them, but it s like, oh, there s nothing else.
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If my blood sugar is plummeting, I will, I don t hate it, I just never want it.
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You re stuck on an island, it s all of a sudden, you re like, oh, I guess I ll have an apple today, there s nothing better options.
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Yeah, that s how I feel.
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But while I was listening to that, it did remind me that though I don t love fruit or I don t buy it, I love a fruit pie.
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I ll pop it in a pie.
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That s American, pop it in a pie.
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Pop it in a pie.
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Yum, yum, yum.
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Yeah, because when she said, made the distinction, it was Georgia the country, not Georgia the state, that was obvious to me because I would have known about it if it was Georgia the state.
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But Georgia the state is known for peaches, peach state.
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And I do love, and at first I was like, I don t like peaches, but I do like a pie.
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I love a peach pie.
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I ve never had a peach pie.
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I can make you a peach pie.
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That you do a good peach pie?
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I can make a peach galette.
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It s a free form pie.
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Such authority.
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No, this is good because I want to do another episode about America s fruit pie obsession.
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You think that s American?
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Yeah, we ve got House of Pies near us.
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I m amazed at all the fruit pies they have here.
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And things like, we ve talked about this a lot in the Florida episode, key lime pie, pecan pies.
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Well, that s a nut pie, but yeah.
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Wait, what kind of pies do you have?
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We have meat pies.
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You know, they just put meat in them.
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We put cow in our pies and some cheese and steaks and stuff.
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And that s our pie.
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So if you say in New Zealand, can we go and get a pie?
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No one would think fruit.
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You think meat.
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And you would not, you d think savory always.
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Every time.
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Wow.
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So that s a cultural thing that I want to get into.
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And I want to know why all these different states have these different pies that they re proud of.
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Okay, this is great.
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I had no idea that your thing was peach pies in Georgia.
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And I d love to know why, obviously you got a lot of peaches, but where do you get the best peach pie?
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Where do I get the best pecan?
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I know it s not fruit, but you love your pies.
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Pecan is also very Southern, Southern delicacy pie.
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Okay.
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I ve never tried to make that one.
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I don t know.
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I could try, but I m going to probably just contribute a piece to the lab.
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Can you make one of every type of American pie and we can just sample them?
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There d be hundreds of them.
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Feijo pie.
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Do you think there s such a thing?
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Should I look it up?
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Just see if there s a Feijo pie.
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Okay.
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It s hard to spell.
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F-E-I-J-O-A for anyone listening along.
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Feijo pie.
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Mini Feijoa apple pies?
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It s all Feijoa and apple.
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Yeah, why is everyone popping your nightmare fruit into the apple?
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Monica s like... Actually, I love an apple pie so much.
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Yes, I pop it in a pie.
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Yeah, so I think what you need, you need the savoury with the fruit and that makes you give it the A.K.
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No, it s not savoury, it s sweet.
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You know, our fruit pies are sweet.
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It s a dessert.
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Of course, even the pastry is a bit sweet, isn t it?
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Yeah, it has sugar, it s, yeah.
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I ve noticed that with your bread in America as well.
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It s always a bit sweet.
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Really?
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It tastes a little bit sweeter than New Zealand bread.
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I ve noticed.
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I think there s a little bit of extra sugar in.
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Oh my God.
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Maybe bread s another thing.
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We love sugar here.
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which is good because I love sugar.
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I hear it s not great.
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It s not great for you, but yeah, I do really love it.
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Feijoas.
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So yeah, I wanted to educate you about the Feijoa.
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Anyone out there listening in America, look for the pineapple guava.
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That s what I m talking about.
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See if you like it.
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It s funny you raised this earlier, the fact that they re being marketed like an avocado.
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I could say they re worlds apart.
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I think all they re saying is maybe someone that would buy an avocado might also be tempted to get the Fijo because they want something.
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It s like a character assessment, like cool millennial types.
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Maybe though, there s an alternate reality where everyone in LA, the hipsters are all eating feijoas instead of the avocado toast.
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They couldn t be further apart, but get one.
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The way it is like an avocado is you want to feel it and it wants to be soft, but not too soft.
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Cause you don t, there s nothing worse than an overripe feijoa.
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It can be like the banana, it can be the fruit fly.
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If this fruit fly is buzzing around it, put it back.
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It does sound like it would really attract some fruit flies.
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But can it be underripe?
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Can it be like the avocado where it s like, you can t even bite into?
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Yeah, I wouldn t.
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It s just very tart.
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So I wouldn t rush into it.
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You want one that s just at the perfect level of ripe.
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And that s why it never took off in America, because I think they just go off so quickly.
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You ve got like a window.
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Once it s off the tree, you ve got this window where it s this perfect food.
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Either side of it, no go.
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Okay, well, maybe I ll go to the Hollywood Farmer s Market.
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That s a very good farmer s market on Sundays.
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Yeah, okay, you should.
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That would be the place, if it s gonna be here in this country.
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This year, we re gonna find one.
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Yeah, I wanna find one.
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You re gonna consume it, and you re gonna tell me where it sits when you compare it to the apple.
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And I hope you like it more than a fucking apple.
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If I don t, I will not go well for you.
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This was very fun.
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I would say you have become more,
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Kiwi.
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Have I?
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No, you never knew about the Fijoa.
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Actually, you re right.
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And now you do.
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And if you were in New Zealand, you d be like, where can I get a Fijoa?
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Yum yum.
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You re right.
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And they ll be like, oh, you know about that?
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They ll welcome you with open arms.
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I become slightly more American because I learned about your love of the fruit pie.
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Okay, if we do a fruit pie episode, I have two friends, Lizzie and Joe, incredible friends.
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We as a team, as a trio, love pie.
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And they did pie for their dessert, for their like wedding cake.
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Oh, wow.
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That s how much they love it.
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Yes.
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Okay, great.
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Well, let s talk to them.
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Well, they did a pie tasting.
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They got little pies from all over the city and I went to help with the tasting.
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So I got to try all the pies.
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Oh, to find out what they re going to have for the wedding.
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That s such a good gig.
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It was so fun.
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Well, maybe we round up them or maybe we just go to a house of pies or something like that and just get like a bunch of slices and we just try them all.
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Yeah, let s do it.
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Okay, this is good.
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All right.
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Happy America.
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Happy Fijo.
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Happy America.
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Happy flightless bird.
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All right.
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See ya.