Lucy Lethbridge
A Matter of Taste
The Pineapple: King of Fruits
By Fran Beauman
Chatto & Windus 315pp £16.99
In their wild state, pineapples are small, hard and bitter, and emerge from a thorny cup of razor-sharp leaves – a single fruit to each plant. They were domesticated into sweetness over hundreds of years by the Tupí-Guaraní tribe of Amazonia. It’s a long way from the tinned pineapple chunks destined to finish their days as a topping for a Hawaiian-themed pizza.
To finish up canned in syrup seems an ignoble end for the fruit once so prized in the West that it was known as ‘the King of Fruits’. From its first introduction into Europe in the sixteenth century, the pineapple displayed all the qualities necessary to join the most exclusive
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm