COCONUTS

In the chapter entitled Southern Arabia, East Africa, Arabian Gulf our explorer takes a section to write about the coconut, Account of the Coconut he calls it. This section really stood out to me, yes I know that is weird, and I wanted to write about it because I think the coconut is extremely overlooked as a food we should have in our every day diet. Our author writes, “This is the ‘Indian nut’…These trees are the most peculiar trees in kind and most astonishing in habit…” What is so interesting about coconuts is that they are nuts that grow off a tree and considered fruits. Battuta tells the story of how the coconut apparently came to be, I loved this story of the man who had his head chopped off and the coconut grew from a date-stone that had been planted in his head. Battuta writes of this fruit because upon discovery of it he is immediately aware of how important it is to the human body. My mother’s nutritionist swears by drinking coconut water because she reasons that coconuts have been an important part of the proper nourishment for people for thousands of years, as the fruit has helped people excel at maintaining a positive and fit lifestyle. On this website that I discovered one can see the different coconut products available for purchase in many stores, as well as the medicinal qualities of this fruit. I have always thought as the coconut as providing brain food, juice for the mind. Battuta describes the experience of this juice, “a liquid of extreme sweetness and coolness,” what could sound better than that on a hot summer day. Or even in the middle of winter the juice from a coconut gives that thirst quenching kick you sometimes need in the morning. So next time you find yourself wandering by a smoothie shop of health food market, order a coconut. They will chop of the top and stick a straw into the nut, and you can drink the juice right out of the fruit as you walk down the street. You don’t have to be on a tropical island to actually feel like you are on one. If you can’t get the real thing try Zico, bottled coconut water, they sell it in most delis and it is pretty close to the real thing. Just remember the key word: electrolytes and its NOT Gatorade. Places you can drink juice right out of the coconut: Liquteria (on 2nd Avenue and 11th Street) Healthfully (on 4th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues) LifeThyme (on 6th Avenue and 10th Street)