Asian Pears
You would think that with Asia's past success at besting Western food (sushi vs. fish and chips, teriyaki chicken vs. KFC, dim sum vs...well, you get the idea) it would do at least a passable job with pears.
But you would be wrong. Dead wrong.
The Asian pear (in particular, an expensive Korean pear I bought at Berkeley Bowl) seems like a good idea going in. It’s not really all that "pear-shaped," meaning it's much sexier than its bosc or d'anjou cousins. It's more apple-like, and we all know that apples are much tastier than everyday pears. It looks so yummy that most consumers (well, this one) would be willing to fork over $1.53 to at least sample such a delicacy.
But despite this fancy packaging (mine even came with a foam doily-like sheath designed to prevent it from bruising on its trip over the ocean), the Asian pear is hardly an adventure.
It tastes like nothing, albeit a crispy nothing. It is the fruit version of iceberg lettuce, except iceberg lettuce gives you a lot more product (using the term loosely) for your money. And while the free foam sleeve makes an excellent hat for a baby or small child, it's hardly worth $1.50.
Even if, after realizing you've been had, you try the Asian pear in a recipe, say, a warm cereal with an apple juice base, it ends up tasting like the other food, in this case appley. But why not just buy an apple? It's cheaper.
Damn pears.
— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)
