Fresh Fruits in a Tropical Paradise: My Dream of a Grocery-Shopping Free Life

Depending on the time of the year that I visit Puerto Rico, the streets are sickeningly sweet with the scent of mango. Nearly every house in my grandparent's neighborhood has a mango tree, and the fruit is rarely eaten! It lays in the streets, rotting, roaming dogs nibble the fruit caracas. (And if you're lucky, you'll see a big, beautiful iguana partake in the fruit bounty, too!) Puerto Rico named "Rich Port" because it's abundant in life sustaining fruit, roots, starches, and the daily tropical mountain rains ensure fresh water.

While I'm visiting I always take advantage of the fruit, harvesting from family member's trees to augment breakfast, lunch, and dinner with fresh food.

Above, food made at my grandparent's house.

And I practically live off of the various smoothie stands you can find scattered around the island, I just make sure to ask that they leave out added sugar- not that it's needed.

I picked off the whip cream on this one and gave it to my brother. Cute in the photo, though.

Every time we visit my family we go to downtown Ponce to indulge in the best ice cream, period. Supposedly made from simply fresh fruit, the clouds parts and angels sign when you eat a spoonful of this stuff. It is heartbreakingly delicious.

I love buying fresh coconuts from roadside vendors. Yum!

If I lived in Puerto Rico (which I contemplate occasionally, I could become a fluent speaker pretty quickly if immersed in the language...) I wouldn't have to go grocery shopping for most of the year. I could bulk buy or order the proteins (nuts, seeds, some legumes and beans perhaps, maybe tempeh) and just thrive on the loads of fresh fruit hanging from the trees. I'd ride my bike around, harvest, and feast. Aaaand be considered the weirdest girl in the neighborhood, of course. But, nothing new there.

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