Definition of Fruitarian.

There are probably as many definitions of fruitarian, as there are of vegetarian..

- We get vegetarians that eat everything but red meat, and others that eat chicken and fish, and of course the vast majority that take dairy products and eggs.. And yet the word itself sounds like it would depict someone that just ate from the vegetable kingdom.. far from it.. Language is rarely logical..

Similarly, we get fruitarians that eat roots, leaves, tubours, seeds, grains. indeed, even whole plants.. We get fruitarians that mix it all together in massive gastronomical onslaughts, others that try to simplify by eating mono, and we even get fruitarians that believe it is dangerous to eat just fruit!, and ones that cook or otherwise abuse their foods before ingesting..

(As a little anecdote, I recall some years ago a couple of friends of mine went to meet a fruitarian in Ireland.. They found her at home eating bread and jam.. In her mind, both were made from fruit and seeds/grains which she supposed to be a regular part of a fruitarian diet)

So who am I to decide what does and what doesn't classify one as a fruitarian?!

I suppose it is the nature of things that if there is a teaching of sorts, that once out there, it gets perverted and distorted and warped and diversified.. I feel quite sure (admittedly, perhaps naively so) that original vegetarians just partook of vegetable matter, and never dreamed of supplementing their diets with milk from other species or birds eggs.. And certainly they would never have considered themselves vegetarian if they ate fishes or chickens..

But language adapts itself, and people that weren't vegetarian, became vegetarian, not by changing their diet, but just by the constant redefining of the word vegetarian until they became socially and linguistically accepted as being vegetarians, even though they once wouldn't have been..

Thus new words sprang into existence to help define where one was really dietistically and ethically standing.. The word Vegan popped into existence in the 1940's, to describe someone that was really vegetarian.. and later still the terms lacto-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lactov-ovo vegetarian, even semi-vegetarian and socio-vegetarian became common descriptive tags ..

I fear that much the same will and is happening to the term fruitarian.. Simply to begin with.. with definitions such as 80% fruitarian, or the like.. But more complex terms are almost bound to pop into existence.. Like lacto-fruitarian which a couple of Swedish contacts I have made believe to be a sound version of fruitarianism (involves capturing, imprisoning and stealing the milk of other species).. And "drop-fruitarian" which I've heard a few times already, used to describe a fruitarian that only eats fruit that falls naturally from the tree.. Personally I doubt seriously the existence of any such fruitarian, but I sure would like to be given the opportunity and abundance to try it out!

Looking at the word fruitarian, you would think that it meant someone that just ate fruit.. Agreed, that seems logical enough, but the truth is that the very vast majority of people out there that call themselves fruitarian, do make exceptions to the "just fruit" rule, once in a while, some more frequently than others.. myself included..

Personally, I put my belief and faith in fruit.. I have no real doubts in my mind that a broad range of fruit can cover all our nutritional needs, and that ultimately it is all we really need to eat... Even more so, that it is all we should be eating.. I aspire to forever simplify and move closer to nature and naturism, and in doing so, eat only fruit and encourage the seeds of each fruit to grow around me.. These are my aspirations, and that is the sort of fruitarian I wish ultimately to be.

So did that answer the question? Probably not.. Ultimately, it doesn't really effect me who calls themself fruitarian, and what their goals may be.. My focus is on finding my own home, and living my own dream.. of fruit tree growing, and sunshine and clean water, and naturism, and fresh raw fruits, and a lifestyle that will prove I am capable of living in Eden without trashing it. (How else can we expect to get back in?).



Hugs to you all,
Mango the fruitarian

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