you might spend a small fortune on a couple of strawberries
Isn’t that mostly because their farms are so far behind and producing such low volumes that they can only survive with artisanal hand picked/whatever products
Looking it up, while the high-end gift fruits are insanely expensive (hundreds of dollars), regular fruit seems to be widely available and costs the equivalent of a dollar or two. So it’s more expensive than in Western countries, but not exorbitantly so. They also tend to be unnaturally unblemished even on the low end.
I wonder how much produce gets thrown away due to a single bruise or spot. I’m hoping it gets turned into drinks or purée for desserts or something instead.
Anything that grows out of the ground is expensive in Japan in general, so it’s not just the strawberries. You can easily get a situation when making food at home where a simple vegetable salad is as expensive as the rest of the meal combined.
I bought a $5 apple for the kids when we visited. Damn fine apple. Bought one for me too because I got jealous. Made me actually appreciate fruit for what it is; rather than something bruised, brown, and taken for granted.
Isn’t that mostly because their farms are so far behind and producing such low volumes that they can only survive with artisanal hand picked/whatever products
Looking it up, while the high-end gift fruits are insanely expensive (hundreds of dollars), regular fruit seems to be widely available and costs the equivalent of a dollar or two. So it’s more expensive than in Western countries, but not exorbitantly so. They also tend to be unnaturally unblemished even on the low end.
I wonder how much produce gets thrown away due to a single bruise or spot. I’m hoping it gets turned into drinks or purée for desserts or something instead.
Anything that grows out of the ground is expensive in Japan in general, so it’s not just the strawberries. You can easily get a situation when making food at home where a simple vegetable salad is as expensive as the rest of the meal combined.
I bought a $5 apple for the kids when we visited. Damn fine apple. Bought one for me too because I got jealous. Made me actually appreciate fruit for what it is; rather than something bruised, brown, and taken for granted.