Food Expeditions with Kids, episode 3
…Continued from episode 2
Watermelon has always been a favorite in our family. We were amused to discover that it is also a favorite of the white-faced capuchin monkey, who steals it from the visitors to Manuel Antonio Park whenever possible. Sadly, stealing food is simply an opportunistic behavior that these animals have adopted in response to the plethora of human visitors to their habitat. These monkeys can also be found sneaking into the recycle bins on the park grounds to consume Coca-Cola that is left in the discarded cans. These animals take advantage of any opportunity that they finds for additional caloric intake. If foods with poor nutritional value become abundant, their health begins to fail and their population size can decline. Both the monkey and our family give Watermelon a 3. (Photo taken by my dad.)
We were very excited to taste the Star Fruit. We hoped that the flavor would reflect the beautiful shape that this fruit displays when cut in slices. While we loved the crunchy consistency that reminded us of jicama, we were disappointed with the lack of flavor. The membrane that separates the “star” into sections was tough and got stuck between our teeth like floss. Our family gave this fruit a 1. (Below — our daughter is excited to taste the fruit, but was ultimately disappointed; our son gave it a thumbs-up!)
Tune in soon to see the results of our delicious tropical marmalade taste testing…
