Coctail

                                On the first day of school in the year 2013 the lunch bell rang and as waiting in line for my food to be served I saw that one of the dishes was a fruit cocktail. Of course I was going to eat the school version of this wondrous dish, from fear that it might turn out not be fruit at all, but it did get me thinking about what a fruit cocktail is and where the ingredients come from.  Today all the fruits can be collected from a single trip to the store, but my knowledge of the origins of the fruits was limited, that is until we learned about the Columbian Exchange in AP World History.

                After learning about the Columbian Exchange I found out that the fruits varied greatly from where they are cultivated. The pineapple was originally from South America, more specifically Brazil, during the Columbian Exchange it was transferred from the New World to the Old World. It is a tropical fruit that grows in the center of a bush-like plant that looks like the top of the pineapple. The next fruit is the grape which is originally from Georgia in Europe, but it spread and was eventually grown in the New World as well. The grape was also used in the making of wine. The pear, which is an essential part of the fruit cocktail, come from the Old World, England, and was transferred to the New World. Peaches are also used in the making of the wondrous fruit cocktail. It is from china and spread along trade routes until reaching the New World. The final ingredient in making a fruit cocktail is the cherry. It was cultivated in Slavic countries and transferred to the New World.

 

 

-Kevin Santillan