James Barnes

The earliest childhood memory I have is eating fruit. The kindergarten that I attended in a remote part of Australia had ‘fruit time’ where everyone would bring a piece of fruit, they’d all be cut up and then everyone would share them so you would get a piece of almost any fruit you can imagine.

My favourite (or at least the one I remember) was starfruit. Named as such because when you cut it in to slices the slices resemble a five pointed star (plus it’s yellow).

I hadn’t eaten starfruit in 17 years due to my family’s relocation to a colder region where the fruit doesn’t grow. When I saw it on a street vendor’s stall I knew I had to try it again. It’s interesting I can so vividly remember the experience of eating starfruit but really not have much of a clue about the taste. I didn’t remember the seeds or really even the flavour. It’s certainly not my favourite fruit anymore. I guess it was more the emotion that I remembered surrounding it rather than the fruit itself.