Slate vs. the grapefruit

Slate vs. the grapefruit

Grapefruit is terrible, but I love it anyway.

A recent opinion piece on Slate has stirred up some controversy. Author Katy Waldman chose the inflammatory title "Grapefruit Is Disgusting," and things only go downhill (for grapefruits) from there.

Waldman is right in every factual sense. But wrong overall. And it's difficult to explain why. 
 
In order to assess the grapefruit properly, you have to strip away all the bogus health claims that have been made in its favor over the years. As Waldman points out, just about every other fruit is higher in vitamin C and other antioxidants than the grapefruit.
 
And contrary to whackadoo dietary claims, the grapefruit does not have magical fat burning powers. (However, it is true that you will lose weight on the Grapefruit Diet. You would lose weight on any diet that restricted your intake so severely, regardless of the specific fruit it focused on.)
 
In many ways, the grapefruit can be grouped with the cranberry. Both are brightly colored fruits, and aren't we supposed to eat more of those? Both taste so awful that you think they must be good for you. And yet both are routinely trumped by other, more pleasant fruits in every possible nutritional respect. And yet, we continue to eat them.
 
I am coming at this from the opposite angle as Waldman. I had a life-long horror of grapefruits. I refused them in every form. That is, until earlier this year, when I decided to give them another try. I realized that I was about to turn 40 and I thought that I hated grapefruit, but I could not remember ever having eaten one. That seemed unfair and also strangely midlife-crisis-ish. So I tried one, and it was difficult to eat, but tasty for all that. 
 
From there, I moved on to unsweetened grapefruit juice. The Hard Stuff, in other words. I really dig grapefruit juice, in a sort of masochistic way. Maybe there is something about being old that makes you attracted to grapefruit. All kinds of things happen when you are 40 that seemed unthinkable earlier in your life. People have been known to start flossing regularly, and talk about refinancing their mortgages. It's a crazy time. 
 
Before throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I personally would urge Waldman to try a grapefruit/avocado salad. Open a can of grapefruit, drain the juice, mix with equal parts cut avocado, add salt and pepper. It's a dish that is simple in construction, but something really amazing happens with the flavors. I can't even explain it. You just have to try it, it's truly spectacular!