The sky was cloudless, only the bright sun was shining. A light breeze gently cooled my sun-burning skin while I was lying on a hammock strung between two palm trees. Local merchants yelled “Açaí” as they were searching for potential customers along the beach.
By the time I got to Brazil I had heard a lot about this local delight, so I had to try it (I consider myself as a culinary guinea pig). I was served with a plastic bowl of deep purple puree covered with slices of bananas and granola (to my request). This divine, cold mush surely stood to my high expectations. I didn’t really know what it was made of; I figured it was a sort of fruit, but at that time no one back home had heard of this berry.
Couple of years later it became the most intriguing and controversial berry around. Many products based on the acai’s juice came out to shelves. Apparently this antioxidants-rich berry can help you lose weight four times better than other diets or exercise, eliminate bad toxins, help diabetics, lower cholesterol level and blood pressure, clean colons, boost metabolism and increase energy levels, reduce constipation, gas, bloating & fatigue, and promote younger-looking skin. Is there anything this super-berry can’t heal???
The thing that amazes me the most is first, the blindness of the crowd. Without underestimating this wonderful fruit’s virtues, this is not a new invention; it is a very well known fruit in Latin America. Don’t you people find it a little bit peculiar that suddenly it’s the hippest trend, the perfect medicine? And if it was so, don’t you think we would have known by now???
The second is that people can be so cynical sometimes; the only thing that is truly sacred to us is the monetary profits. We take this beautiful creation, squeeze it, blend it, brand it, manufacture it in masses, advertise it everywhere and during the whole process drain every drop of nature and innocence of this poor berry. Shame on us!