Seeds of success.

Bangkok must be the easiest place in the world to achieve the recommended daily fruit intake.

You can barely walk ten metres on any pavement without having to sidestep a cart selling fresh dragonfruit, pomelo or guava. Or pre-cut slices of pineapple and mango, conveniently packaged for instant consumption.

Apart from the exotic fruits cultivated in Thailand, these stalls also offer delicacies of foreign origin in much greater variety than supermarkets. Cherries, strawberries and pomegranates seem to be available all year round.

On any given morning, I can be found at home lifting the lid from my blender and throwing in a large amount of fruit which has been purchased from a selection of street stalls.

Any combination of fruit is good. But as well as being healthy, sometimes my random attempts produce a truly delicious result. In my experience, it pays to keep things simple – perhaps two fruits, sometimes with a third complementary addition.
Memorable successes so far have been dragonfruit and kiwifruit with mint; orange and lime; mango with cherry; and strawberries with lemon.

Despite Bangkok’s reputation for being somewhat less than the world’s healthiest city, my vast and varied fruit intake must make some contribution to the fact that I have never felt healthier than I do now.