A while ago I learned the original Chinese name for a kiwifruit (which is originally from China, and was rebranded as a New Zealand thing thanks to Cold War tensions) is a "monkey peach" This is a 1000x better name and makes me far more interested in eating them
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Replying to @arthur_affect @lyndonhood
Chinese gooseberries when I was growing up
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Replying to @mstevnz @lyndonhood
Yeah that's the name in English they changed because of the Cold War
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There real reason for the name change to Kiwifruit was more of a commercial decision as explained in this Zespri propaganda https://www.zespri.com/en-US/blogdetail/whats-in-a-name-the-chinese-gooseberry … The name was dreamed up by Turners & Growers in 1959 to avoid US import tariffs
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They're being diplomatic They landed on "kiwifruit" after they dropped "melonette" because of the import duties in melons But the reason to change the name away from "Chinese gooseberry" in the first place was Cold War xenophobia in the 50s
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I quite liked it. Showed origin and they do look a bit like a gooseberry. Kiwi fruit always seemed lame as a name to me. Monkey peach is better.
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Which bit of the gooseberry looks like a Kiwifruit?pic.twitter.com/gokj3XzZiz
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Yeah the fruits themselves are wildly different but the taste of the flesh is similar Same with the Chinese calling it a "peach" even though, obviously, a peach is a totally different kind of fruit (a stone fruit)
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