APPLES FOR LIFE Howard Olivier
My first apple memories, age seven, are with my Dad. We’d go shopping at the Alameda Flea Market which was held on Sundays, by AC Transit bus from Berkeley. Each of us pulled a collapsible ‘granny’ shopping cart, and usually returned with them both full to the top. I followed Dad around the drive-in movie parking lot full of rows of goods. We’d shop for musical instruments, valuable books, other treasures, and sometimes a case of apples. If there was a vendor selling apples and room in a cart, Dad would request a sample be cut, with the promise of a full-case purchase in the event it met with his approval. I never saw anyone refuse him this taste, and that in itself was a valuable life lesson not lost on a young, attentive and openly curious Howard. In my 20’s, my first ‘real’ job was as the Cashier/Bookkeeper at the California School of Professional Psychology. Living alone for the first time! On lunch break I’d ride my bike to shop for the week’s produce. Monterey Market was a huge place dedicated purely to produce. They had many varieties of apples. What’s more, for popular varieties, they offered two or even three sizes, so you could get exactly what your heart desired. I never saw my father take a bite out of a whole apple. Dad always cut an apple to eat it, so I did too. I carried a Swiss Army Knife for this purpose and I enjoyed two apples a day, while at work. People at CSPP sometimes teased me a little bit about eating two apples a day. I’d say that there were a couple of doctors I was intent on keeping away. Watching me cut out the core, a coworker commented, “The core is the most nutritious part, blah, blah, blah,” which I ignored, the first time. A few weeks later she repeated her pith advice as I cut another apple. I said, “Here,” reaching forward, “You can have them,” depositing the core sections into her hand. She accepted them in silence. I don’t suppose she ate them. What is certain is that she left me in peace about apple cores after that. In my 30’s we lived in Boise and I had access to wholesale produce. I followed my Dad’s example of buying apples by the case. I’d store as many as possible in the refrigerator, and the remainder in a deep, low kitchen cabinet which stayed cooler than the rest of the kitchen. I reliably ate 2-3 apples a 66
