I was over at IMDB reading some of the comments on that wonderful movie Footlight Parade, 1933, with James Cagney. In one scene he’s at breakfast with his wife and there’s one half of a sliced grapefruit on the table before her. This may or may not be a sly reference to the famous grapefruit scene in The Public Enemy, 1931, but what puzzled me were the many comments from IMDB posters who wondered what a grapefruit was doing on a breakfast table in the first place.
There were several replies saying that’s what they used to eat back then and only one solitary answer from someone who considered it normal. Now I know most IMDB members aren’t exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer and many of them are very young but is there any substance to their remarks? I myself still eat half a grapefruit as part of breakfast but then I’m an old fart and English to boot.
I’ve stopped eating grapefruit and I’ve cautioned my mother to stop as well. Sorry, Grapefruit farmers/consortium. I fully expect, after a couple of years of selective breeding, they’ll develop a strain that significantly diminishes or eliminates the cytochrome P450 isoform CYP3A4 inhibition. And then I’ll enjoy a tart fruit in the morning, in a summertime salad, and anytime as a snack. And grapefruit to the face will make sense in movies again.
If I take a pill, once a day, and expect an effect to last the day, that means the pharmaceutical needs to be metabolized all day, and I can’t risk disrupting it. Whether its my blood pressure pill, or a time-release cold pill, I don’t need occasional, unexpected, disruption.
Yeah, lots of people take meds for BP. And they take them in the morning. And they are NOT to be taken within 4 hrs of eating grapefruit.
(Arson nailed it! )
I’m sure people still do. Whenever I’m in a diner and see they have breakfasts with cottage cheese and/or grapefruit I know I’m in a place that hasn’t re-examined its menu in 40 years.
I eat grapefruit, but I buy it in pre-sectioned cups rather than whole grapefruit simply because I can’t remember the last time I sat down at a table to eat breakfast at home or work. And it’s something that requires that.
Not big on fruit for breakfast, although if grapefruit is offered I’ll go for it.
More often I’ll have one as a snack or a dessert after dinner. I peel them and eat them like an orange. Mmmmm… grapefruit. So glad I don’t have to worry about them interacting with stuff I need to take.
Sometimes I’ll get some 2 - 4 grapefruit slices with other fruit from the breakfast buffet in our office building if I don’t want the same old breakfast bars I keep at my desk.
I didn’t eat grapefruit for awhile because of its chemical interaction with Paxil, but that was years ago; since I stopped taking Paxil, there’s no reason to avoid it now.
I think the special grapefruit spoons were the most common utensil, but we had cool little grapefruit knives. The short blade was sharply curved and serrated all around to saw each section loose from the membrane. All that work and then a sour taste…
I think there must have been a point where it was either considered fancy and/or recommended in dietary literature. My mom also went through a period of
serving it. It was fun to fiddle with, but didn’t taste good.
Unfortunately, in our house there was no possibility of sugar. Sugar was the devil.
Hey, hey, we had it as children often, always with Christmas breakfast. We got sugar, so it was yummy!
I have the knife you’re speaking of, it’s awesome and works perfectly.
But since I discovered Pomelo I don’t eat it much any more. ( It’s the waterier but sweeter grandfather of the grapefruit and extra fun to eat because of how it must be deconstructed! )
Now I’m on BP meds and both are a no go in the mornings, I’m afraid.
I like grapefruit just fine but I think the drug interaction risk helped push it off many menus. It isn’t a small risk either. It really can and does interact with many drugs strongly and the mix can even be deadly. In other cases, it can completely change the metabolism of the drug so that it is ineffective or side effects are greatly enhanced. Like many people, I generally don’t like to eat poison first thing in the morning.
I love grapefruit, but because of my meds, I can’t have any. At all. Ever.
Back when I was lots younger, I used to toss one in my lunch sack and eat it like an orange - peel it and eat a section at a time, with a wee bit of salt. My boss used to watch me and grimace - he didn’t get the appeal. I miss grapefruit. Stoopit meds.
A buck to two for a pound of fruit is a pretty good price. Was four to a dollar a long time ago?
Haven’t had grapefruit in eons, and I don’t know anyone that I know who eats grapefruit for breakfast. I remember it vaguely from the 80s, but that’s about it.
