Should I change that title? The sentence structure is tricky because you might think I mean that you shouldn’t eat nothing but papaya if you’re in a relationship or don’t have a roommate. But if I say that you shouldn’t live on papaya and I leave off the “alone,” then you might think I mean that you shouldn’t sleep on a bed of papaya…which might make you miss out on a fun experience.
What I really mean, though, is that papaya shouldn’t make up 100% of your diet, though I am an advocate of eating 66% raw when in a country that has local tropical fruit (see my posts on Lima, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam).
Which brings me to my point: Toronto versus Aruba.
Before heading to Aruba for a travel writing assignment, I celebrated my brother’s birthday in Toronto. The last day I was in town we went for lunch with his girlfriend to one of my favourite clean-eating restaurants called Kupfert & Kim. It’s a chain (let’s get that out of the way). But it has about the tastiest vegan, raw, gluten-free, paleo options in the downtown area. And what’s best is that it’s packed at lunch by not just vegan/raw/paleo people.
Why?
Because the First Canadian Place Bowl is awesome.
It’s one of their bowls, probably their most popular, and it includes organic quinoa, organic tempeh, organic kale, roasted yam, pomegranate, beets, carrots, rainbow radish, purple cabbage, white cabbage, organic sprouts, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds with maple chia sauce for $10.75. Doesn’t that sound awesome? I think it’s even offered at all their locations. Some places are smaller and don’t do the brunch things like waffles or congee.
What? Congee?
Yup. And it’s served with gluten free, MSG-free, vegan kimchi. And the congee is super creamy (and dairy free) with a strong I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-chicken-stock flavour, in the best sense. There are other bowls, mostly on beds of brown rice or quinoa (not papaya), and I haven’t tried them all. So I can’t say how they compare. But there’s one Mexican-ish one, one tofu one, one Mediterranean-ish one (tahini), one mixed Korean-Japanese one (miso and kimchi), one curry bowl, one big salad and one paleo option (hemp and sunflower balls).
But the congee is super affordable and a small but satisfying breakfast serving size ($5.95 and it’s served all day).
The only disappointment was the waffle, which for gluten free-ers is a pretty exciting menu item (it sure looks like a waffle, not a dense piece of glue), but it needs about a 1/2 cup of maple syrup on top to make it feel like it’s worth the order, the price and the fat in the coconut-cashew cream ($8.20). And those hemp hearts weren’t doing much. Now maybe it would have been better if my brother had ordered the dessert version with coconut ice cream instead of coconut whipped cream ($8.75), but I doubt it.
So what I’m saying is you should come here and try the First Canadian Bowl, at least your first time. I hear the smoothies are also pretty good. And if you like congee (or comforting, risotto-like rice with mild kimchee), order that too.
That’s fine, Amie, but what does any of this have to papaya?
Good question.
My point is that when I’m traveling, I like to eat healthy, but that means different things in different places (sorry for burying the lede there, journalism buffs).
In Aruba, that means eating a whole lot of papaya. When I wake up at 4am and can’t sleep, I eat a little papaya that I cut up for dessert the night before. Lunch? Papaya, unless I happen to have some leftover pan-seared fish from the Rum Reef Café at Baby Beach leftover, but that’s highly unlikely because I probably inhaled it along with a mango smoothie.
The trick to buying papaya is to get one without any bruises that has some yellow on it (the more yellow and orange, the riper it is) and wait for a couple of days until it almost starts to get dark spots that you’ll have to cut out. If it does get dark spots, just cut them out. You can, in fact, buy the papaya when it has black spots and just cut them out – this way you don’t have to wait three-7 days while it ripens. In a tropical country, you should be buying tree-ripened anyway, so the max you should have to wait is one day if you pick your papaya when it’s good and orange-yellow.
Then it will be sweet and hydrating. It’s full of good things for you, and it’s not acidic like cherries or oranges, which irritate your stomach. It’s also not too sweet, like mangoes, which hurt your teeth and give you a sugar rush (but are so good…). And it’s good for digestion. So if you just ate a big meal but are somehow still hungry, and don’t feel like drinking mint tea to appease your stomach, papaya is the perfect option. Just remember to rinse it well as it’s rare to find organic papaya (there are some organics from Hawaii and Mexico these days, though).
So why shouldn’t you live on papaya alone?
Good question. 60% because variety is the spice of life, and 40% because ceviche is heavenly.
Leave a Reply