THE GREAT RETURN OF PAWPAWS

This story was published as a result of a fellowship with The LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY for their new initiative called REAWAKEN. I worked with a collective of international storytellers to share the re-emergence of forgotten crops across the globe and the communities and cultures they preserve. I have long been intrigued by the resurgence of pawpaws in local markets around Atlanta, where I live. This is the story I researched, wrote and produced for the LEXICON. More stories of biodiversity from around the globe can be found along mine here. Take a look!

“One hundred years ago, many people would have known about pawpaws and where to find them. Pawpaw trees used to be ubiquitous then, at least in the 26 eastern states where they grow natively.
Andrew Moore, a Pennsylvania-based journalist, in his book, “Pawpaw, In search of America’s forgotten fruit” made the case that pawpaw was once an abundant source of food for Indigenous people, colonialists and settlers alike, so much so that it was called “poor people’s banana” and was sold alongside berries and crab apples on local markets.

Whereas most people have only experienced foraged pawpaw fruits, some horticulturists have tried to breed and cultivate the wild native (but without astounding success, at least not enough for the fruit to become a grocery staple like blueberries). By the middle of the 20th century, with the advance of industrialized agriculture and supermarket-sized production, pawpaw fruits went into quasi-oblivion.

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