Posted on 12/03/2015 2:55:41 PM PST by Theoria
The coconut has developed a bit of a faddish following in the West.
Today, devotees add coconut oil to coffee, dab it on acne and, following Gwyneth Paltrow's example, swirl it around in their mouths to fight tooth decay. Starbucks has launched a coconut-milk latte. And the coconut-water business has surged to $400 million, with a little help from Madonna and Rihanna.
No one would be more delighted at the coconut's rising star than August Engelhardt, a sun-worshipping German nudist and history's most radical cocovore.
From 1902 to 1919, Engelhardt lived on a beautiful South Pacific island, eating nothing but the fruit of Cocos nucifera, which he believed was the panacea for all mankind's woes. Except that a coconut mono-diet proved to be a terrible idea. At the end of his life, der Kokovore was reduced to a mentally ill, rheumatic, severely malnourished sack of bones with ulcers on his legs. He was only 44.
Engelhardt was resurrected from near-oblivion by Swiss writer Christian Kracht's marvelous 2012 novel, Imperium: A Fiction of the South Seas, which fictionalizes the German cocovore's bizarre and poignant story. The English translation by Daniel Bowles was published this year in the U.S. to fine reviews.
Kracht's interest in Engelhardt was sparked by a chance encounter. One day at a yard sale in Murnau, Germany, he came across a sepia-tinted postcard of a scrawny, bearded man in a checked loincloth standing under a palm tree.
"He looked like a proto-hippie, and very modern," Kracht told The Salt. "I really wanted to get to know this person. But there was nothing known about him at the time — no Wikipedia page (there is one now) or anything at all. The only thing I could find was a thesis by a student at the University of Auckland.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
lol
Sometimes you fell like a nut.......
I cook with coconut and olive oil, too.
Coconut oil added to my conditioner is the best thing I’ve ever done for my hair.
Heh, how you doing USMCPOP? Haven’t crossed paths in a while...
I drank a very decent coconut IPA last weekend. I’m the picture of health!
That sounds good.
NPR = Joke
They would not exist if it was not for the U.S. tax payers.
That’s great. I never saw it before. I never see Coke w/ lime at the grocery store, so I guess the product didn’t go over that well. ???
I don’t remember seeing Coke w/lime in the store, and I know I’ve never had any (I would’ve if I’d bumped into it). It’s been several years since I saw the commercial, but thought it was clever. Just a natural for the product. I’m not even sure if it’s offered in those newfangled drink dispensers that offer almost every possible drink and/or combination thru one spout...the ones with the touch screen. Have to remember to look next time.
>>No naked cocovoyeurism for me. The cops made that clear.
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts!"
#RichestEntertainerEVER
Got just the thing, doc....
He’s cuckoo for coconuts.
LOL! I should’ve known...
Doing OK. How you been?
Reminds me of the four food groups at a Science Fiction Convention: sugar, salt, grease, and caffeine.
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