With Fond Memories of Vella's Fruit Stand

Well, I guess the fruit stands in the California Central Valley have pretty much closed for the winter.  It is always a little sad when the last stand stashes the empty lug boxes for the season and shuts the doors against the rain and fog. However, here, in Liberia, the fruit stands never close!  The growing season is never over and the fruit stands stay open all year round.

When we drive inland, fruit stands are a regular part of the scenery. They are small "Mom and Pop" stands, owned and operated by people who live near the main roads. Most homes offer something for sale along the side of the road. Often, only one type of produce is available per stand, and often, there is not much of that item. Mostly, it is whatever is leftover from the garden/orchard after the family eats. Sometimes, there will be a pile of cassava, or a little pyramid of cucumbers. The neighbor's stand might have two pineapples on the table, and the neighbor across the road might be offering a pile of palm nuts or a bunch of bananas. Down the road, there might be three papaya , with some sugar cane.

We often stop on our jaunts into the interior for bananas and pineapples and watermelon. It would be difficult to find fresher fruit at a California fruit stand, although more variety per stand would be nice. There are some things that are impossible to find at these family stands, like tomatoes and navel oranges and lettuce and nuts. But then, mangoes, edo, and coconuts are not regularly found at the roadside stands in Modesto, either, so I guess it all evens out!  

Customer service is a big thing, for as soon as the car stops, produce is pushed through the open window, with the salesperson loudly stating the price. One can buy all the produce offered by the road without ever leaving the car. It is sort of "drive by shopping." If more than one fruit stand is in the vicinity, the car will be mobbed with people from every stand, hawking their wares. It is not a shopping experience for the timid!

But even as convenient as it is to get fresh fruit here from the roadside stands, no one offers a cup of coffee and a fresh-baked goodie from the bakery. Oh, I miss Vella's Fruit Stand. That place is a Modesto treasure!

Anyways, here's wishing you happy banana shopping!
Babs