Strawberry Pleasures Should Draw Crowds

One of the true joys of life is the chocolate-covered strawberry--if only they’d leave out that high-gloss red thing in the middle.

It’s the strawberry’s bristly 5 o’clock shadow that stops me every time. I know what sweet pleasures await me, but I can’t get past the stubble. Still, I support strawberry lovers and their right to live in peace and hold festivals.

Apparently, I’m not alone in my aversion to strawberries. In writing the stories for this week’s Centerpiece on the California Strawberry Festival, staff writer Rodney Bosch and free-lancer Leo Smith clashed for days on the virtues of the fleshy fruit.

Bosch considers strawberries the perfect fruit--”versatile, wholesome, an easy, pop-in-your-mouth snack”--and he took exception to Smith’s lack of enthusiasm.

“Phooey,” Bosch said. “Maybe if Mr. Smith becomes a bit more concerned about his refined sugar intake, his taste buds might recover from a lifetime of abuse, thereby allowing the berry’s natural goodness to prevail over the unnaturalness of his factory-made Twinkie.”

While Bosch has had a lifelong passion for strawberries, Smith has only recently even come to tolerate them.

“I will now eat strawberries by themselves,” Smith said, “but I much prefer them sandwiched between sponge cake and whipped cream or dunked in chocolate.”

Smith even tried strawberry nachos at last year’s strawberry festival and was “pretty impressed.”

Taste buds aside, Bosch and Smith sank their teeth into the strawberry story and came away awed by the county’s No. 2 crop.

“Though the local crop often makes headlines in Ventura County--usually during times of peril or great success--I’m not sure people realize the enormous efforts that go into raising these gems,” Bosch said.

“Staggering production costs. Highly labor-intensive field preparation and harvesting. An often fickle Mother Nature. These are all substantial hurdles on the long journey to the marketplace.”

Smith enjoyed delving into the history of strawberry farming in the county. “When we speed past as we’re traveling the Ventura Freeway, who hasn’t taken the opportunity to marvel at the site of the fields?” he said. “But what we see in the produce section at Vons or Ralphs hardly tells the story.”

Smith is looking forward to this year’s festival, which begins Saturday. “It’s just amazing how many people turn out for it,” he said. “Not only locals but tourists. When I was there last year, I ran into some people who plan their summer around festivals like this one.”

So have a berry good time.