2020-03-01 Reader\'s Digest AUNZ

PHOTO: SOIFI/SHUTTERSTOCK.

ADDITIONAL

REPORTING:

DIA

EGOD

EY

I

n2017,asinglesentencerever-

beratedontheinternet,skidding

acrosssocialmediaandbreath-

lessblogs:“Theydidsurgeryona

grape.”Andtheyhad!A videoshowed

a tinyrobotmakingdelicateincisions

inmythinpurpleskinbeforepulling

backthetranslucentlayertoreveal

myjuicyyellow-greenf leshbelow.

Thevideowasmeanttodemon-

stratethesurgicaltool’sexacting

abilities,butthesheerabsurdity of

thesentence‘Theydidsurgeryon a

grape’caughtmillionsbysurprise

an I becamea nonsensca

meme.

Mypopularitylongpredatesmy

onlinefame,ofcourse.Afterall,I

alsobecomewine!I wasgrownby

earlycivilisationsinAsiaandEu-

rope, but am now a resident of Aus-

tralia, New Zealand, North America

and Africa. Early humans in Asia

and Europe learned that given the

right conditions, I ferment well – just

harvest my bunches, crush them to

a pulp, and let the good times roll.

(It wasn’t until later that modern

I Amt

FOO

ON

PL

PORT

ING: DIANE GODLE

Y

cerever and I became a nonsensca nterne

the

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UR

E

READER’S DIGEST

I Am Grapes ...

A Divine

Fruit to Drink

BY Kate Lowenstein

AND Daniel Gritzer

46 march 2020