The secret life of the apple
From Eve to mass-produced uniformity. Sue Shaw charts this fruit's spectacular fall from grace.

The massacre of Apple Lincoln
A tyranny of sameness threatens to sweep this planet. Pat Mooney reports on the chemical companies that are mining gold in genes.

Uncontrolled weirdness
The Beatles had a scene with big business but did they get it together? Chris Brazier and Alan Hughes take a cosmic trip to investigate.

Apple recipes
The big crunch.

Why men hate women
Eve took of the fruit and did eat; and gave also unto her husband. Celia Kitzinger explains what happened next.

APPLES - THE FACTS

Big Apple rap
Maggie Black hits the streets of the glitziest city on earth.

Electronic sweatshop
Barbara Garson peels back the truth about Apple Computers and their ilk.

Hand to mouth
Apple pickers are hungry for change. Holly Johnson and Laura Clarke explain the reason why.

Simply - a history of the apple

The apple, the madman
and a very clever pig
Good and evil wrestle together in a fruity tale by Robert Woods.

'HULLO?' The voice sounded like an ant down the telephone.

'I'm calling from Chile,' it said, 'to say that I can't find any migrant labourers -they've all gone home.'

It was one of those calls I dread. The person speaking had agreed to write about migrant apple-pickers for this issue of NI only to discover that the apple-picking season was over.

'He's supposed to be a journalist,' someone said unkindly, 'tell him to get on his bike and look.' I tried to suggest more tactful alternatives but the ant's voice argued back.

'I have looked. Everywhere. I don't know where they've gone but there aren't any around here - and I'm too busy to carry on.' He sounded pretty definite.

It was a knotty problem to solve from so far away. But it had to be done. I started ringing around agencies and other likely sources to find out where one might find migrant apple-pickers in Chile after the season was finished. The question inspired much mirth and a great deal of speculation. 'Is this a hoax?' someone asked.

It has been like that all the way through this magazine. Ask a serious question about apples - and people think you are joking. There were guffaws around the office the whole time I was doing my research. And if people could slip in a 'fruity' pun to 'get to the core of the matter' they did.

On the other hand, those people who knew about apples were absolutely delighted to help and very kindly went to enormous trouble to show me around libraries and talk to me in great depth about black spot and apple scab, blue mould and powdery mildew and the enormous range of other hazards that this poor fruit faces. I suppose these experts don't get the chance to talk to many people about apples. And as I got deeper into this magazine, I started to know how they feel.

Getting up-to-date, international facts about the apple proved a nightmare. International phone calls were needed in the course of which I unearthed much fascinating information. Did you know that the Romans wore wreaths of celery because they believed it prevented hangovers? Or that Victorians were so keen on cucumbers they developed blue ones?

You can imagine how disappointing it was to have such gems dismissed as 'trivia' - even in the minutes of our weekly co-op meeting. As the editor of this magazine, I felt it my job to defend the apple. And I did. Instead of the co-op's weekly supply of biscuits, I bought fruit.

This month the apple bites back. And if you are presently deciding that you are not a fruit fan hold on - there is more of interest to you in this magazine than meets the eye. Ask why we chose to write about apples? The answer is: we like to surprise you. And we knew that this magazine would.

Letters
Letter from La Paz
Update
Endpiece by Anne Lyons
Reviews: including LTC Rolt classic
Country profile: Burkina Faso

COVER PHOTO: Mark Mason
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