It might be a healthy food choice, but Hong Kong’s latest fruit fad is doing serious damage to shoppers’ wallets. From luxury supermarkets to outdoor stalls, expensive premium produce is increasingly on show and sought after by customers.
At Hong Kong’s vibrant Yau Ma Tei fruit market, a Malaysian durian goes for HK$600 (US$77) and Tasmanian cherries for HK$550.
On the shelves of high-end supermarket City Super, a single Japanese strawberry fetched HK$168. Each strawberry nestled on a paper pillow, encased in a glossy cardboard box.
The appetite for pricey fruit from far afield reflects a quest for what punters see as clean, fresh produce, even if it has traveled thousands of kilometers.
Fruit shoppers said they did not consider produce from mainland China — the source of much of Hong Kong’s food — as healthy.
“I used to buy mainland fruit, but now I could never go back. It is not as safe and fresh,” said Peter Wong, 48, an accountant who said he spends about HK$2,000 on imported fruit each month for himself, his wife and their two children.
“The fruit is fresher if it comes from overseas, like the USA or South Africa or Japan,” he said as he browsed the Yau Ma Tei stalls.
Reports of farmers using excessive pesticides, fertilizers and preservatives in China have damaged the reputation of its produce, while food grown in Hong Kong is very limited.
The trend partly reflects a growing desire for a healthier diet, in a territory where traditional dishes can be heavy on salt and fat.
However, it is also about status — expensive fruit has become a popular gift to impress loved ones and colleagues, tapping in to an established Chinese tradition of giving fruit to bring good luck and prosperity.
Daniel Chan, 42, a vendor at Yau Ma Tei whose family has been running the business for 70 years, said the gifting of expensive fruit was largely related to “face,” an important element in Chinese culture to show wealth and generosity.
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