Fruits are not only good for your diet and health but they are also tasty and easy to serve. One of the benefits of modern transportation is the ease with which fresh produce can be transported from farm to store shelves thereby allowing people the opportunity to consume fresh fruit regardless of where they live.

Given the fact that many fruits require specific climates and seasons, this ability to transport fruits quickly results in a greater variety of fruits available to people regardless of their geographic location or season. Thus, tropical fruits are available in stores in temperate and cold climates as well as farmers markets in the tropics and seasonal fruits like apples and grapes can be imported and made available the Northern Hemisphere during the winter months there and vice versa for the Southern Hemisphere.

Fresh fruits are also easy to prepare and eat. For many types of fruit it is often simply a matter of picking them and eating them or bringing them home from the store and eating them. Sometimes a little preparation is necessary with some fruits like watermelons which are easier to eat when cut and sliced. Others, like mangoes, can be picked up and eaten but are less messy when pealed and cut up.

Because of their thick skin, papays are another fruit that are best cut and sliced before eating.
Papays are a tropical fruit which originated in Mexico but are now grown and harvested in many parts of the tropics.

As a child, I heard my Father describe eating papays while in the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines during World War II and also by my Grandmother who spent her winters in Florida where they were also grown. However, it wasn't until I was an adult and traveled to Mexico and Central America myself that I had the opportunity to try them myself.
Of course, once I moved to Tucson papayas could easily be found on store shelves. Not that they are easily grown here but, being close to Mexico and with a large Mexican population living here, there is strong demand for them and stores regularly stock them.

The fruit of the papaya is soft but firm, similar to the fruit of a cantaloupe but a little softer. They have a mild taste and can be consumed alone.

My first experience eating papaya was while staying with friends in their home in Monterrey, Mexico. The first breakfast I was served in their home included papaya cut up on a plate to which one of them instructed me to pour honey over the papaya before eating.

Eathing papaya with honey was a good way to eat them although I later discovered that they were good alone as well. Another way that I have come to enjoy papaya for breakfast is to mix yogurt with the papaya which is also good and has the added benefit of fewer calories.

While papaya are good to eat any time, I have found them to be one of the many fruits that taste good, are healthy and can be prepared quickly and easily all of which makes them an ideal breakfast fruit.