Édouard Manet's Lemon (1880) [1]
served on a pewter plate against a lime green background
(SA/2025)
The thought suddenly struck me after reading a poem by Frank O'Hara [2] that, just as sardines are not the only little fish in the sea [3], so too is it true that oranges are not the only citrus fruit [4] in the world; even if they are by far the most popular for juicing and thus might be said to enforce the same (repressive) model of normality each breakfast time as a bowl of cereal, or a slice of toast.
Ever since a young child, I have refused to accept the status quo or conform to popular opinion and so have long been suspicious of oranges and the role they play within society; much preferring lemons, not only for their colour and shape, but also for their smell and even the sharp sourness and acidic bitterness of their taste [5].
Oranges can be refreshingly tangy, it's true, but there's always an underlying sweetness that compromises their zestiness in comparison to the lemon and ultimately ordering un citron pressé - or perhaps even a little moonshine with lemon - is so much more punk rock than asking for a glass of orange juice.
Notes
[1] Manet's picture - Le citron, oil on canvas (14 x 22 cm) - can be viewed on the the Musée d'Orsay website: click here.
[2] The poem I refer to by Frank O'Hara is 'Why I Am Not a Painter' (1956), and can be found in The Selected Poems, ed. Donald Allen (Random House, 1974). It can also be found on poets.org: click here.
[3] See the recently published post on anchovies: click here.
[4] Obviously, I'm playing with the title of Jeanette Winterson's 1985 novel - Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit - which she later adapted for a BAFTA-winning television drama (BBC TV, 1990).
[5] The juice of the lemon is about 5-6% citric acid; that's slightly more than lime juice; almost twice as much as grapefruit juice; and five times more than orange juice. It might interest to know that lemons also contain more vitamin C than oranges (whilst obviously lower in sugar).
For a sister post on D. H. Lawrence's love of lemons, click here.
