Frieda Caplan, who worked at the Seventh Street produce market in Los Angeles in the 1950s, was curious about fruits and vegetables that weren’t generally found for sale in her part of the world. Sure, bananas and potatoes are fine, but she thought there must be a greater variety in the world, and that maybe if she offered new-to-them fruits and vegetables for sale, people in the United States just might try them. She began by offering mushrooms to customers—and they caught on. She loved trying new kinds of produce and popularizing them at her market, even offering suggestions on how to prepare them. Kiwis, jicama, cherimoyas, black radishes, dragonfruit, lychees—she would try anything herself, and then encourage others to do the same. Eventually her daughters came to work with her, and together they greatly expanded the produce selection at American supermarkets everywhere. The whimsical watercolor illustrations add a sense of the time (from the 1950s-2015) and place in which the book is set, and also show what the various fruits and vegetables look like. (Ages 6-9)

Meet fearless Frieda Caplan—the produce pioneer who changed the way Americans eat by introducing exciting new fruits and vegetables, from baby carrots to blood oranges to kiwis—in this brightly illustrated nonfiction picture book!

In 1956, Frieda Caplan started working at the Seventh Street Produce Market in Los Angeles. Instead of competing with the men in the business with their apples, potatoes, and tomatoes, Frieda thought, why not try something new? Staring with mushrooms, Frieda began introducing fresh and unusual foods to her customers—snap peas, seedless watermelon, mangos, and more!

This groundbreaking woman brought a whole world of delicious foods to the United States, forever changing the way we eat. Frieda Caplan was always willing to try something new—are you?