Although some fruits are seedless, they generally contain the seeds of
the plants or trees that produce them. Many fruits require cooking to
make them palatable, others are never cooked, and still others may be
cooked or eaten raw, as desired.

Fruits, because they are wholesome, appetizing, and attractive, occupy a
valuable place in the diet. In fact, it is these qualities rather than
their food value that accounts for the popularity of fruits among all
people. In addition to causing fruits to appeal to the esthetic sense,
their attractiveness serves another important purpose. It is said that
Nature made them attractive in color, odor, and flavor in order that
birds might be allured to attack them for food and, by spreading the
seeds, assist in their propagation.

2. Fruits are gradually growing to be less seasonal and more a daily
food, and are thus constantly becoming more prevalent in the diet. This
condition may be attributed to the present rapid means of transportation
and the excellent methods of cold storage that exist. Through these
agencies it is possible to ship more or less perishable fruits long
distances from their native localities and at times of the year other
than the particular season in which they are at their best in the places
where they are grown. Thus, fruits that were formerly considered a
luxury may now be served regularly, even on the tables of persons having
only moderate means.

The fact that fruits are being more extensively used every day is as it
should be, for this food is entitled to an important place in the diet
of all persons. So important is fruit in the diet that it must be looked
on not as one of the things that may be taken or omitted as a person
wishes without making any difference either way, but as a food to