This thread really makes me smile

If you ate kiwis here, you would be villified by the whole country... arrested, thrown in jail and the key probably never found...

Kiwis are our national icon... a flightless, nocturnal protected and much loved/adored/humoured bird, though not common and most NZers have only seen a kiwi in captivity. Even fewer have ever touched one.

And of course, the people who live here call themselves kiwis... I suppose some of us are fruity... some are fuzzy... some have brown skin... some feel a green round the gills (spesh after Friday or Saturday nights)... and some are pure gold on the inside...

But despite the many many orchards over here growing the fruits you speak of, no NZer calls them 'kiwis'...

Because we call and market these as kiwiFRUIT and kiwiberries...

And kiwifruit... mmmm, yummmm... I agree the fuzz on the green ones is not that good... though I do know quite a few people who eat the skins (I just don't like the way it feels in my mouth). The yellow ones you can eat skin and all - they have been bred fuzz-less.

I first saw kiwiberries last year, and tried one (though they looked rather strange to me). They are not bad, but I wouldn't pay the extra $$$$$ myself to have them instead of ordinary kiwifruit.