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       BOGOTA: Bent over his cellphone on the terrace of his Bogota apartment, Colombia’s “Lord of the Fruit” describes the flavours, textures, and potential uses of rare species to thousands of social media followers.

       Gian Paolo Daguer, a 47-year-old environmental engineer, is on a mission to save these natural delicacies from extinction in one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.

       In one of the many videos on his Instagram page, Daguer extolls the virtues of the lucuma, a little-known tropical fruit he is introducing to the uninitiated. The lucuma looks somewhat like a small coconut on the outside, with flesh that resembles yellowish avocado pulp. “This is considered the queen of Peruvian fruits,” says Daguer as he explains the lucuma’s genealogy and geographic spread, then cuts it open and takes a bite.

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       “It is a fruit that is not very juicy... It can be eaten as a fresh fruit, but it is very dry. Nevertheless, it has a strong caramel-like flavour,” he describes.

       Like the lucuma, several fruit native to Colombia and the region are not widely eaten in a country where internationally popular species such as mango, papaya, watermelon and pineapple are better known. Some local fruit are now at risk of extinction precisely because of their low profile. “As our diet becomes more homogenised, we all eat the same thing all over the world, so these (native) species are taking a back seat,” Carolina Castellanos, a biologist with the Humboldt Institute, a biodiversity research body in Bogota, said.

       Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025