The pineapple symbol: synonymous with hospitality at its utmost along with luxury.
The pineapple is believed to have originated from greater Amazonia, the region between Brazil, and Paraguay and brought to the Caribbean for barter.
By the late 1600’s, the concept of the pineapple symbolizing hospitality was transported to the eastern seaboard of the new world. American sailors and colonists adopted the natives’ customs which consisted of hanging the pineapple in front of their village entrances and local huts to welcome strangers. Seafaring captains would often impale fresh pineapples onto their porch posts –to let the neighbours know that he had returned safely home and were welcoming visitors. However, with time as pineapples became more coveted and thus limited, they were considered an extravagance due to its perishability, novelty, exoticism, and scarcity of the fruit. Adjusted to today’s inflation, one pineapple could fetch $8000 in the Americas and Europe. Affluent colonists would come to throw dinner parties and display a pineapple as the centrepiece, being an instantaneous display of their status symbol and wealth. Due to the skyrocketing prices, pineapples, became mainly used for decoration and only eaten once they started going rotten. In design, carved pineapples became a way of displaying the symbol of hospitality and prestige more affordably; Plantations started carving pineapple-images and shapes onto columns at entrances. Pineapples became a common tradition to entrance architecture. Likewise, the guest bedroom would have doors, borders, bedposts, or headboard adorned with carved pineapples. In Europe, the prohibitively expensive fruit was a symbol of extreme wealth and prestige. The supply was scarcer and dependent on the ships returning from their long journeys across the ocean. Often the pineapples arrived bruised, rotted, and spoiled due to bad weather and humid conditions. Thus, due to their scarcity, pineapples were associated with royalty and the European aristocracy, being the only class able to afford the new fruit. England’s Charles II, who ruled until 1685, held a pineapple while having his official portrait painted. The fruit also was incorporated into architecture as the gold pineapples on top of both towers at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
By the 1700’s a successful technique of growing pineapples in hothouses was developed. It was still very expensive building bespoke and delicate greenhouses to nurture pineapple plants over three to four years. However, for those who did not have extravagant funds to grow their own pineapples, a new business cropped up. Pineapple rental markets took the European gentry by storm. Before selling the fruit for consumption, pineapple merchants rented pineapples to people to show off at dinners and events. The trend allowed the hosts and hostesses to show off the exotic fruit in parlours and dining rooms. At the dinner tables, guests were persuaded not to eat the fruit under pretext that it was being saved for a later date. Others would rent a pineapple solely to carry to parties and not to gift to the host. They wanted to give the illusion of being able to afford such an expensive fruit.
The symbol of the pineapple evolved further into a consumer culture representing the idea of luxury. If people couldn’t afford to buy or rent the real fruit, they bought porcelain dishes and teapots in the shape of a pineapple. This trend became hugely popular starting in the 1760s thanks to Josiah Wedgwood who introduced earthenware decorated with the luxury symbol of the fruit onto green and gold glazed teapots, bowls, sugar dishes, tea caddies and more. Expressions were adopted in everyday speech; in the 1770’s “a pineapple of the finest flavour” was a phrase used to denote anything that was the best.
In 1881 the invention of the refrigerated ship, made possible mass transportation of pineapples around the world. The exclusivity of pineapples for the rich was no more. The industrialist James Dole started a pineapple plantation in 1900 in Hawaii. The Hawaiian Pineapple Company, later becoming today’s known Dole Food Company, has been extremely successful for seven decades. Initially the company produced more than 75 percent of the world's pineapples and thus the association of pineapples with the Aloha State was born. (Although the fruit was not a native to the island.) Today Hawaii produces one-third of the world's pineapples and 60 percent of canned pineapple products.
The symbol of the pineapple remains a mainstay in the hospitality industry. Many towns, inns and even individual households display pictures or carvings of the fruit to convey a sense of welcoming. This decorative touch continues to be seen on dinnerware, napkins, tablecloths, wallpaper, door knockers, address plaques and doormats. Pineapples symbolise positivity and friendliness. It has become a common theme in beach/coastal homes. The modern pineapple represents the modern love for vacations and getaways. Similarly in other cultures like the Chinese, pineapples are considered to be lucky because the Chinese word for ‘pineapple’ sounds very similar to ‘good luck’ in Chinese. Thus, the pineapple became a traditional feng shui symbol of good fortune and prosperity. Pineapples are also symbolic for beauty containing the divine proportions in the Fibonacci series of their knots and tops in spirals sequences.
