'South Africans consume on average only three portions of fruit and vegetables per day,' says Dr Nelia Steyn, Chief Specialist Scientist at the Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle Unit at the Medical Research Council. A snap survey of harassed executives who eat on the run paints an even gloomier picture. The closest to one portion many are getting is the tomato sauce on their takeaway pasta. In the concrete jungle, vending machines have replaced trees, and they do not pop out pears.

'People have to take a conscious decision to incorporate fruit and vegetables in their diet because you don't just bump into them,' says Anne Till, a registered dietician. The mainstay of our diets a few centuries back, fruit and vegetables have been relegated to side orders. But they shouldn't really be an optional extra. According to NICUS (Nutrition Information Centre University of Stellenbosch), fruit and vegetables are the one thing you can stake your health on. They are the only foods that have collectively and consistently been associated with risk reduction of cancer, coronary heart disease and strokes.

Why the dismal consumption figures? It's not that fruit and veg get bad press, it's just that nature's packaging doesn't proclaim 'No Fat', 'Low Fat' in quite the same way that a cardboard container for breakfast cereal can. It is taken for granted that fruit and vegetables are good for us. And because they aren't pushed in our face on every supermarket trip, we become blasé about just how good they are for us.