Kiwi is a well-known fruit nowadays, with a global production of over 4 million metric tons and a multibillion-dollar industry. However, the name "Kiwi" is relatively recent, given to the fruit only in 1959. Before that, it was relatively unknown. The new name helped propel the fruit from obscurity to worldwide fame.
The kiwi fruit, technically known as Actinidia chinensis, grows on a vine, much like grapes. It originated in the Yangtze River valley, where it had been a popular food among locals for centuries. Despite several attempts by biologists and explorers to take it to other places, it was not until the early 20th century that a New Zealand teacher named Mary Isabel Fraser successfully brought the fruit outside China. Mary Isabel Fraser, the principal of Wanganui Girls’ College, had taken some seeds home at the end of a trip to China in 1904, where she had been visiting her sister.
It took six years for the vines to produce their first fruit in 1910, which they started calling Chinese gooseberry. The fruit was getting some traction, but it still required some tweaks. That’s when Hayward Wright came into contact and began selecting and crossing, eventually breeding a plant that yielded a much larger fruit, which not only was flavorsome but also had the commercial advantage of being long-keeping. Now, the fruit was ready for World fame, but when in the 1950s, New Zealand began exporting the fruit to the US; the name "Chinese gooseberry" was not ideal for marketing purposes because of the undergoing Cold War. In 1959, during a management meeting in Auckland, Jack Turner suggested "kiwifruit" which was adopted as the industry-wide name.
Eventually, other countries started producing kiwi, and China is now the World's biggest producer. But this story tells us a lot about the importance of marketing and taking a chance. First Mary Isabel Fraser and then Haward Wright had to take a bet on this unknown fruit and work to improve it, eventually making it a worldwide success.
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