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Agence France-Presse

Bent over his mobile phone 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 extols 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.
“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 says.
As our diet becomes more homogenised, [native] species are taking a back seat
Carolina Castellanos, biologist
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 Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute, a biodiversity research body in Bogota, said.
“And that means that as we consume them less, they are also grown less … and it is easier for them to disappear,” she said.

One endangered fruit in Daguer’s collection is the churumbelo, a berry native to Colombia’s Boyaca department, where its natural environment is threatened by farming and mining.
“Its taste is sweet and refreshing, reminiscent of the flavour of a pear,” said Daguer of the specimen that took him years to track down.
A 2022 study by the institute in Bogota and other research bodies determined the country was host to at least 3,000 “edible” plant species.
But one in 10 – possibly more – are threatened with extinction.
We definitely can’t keep thinking that we can carry on destroying the ecosystems
‘Lord of the Fruit’ Gian Paolo Daguer
In 2024, Colombia lost a swathe of forest roughly the size of Hong Kong to land clearing for farming and coca leaf growing, according to the environment ministry. Coca is the main ingredient in cocaine.
In increasing numbers, residential gardens and balconies countrywide are sporting fruit trees grown from seeds that Daguer sends to interested followers.
They pay only for the postage.

His frutas_colombianas (Colombian fruits) Instagram channel has more than 75,000 followers, and Daguer also curates a series of WhatsApp chats where biologists, farmers, and chefs share knowledge of rare fruit and arrange seed exchanges.
“This kind of learning is often not documented by science, but with this interest from the public, we all end up learning,” says Daguer, who since childhood has had a passion for discovering rare fruit.
His work contributed to the first-time cataloguing in 2024 of the quinguejo, a dark berry that grows in Nuqui, a village in the country’s remote northwest.
What we don’t eat is lost
Chef Antonuela Ariza, one of Daguer’s collaborators
Daguer fears fruit may be disappearing from nature before they are even discovered.
“We definitely can’t keep thinking that we can carry on destroying the ecosystems,” he said.
Nature will need human help to recover, adds the man dubbed “Lord of the Fruit” by his followers. “And recovery is achieved by replanting.”

Chef Antonuela Ariza, one of Daguer’s collaborators, tries to do her part by adding rare fruit to the menu of her restaurant Mini-Mal in Bogota to promote biodiversity.
Specialities include a mayonnaise made with camu-camu – similar to a grape – an Amazonian black chilli sauce, and a cocktail of copoazu, which is reminiscent of the cacao fruit.
“What we don’t eat is lost,” Ariza said.


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Food and Drinks

Lucuma, a Colombian tropical fruit.  Photo: Instagram/frutas_colombianas

Colombia’s “Lord of the Fruit” Gian Paolo Daguer is a 47-year-old environmental engineer. He is on a mission to save Colombia’s endangered tropical fruits through social media. Photo: Instagram/frutas_colombianas

The flesh of the lucuma resembles yellowish avocado pulp. Photo: Instagram/frutas_colombianas

The churumbelo “is sweet and refreshing, reminiscent of the flavour of a pear”, says Daguer. Photo: Instagram/frutas_colombianas

The feed on Daguer’s frutas_colombianas Instagram page. Photo: Instagram/frutas_colombianas

The quinguejo is a dark berry that grows in Nuqui. Photo: Instagram/frutas_colombianas

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Crucian carp, a fish endemic to Lake Biwa, has been used to make funazushi for centuries. Photo: Shutterstock

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Lifestyle

Food & Drink

They call him the ‘Lord of the Fruit’. Gian Paolo Daguer is on a mission to save Colombia’s endangered tropical fruits using social media


They call him the ‘Lord of the Fruit’. Gian Paolo Daguer is on a mission to save Colombia’s endangered tropical fruits using social media.


Instagram

Colombia