I grew up in a family where if you were eating a fruit or vegetable, you were to eat all of it. I watched my mother chomp her way through an entire apple - core, seeds and all - in the car after school, and we almost never peeled vegetables for dinner.
That's why I always thought that eating the entire kiwifruit like an apple - skin, flesh and all - was the normal way to do it.
It wasn't until I reached high school that I discovered I was somewhat of an anomaly. Still, I've continued to demolish an entire kiwifruit every time I eat one and will continue to the day I die - but it always receives a strange look and often an exaltation of disgust from whoever sees me do it.
Well the debate reared its ugly head again on Friday after British food writer and journalist Jack Monroe made a startling confession on Twitter.
"I know some of you are going to judge me for this and I implore you to keep an open mind, but I'm just saying that life got a lot easier and a lot less frustrating when I stopped trying to peel my kiwifruits and just bit into them like an apple, skin and all," wrote the author of Cooking on a Bootstrap.
The tweet racked up almost 2000 likes - I like to think from my fellow kiwifruit skin eaters - but began a fierce debate in the replies.
Some people worried about the skin: "Is the hair not tickly as it goes down?" questioned one person.
Another used a GIF to express their disgust.
"Live reaction from every fibre of my being," they wrote. "No judgement here, you do you, but... the fuzz."
The alternative way, of course, is to eat them as one person wrote: "Like a soft boiled egg, lopping off the top and using a teaspoon".
Even New Zealanders weighed in.
"I am a Kiwi and I disapprove of this message. Cut in half and eat with a teaspoon, like a boiled egg. No need to peel. When I was a lad, they were so tart you'd sprinkle with sugar too."
So what is the right way to eat a kiwifruit?
According to green kiwifruit brand Zespri, the skin of the kiwifruit contains both soluble and insoluble fibre and is highly nutritious - just wash it first. They have about two grams of fibre per serving (two kiwifruits) in the flesh – and 50 percent more if eaten with the skin.
In addition, eating kiwifruit skin provides 34 percent folate and 32 percent more vitamin E to your diet than eating the flesh alone.
If you prefer to mess around with knives and spoons, that's on you.
But the final verdict? Grow up and start eating the skin. Your digestive system will thank you.
