ICONIC Greek fruiterer, Con Dikaletis, has embarked on a mission to encourage people to eat more fruit, especially "dribbilicious, bewdiful" stone fruit, this summer.
Horrified by new research showing 39 per cent of Australians are eating less than the recommended two serves of fresh, dried, frozen or juiced fruit a day, Con the Fruiterer - aka comedian Mark Mitchell - last week began his crusade in a Melbourne shopping centre where he handed out samples and did a cooking demonstration, accompanied by a television crew.
Commissioned by Horticulture Australia Ltd, the Newspoll survey of 1200 adults last month found just half were eating two serves of fresh fruit.
The survey found only 45 per cent of men and 41 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds were getting their two serves.
Mr Mitchell told The Weekly Times an education campaign was badly needed to remind people of the "bleedin' obvious" - that fresh fruit was cheaper and more healthy than sugary, processed products that claimed to be fruit-based.
"People have been beguiled by multi-million dollar advertising campaigns into thinking that something that's fruit derived is as good as the real thing and patently it's not," he said.
"There's millions of dollars being spent promoting crap ... (fruit) is just hanging on trees.
"It's there in the fruiterer's and you can't do better than that."
Mr Mitchell said consumers also needed to be educated about how to choose and store stone fruit.
"People don't understand, especially with nectarines, that the more speckled and leathery looking the skin is the better the fruit is," he said.
"It has more depth of flavour and you can't get that from a fruit strap, however many Olympians promote Uncle Toby's."
Mr Mitchell said he was pleased by the level of recognition and general goodwill towards his character, Con the Fruiterer, even though it is more than 20 years since he was introduced to Australian television audiences.
Con himself said Australian peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots were at their "suplime peak" right now and should be gobbled up.
"We have some of the world's sweetest, joosiest, unbelievit bewdiful summer stone fruit thanks to our warm weather, so go crazy and get stuck in while it's fresh in-store for yous," Mr Mitchell said.
"I say to my bewdiful wife Marika, who is the whole world to me - well she's the same shape - and my six daughters Roula, Toula, Soula, Voula, Foula and Agape, plus the two little gentlemens, Nic and Ric, we is so lucky we live the good life.
"We can eat as many plums, apricots, nectarines and peaches as we like because I own the shop.
"But for other Aussies, I worry they is not getting enough."
Con will appear in selected supermarkets and greengrocers in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in early February.
