"map $url" does not work instead of "if $url"

This configuration works:

if ($uri ~ "/(apple|banana|orange)/") {
set $nocache 1;
}

However this does not work:

map $uri $nocache {
default 0;
~^/(apple|banana|orange)/ 1;
}

I prefer using map for performance reasons, furthermore "if is evil". Would you point me to the right direction to improve the map statement?