“Is that a real watermelon,” I wondered at the fruit shop. “It’s so cute!”
So i had to buy it and take it home. It was indeed a tiny watermelon, and tasted just as good as the normal big ones. I always thought that American loved watermelon the most. After all, you can’t have a summertime BBQ without everyone getting wet, sticky faces, and spitting seeds at each other. But Chinese people take watermelon love to new heights. A banquet dinner doesn’t end until the watermelon comes out, and when you visit a friend you don’t bring a bottle of wine, but a big juicy watermelon.
In fact the Chinese love of watermelon led to a really interesting scandal this summer: exploding watermelons. Â In an attempt to grow bigger, and bigger watermelons, some farmers in Eastern China added a growth chemical too late in the season. Instead of growing bigger, the melons exploded in the fields causing a media “explosion” and a big loss of face for the government and food safety standards.
But now small is the new big apparently, as these cute little melons have hit the new market. They are perfect for a little snack, and the insides have smaller, softer seeds so you can chew them up and swallow them instead of spitting them out. (Of course you will have a watermelon tree growing out of your stomach but that’s your own problem.) And they also have a really pretty swirly pattern on the inside.
Yay for tiny watermelons!
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