I’m not the weird. YOU are the weirdo.
Teaching May 25th. 2008, 10:00pmOne of my students had brought some watermelon from home to share with me after class. We had some forks, and were munching away at the first of the season fruit when I went to pick out a seed. I put the seed back on the plate, and he said, “What are you doing?”
“Uh, picking out a watermelon seed. That’s what you do when you eat watermelon, right?”
“No, I eat the watermelon seeds. My father also eats watermelon seeds. Who wouldn’t?”
I was surprised. I grew up in rural Ohio. I know people who grow watermelon. I know people who sell watermelon. I know people who eat watermelon. I don’t know ANYONE who eats watermelon seeds.
“I never eat watermelon seeds. My family doesn’t either. I’ve even heard of watermelon seed spitting contents, but I never eat watermelon seeds.”
“Huh, people in America are weird. Just eat them.”
I got an idea. “Do you eat popcorn seeds?”
“What? Popcorn? Yes, I eat popcorn.”
“No, the seeds, you know, the seeds at the bottom when you get an unpopped piece. The kernal”
“No, I don’t eat that teacher! Who eats that?”
“I do. My father does. So do some of my friends. We like half-popped popcorn. It’s delicious.”
“What! We don’t eat that teacher! No one eats that! That’s so strange.”
Whatever, watermelon seed eating freak.
2 Responses to “I’m not the weird. YOU are the weirdo.”
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May 26th, 2008 at 9:16 am
As a former, and future, watermelon grower, I can attest that not only seeds are eaten but also rinds as well by many people around the world. I prefer my watermelon seeds roasted or covered in chocolate though.
My favorite watermelon in the orange fleshed variety Orangeglo which many people, who only think of watermelons as being red, find odd. What they don’t know is, that besides red and orange varieties, there are also yellow, white/cream, and chocolate (in Africa) varieties out there.
This watermelon season, Daejeon has an abundance of seedless watermelons for a slightly higher price than their seeded genetic parents. These oddities aren’t selling too well in my neighborhood, but when I walked up to buy one without thorough testing, and the shop owners and spectators were aghast at my bold move. The owner refused to sell a melon to me without forcing several bites down my throat to be assured that I truly wanted this freak of nature.
I can’t wait to see my students’ faces as I eat my melon during our breaks today. Not only complaining about my torturing them (not like they aren’t always eating ice cream and snacks in front of me), but we will have an interesting discussion about genetically modified foods. Watermelons are somehow under the radar, but others, like corn, freak so many people out.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
John from Daejeon joins the ranks of weirdos in my book. Even this student didn’t eat the rind. That’s for the desperate.
We’ve had yellow watermelon before. It wasn’t special enough to deserve the effort to find it. I didn’t know there were other varieties besides that.