Linda Grashoff's Photography Adventures

On the Square—2

September 29, 2016

There’s something funny here, but I can’t put my finger on it. The word bitter plus a business sort of plaid cloth plus luscious produce equals whaaaa?

2016-wisconsin-26

This entry was posted on September 29, 2016 by . It was filed under Fruits and Vegetables and was tagged with , , , , , .

2 responses

  1. LensScaper

    Well, here goes…
    When I think of Melon it conjures up luscious sweet fruit, often eaten with Parma Ham. Delicious on its own. Bitter Melon therefore sounds like a contradiction, or maybe even an Oxymoron. I’d never heard of a ‘bitter’ melon. Google to the rescue. Where I discover it really isn’t a melon at all but a Gourd (vegetable) with bitter qualities and apparently used in Asian cooking. And frankly it doesn’t look attractive. And neither does the cloth. The cloth looks sharp, plain, rather business-like. Qualities that I would never associate with genuine Melons, but somehow this cloth fits with a bitter, slightly unpleasant fruit/vegetable – they feel as if they belong together. So, what’s ‘funny’ here is perhaps that there is a subliminal message. Are you thinking luscious sweet Melon when you view this display? Think again, this is something else – the clue is in the cloth. Nobody would display a proper Melon on cloth like this – it would be best displayed on cloth that shouted warmth, sweetness and lusciousness. So there you are – an opinion!

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    October 3, 2016 at 1:17 PM

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    • Linda Grashoff

      Thanks for taking the time to think this all through, Andy. I had heard of bitter melon and seen it called for in recipes. I’ve never Googled or tasted it, though. I was seeing a connection between the word “bitter” and the business look of the cloth. Maybe those two elements taken together made me think of corporate corruption. (I recently watched a documentary film called Merchants of Doubt.) But that negativity didn’t go with the fruit that I though looked pretty, albeit in an ugly sort of way. And yes, a “proper” melon should be displayed on cloth that shouts warmth, sweetness, and lusciousness. But people who like bitter melon probably don’t see this cloth as befitting these gourds either.

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      October 3, 2016 at 8:21 PM

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