Memories with Food 1: Watermelon

Those who have read À la Recherche du Temps Perdu will know about this: the unexpected memories bought on by the taste, smell, or sight of food. I had a moment on Sunday: Susan sliced a watermelon for me and suddenly I had memories of the first time I heard of such a thing.

I am pretty certain that watermelon wasn't a thing in London of the early to mid 1960s. I just can't see Sainsbury's or the East Ham market having such a technicolour thing back then. I certainly don't remember it, and I have a particularly good food memory.

I do remember my mother returning from shopping not long after we moved to Australia, and telling us about seeing a row of boys sitting on a wall eating watermelon, and spitting the seeds out of the corner of their mouths.

Watermelons have less seeds these days, but the sight of freshly sliced watermelon bought back that memory, and with it the incredulous look on Mum's face as she recounted the story.