Ooh La La! “Rare Melons” Are Just French Cantaloupes in Disguise!
Several year ago, I took the train from Avignon, France down to Aix-en-Provence. Along the way, the countryside was absolutely gorgeous! Fields upon fields of beautiful sunflowers and lavender.
But there were other fields that kept catching my eye as well. And if you've ever been stuck on one of those late night infomercials, you'll recognize the above cantaloupe as being very similar to one Cindy Crawford uses in her Meaningful Beauty products!
Curiosity struck and I had to know! As luck would have it, we had a food walking tour of Aix-en-Provence that afternoon! Comme nous avons de la chance!
As we took the tour, we passed by Cezzane's Art Studio and famous markets where we learned about the delicious Calisson d'Aix and other tasty treats.
After a brief walk, and while others were purchasing their tidbits and whatnot, I saw my chance!
Phillipe, our walking guide, was standing waiting patiently like I'm sure he does with all of his tours. I walked over and asked, "Can I ask you a question about that melon there?" I asked pointing at the melon sitting outfront of one of the markets.
"Sure!" Phillipe responded not realizing I was about to change his life as much as he'd change mine.
"Are those the same kind of melons that Cindy Crawford uses in her products?" I asked with all the confidence of every silly American.
"Who?" Phillipe asked with a scowl.
"Cindy Crawford? The model?" And then I realized, I've got about twenty years on this kid and he may or may not even know who she is!
"Oui! Ok! Yes! What about her?" Phillipe questions, nervous now because we've gone completely off his normal script!
"She has a skin care product line and in her commercials she says that the doctor she uses for the skincare line only uses "rare melons" from the South of France. Do you know if these are the ones they're talking about?"
Phillipe looked at his partner and his partner looked at me. Suddenly I realized these people had no idea what I was talking about and I looked like a right proper idiot for asking. Part of me wanted to shrink back into to being the quiet little church mouse I used to be as a child. The adult part of me, however, had had a couple of glasses of delicious French wine at lunch and so I pressed on!
"So, I guess my question should be, are there any other melons like that that are grown in the region?" I rethought my strategy.
"No, not to my knowledge." Phillipe confesses and then explains that he is actually from Paris and is not familiar with everything that is grown in the fields.
"Savez-vous s’il y a d’autres melons cultivés dans le coin qui ressemblent à ça ?" Phillipe asked his companion and I assume he's asking about the number of melons grown in the area. Or at least I assumed that's what he said.
"No, those are the only ones we grown in Provence of that kind." The companion, whose name I can't remember because it wasn't relevant to the story, said.
"Ha! I knew it!" I laughed and thanked them for indulging me.
"No, thank you!" Phillipe added with a smile! "Now I will have something else to add to my tour as I walk past the melons!"
So there you have it! Those "rare melons" from the South of France are nothing more than your common everyday melons from the fields!
The more you know!
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