[Sca-cooks] Melons in Moscow

[Johnna Holloway]

 From the 9/22/09 New York Times
Seeking Purification at Russia's Melon Stands
"Russians like to eat watermelon as a snack or light meal, often  
accompanied by white bread, but they have also concocted all sorts of  
recipes for it (don’t miss the pickled watermelon, guaranteed to last  
you through the winter).
This is about more than sustenance, though. People here ascribe to  
melons an almost mystical power to purify the body after the summer’s  
overindulgences. Come melon season, it seems, a great national  
cleansing occurs in Russia."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/world/europe/22moscow.html?ref=world

Johnnae