The Watermelon Museum and Mr. Song’s Melon Farm

When I was trying to decide if I could afford to go to the Gourmand Cookbook Fair and Awards event in Daxing, Beijing, I was swayed by some of the unique activities, places and things that it never would have dawned on me to get to otherwise. Lets start with The Watermelon Museum.

Daxing, a rural and suburban area of Beijing, located in the southern part of its 5th ring road, is also the watermelon capital of China, for this reason, there is a huge and amazing museum dedicated to the watermelon. It was–and while I really don’t like using this word, thinking it a lazy way out–awesome. Really awesome.

First of all, even just the idea of having such a museum is awesome. Second of all, it wasn’t just a little room, a shack filled with

hand-made displays depicting this regions prize fruit. No, it was a tall, massive building, whose front reminded me of the art in Rockerfeller Center, the steps seemingly leading to a temple of worship, a library, or a museum of note. An important museum.