矮冬瓜 (Food)

Summer in Taiwan is hot and humid. The scorching sun makes people dehydrated, craving for something that can quench their thirst and cool them off. The cold drink shops that stand around almost every corner of the street can prove what I have just said. No wonder in Taiwanese we had a saying that went as “The best way to get rich is to sell ice/cold drink.” (And the second best, to be a doctor.)

Before the emergence of the modern cold drinks such as pearl milk tea 珍珠奶茶(zhen zhu nai3 cha2), a traditional popular cold drink would be 冬瓜茶(dong gua cha2), which is made from , 冬瓜(dong gua), winter melon.

冬瓜 (from vegoo.net)

It is also called “white gourd” and is eaten as a vegetable. Simmered for hours with sugar and water, it turns to a drink, 冬瓜茶. For busy modern women who do not have the time to cook it from scratch, they can get a冬瓜茶磚(dong gua cha2 zhuan) , a “brick” of dried winter melon with sugar. Boil it with water, you get a pot of冬瓜茶in fifteen minutes or so.

冬瓜茶磚  (from blog.hetai.com.tw )

Short people are often called矮冬瓜(ai3 dong gua),short winter melon. It doesn’t seem fair to relate winter melon to shorties. Compared with other melons such as luffa or cucumber, winter melons actually are bigger. They are bigger but seem “stouter.” Perhaps that’s why we have the term  

矮冬瓜.        

Winter melon is good to eat in summer. (But strangely, it is called “winter” melon.) It is urinative and “reduce the internal heat.” 降火氣(jiang4 huo3 qi4). Usually we’ll cook it with some ginger to balance because it is catalogued under the “cold” food.

In my previous April writing “Thousand-year egg,壞蛋?” I talked about some egg-related terms such as 笨蛋(ben4 dan4)，傻蛋(sha3 dan4). Similarly we have some “melon-related” terms. For example, 傻瓜(sha3 gua), a foolish “melon,” means the same as傻蛋, a fool. 笨瓜(ben4 gua) is also similar to笨蛋. Just replace the word蛋 “egg” with 瓜“melon,” you’ll get a term with similar meaning. Funny we have a term 呆瓜(dai gua), a “foolish melon” referring to a fool, but we don’t say 呆蛋(dai dan4)

Some ancient wise man advised us not to bend down to put on shoes in a melon farm, and not to adjust your hat under a plum tree. If you do so, people would think you’re stealing melons or plums. Accordingly a wise man should avoid acts that could cause others’ doubts or negative assumptions. Thus we get an idiom 瓜田李下(gua tian2 li3 xia4), (in) a melon farm or under the plum tree.

For example, your son is taking a selection exam for a position, but you’re a member of the committee in charge. What should you do? You’d better withdraw from the committee to avoid being suspected that you’ll pull the strings. You should 避瓜田李下之嫌(bi4 gua tian2 li3 xia4 zhi xian2), avoid being suspected.

茶磚=茶砖     

降火氣=降火气

壞蛋=坏蛋