Watermelons: A forbidden pleasure in cholera-hit Korea

A melon peddler displays his merchandise.

By Robert Neff

A melon peddler in the streets of Seoul.

When we think of summer picnic foods, watermelon probably springs to mind, but at the mining concessions in the early 1900s it was a forbidden pleasure.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Korea suffered severe outbreaks of cholera. Watermelons were associated with the disease and many Westerners forbade their Korean employees from consuming them during cholera outbreaks. For the first offense a warning was given but for a second, the offender was fired.

Edward T. McCarthy, the supervisor at the British-owned Gwendoline Mines in northern Korea, was determined to prevent an outbreak of cholera at the mines. In his memoirs he wrote: “In Seoul people were dying in great numbers daily, and already it had broken out in some of our villages on the [Gwendoline] Concession” so drastic measures had to be taken. He decided to ban watermelons.

This was no easy task. According to McCarthy, Koreans ate “immense quantities [of melons] including the rind” and would consider his ban as a cruel step by “depriving them of their much-loved watermelon.” He quickly formed a police force made up of Japanese and Koreans and announced the ban.

“As soon as the [Korean] miners heard of the new orders prohibiting water-melon eating we nearly had a strike, but though they showed great resentment nothing further happened. Several attempts were made to smuggle the melons into the camp, but our police not only entrapped the culprits, but were given orders to thrash them ― which I have no doubt they did. At all events we succeeded in keeping the camp clear of them, and, in consequence, I believe, of cholera; we had only one case in our camp.”

It isn't clear when watermelons were introduced into Korea but it was surely by the 16th century as evidenced by Shin Saimdang's beautiful painting of mice ravaging a watermelon (

https://www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/relic/represent/view?relicId=2061

).

The popularity of watermelons in Joseon Korea is undeniable. A Joseon scholar, Jeong Yak-yong, also known as Dasan (1762-1836), claimed that farmers would starve before eating their precious seeds. They were even mentioned in an old Korean proverb in which the eater is urged to stop licking the outside of the watermelon and begin eating the flesh ― which basically meant to stop hesitating and begin the task at hand.

It has even been amusingly suggested that the reason watermelons have so many seeds is to prevent a person from eating it too quickly.

McCarthy's ban may have been effective in preventing the cholera outbreak but it is understandable that there was resentment toward it, especially considering that watermelons were used in traditional medicine.

McCarthy's observation of Koreans eating rinds is probably inaccurate and that they were, in fact, eating the pith (white part), which was thought good for indigestion and bloating.

Watermelons were also thought to prevent mouth sores and cysts. The boiled juice was used to treat kidney inflammation and edema from heart disease and urethra and bladder disorders.

McCarthy seems to have been unaware of the medicinal uses watermelons had in Korean society and self-righteously defended his ban by writing: “It was no use to tell them [the Korean miners] that I had saved many of them from cholera” because they could not understand how “a nice, cool watermelon gives them so dreadful a disease”