These lightly netted Uzbek melons — a variety called Golden Hami, grown domestically by Fisher Ranch — were very enticing, at a glance. But even one, with the size and gentle swell of a rugby ball, would have doubled the weight of my already weighty backpack. I claimed a cantaloupe-like, very sweet Galia (shown below) instead. See also this tale of two melon countries, Uzbekistan and California.
Previously: "Pine soda!" my friend exclaimed. He spoke of bygone spruce beer in Montreal, and I recalled an encounter with Scots pine ale in Astoria, but, alas, the soda at hand (shown in the final photo below) was no match for our memories.
Some hours later I determined that the most prominent word on the label is the adjectival form of "taiga," a word that describes the coniferous forests girding the high northern latitudes of the globe. The ingredients, on closer inspection, included extracts of Siberian ginseng, St. John's wort, and licorice root, as well as unspecified "needle" (spruce? pine? larch?). The illustration, then, is more evocative than definitive. Shippi brand taiga-flavor soda is generally woodsy but, to my taste, insufficiently coniferous.
Tashkent Supermarket
713 Brighton Beach Ave. (at Coney Island Ave.), Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
205-282-7777
