WE ALL COULD BENEFIT FROM KNOWING

If I had a time machine, one of the things I think I'd eventually get around to is locating the exact moment that bitter melon was first incorporated into cuisine, and find out why. How could you taste something like that and not immediately say "You know what, not only is this shitty, it's so shitty it might actually be poison. Maybe we shouldn't eat it, guys. What do you say? You know those berries we tried yesterday that made Wong* die? Let's put this thing in the pile where those berries are." Honestly, it's not like the taste is subtle or anything. Bitter melon! Whose call was that?

* I first encountered this in a dish as "Chinese bitter melon," so I'm assuming it was the Chinese who first discovered it millenia ago, but obviously we don't know for sure.