I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what bugs me about something or someone; regardless, there seems to be a lot of things that rub me the wrong way. For instance, last night I read an article on BBC about how gift-quality fruits in east Asia are very very expensive. For those who don't know, giving fruits such as melons, apples, and oranges as gifts when visiting family or someone you want to impress is almost an unspoken law in countries like China, Korea, and Japan. When I mean expensive, I'm talking about $25/apple and some fruits even go for over $100 a piece. It's true!
The article highlights a man named Masaomi Suzuki. He is a farmer in Japan with a knack for growing honeydew melons. The piece goes into some detail about how he cares for each fruit individually, the importance of temperature, and how vital it is to have only one melon per fruit plant to make sure that the one that does grows is very sweet and delicious. Basically, all the nutrients that would have gone to many melons is now concentrated to only one. Makes sense, I guess. But you have to pay a very pretty penny for one of these super melons. Try about $100 each.
Up to this point, I am not bothered. Would I ever buy fruit this expensive? No. Never. Not even if I had a very large surplus of money. But if there are people willing to buy product at those prices, why not? It's a luxury good with high demand, at least in certain parts of the world, so charge as much as you want. It's a luxury, not a necessity. So the price doesn't irk me. I mean, I'm sure there are people who think I'm crazy for spending what I spend on a single bottle of beer sometimes but like those melons, beer is also a luxury good. A very tasty one at that. (I spent over $20 on a single bottle before, but it's my money and I'm going to spend it the way I want. It was also for a special occasion.)
The article ends with an interviewer asking Masaomi Suzuki if he thinks that $100 per melon is expensive and he answers, "No way…they are a bargain." This is what bothers me. I don't know what it is about his answer, but it made me turn sour on him very quickly. If he had answered, "Maybe. I guess it depends on who you are." or "Absolutely, but you pay for the quality!", I think I would have been less bothered. Anyway, I don't know why but this Suzuki guy is now on my shit list. Him and his melons.
