Get your teeth into that if you can

Megan's first grapefruit. If you're thinking it looks odd for a grapefruit, give yourself a pat on the back. It's a Chinese grapefruit. Unpeeled, it is shaped like a pear. The skin is very thick and very tough and the fruit inside is round like a traditional grapefruit. That's where the similarity ends though. The flesh is as tough as old boots and drier than a nun's cructh. I suspect the Chinese took to eating them during the 'long march' when the alternative was to eat your own shoes. They chose the grapefruit, but it was a close run thing.

On reflection, I suspect a lot of what the Chinese eat they eat only because it became a staple in times of hardship and it's a short hop from there to becoming a tradition/custom and once something has crossed that line it's hard to persuade people it doesn't make sense. Take pig's dick for example. I mean why would you eat one if you didn't have to? Mind you, I feel that way about turkey and Xmas.