I went around the world on Thursday. Well most of it anyway. I went to Ikea, and to an Indian market, and to an International market that carried a lot of European and Middle Eastern products. I spent the day reading labels written in languages I couldn't comprehend. I had a blast.
The man in the Indian market was not the friendliest. He did talk with me about bitter gourds though. I said "oh what's that?" And he said "that is bitter gourd. It helps with diabetes. " and I said "oh? So people eat it?" And he said "it helps with diabetes. " and I said "but do they cook it?" And he said "it helps with diabetes. " and "I said "so it's just a medicine?" And he said " some people drink the juice, but it is bitter. You don't want to do that. It is for diabetes " so I said "oh ok."
Naturally that conversation made me go home and look up more information about bitter gourds. For starters, they also go by the names: Momordica charantia, colloquially: bitter melon, bitter apple, bitter gourd, bitter squash, and balsam-pear along with over 40 other names in other languages. There are a ton of recipes to cook them, not just the juice.
I should have bought one.