Watermelons

This Article was written by Maria Ochoa Lopez, Year 7

This was the winning speech from the Public Speaking ECA. Congratulations to Maria and thank you for sharing your speech with us. We hope you enjoy it.

You might be wondering, why write a speech about watermelons? Well I honestly think watermelons are amazing. But you know who doesn’t think watermelons are amazing? Kent College. I'm not sure who is in charge of blocking websites but whoever they are, they hate watermelons. While I was researching I could only find two websites that weren’t blocked and only managed to get a few facts! But it is fine now as I was able to get more. Now, here is my speech about watermelons.

Did you know that there is a National Watermelon Day? I promise I'm being serious. National Watermelon Day is celebrated on August 3rd and people used to hold parades. They stopped celebrating them as they got bored. This celebration began in the Nile Valley as early as the second millennium B.C. They started celebrating it for its deliciousness and richness. Watermelon seeds were also found in King Tut's tomb!

Talking about Egyptians, ancient Egyptians used to harvest tonnes of watermelons and drink the melon water! They would scoop out the insides and press them down so all the juice would come out. They would then save that water so they could drink it during dry seasons.

Since we are still talking about Egyptians and watermelons, here's another fact. In Egypt it is common for people to eat watermelon with slices of Feta cheese. You might be thinking, that's disgusting, who would ever eat that? But a lot of people say that it is delicious and definitely worth trying.

Let's move away from the Egyptians and talk about some other fascinating facts.

Did you know that the watermelons we love and know now actually looked much much different in the past? They were bigger and honestly looked terrible. People have found paintings of these weird watermelons dating back to the 17th century! You know how you can cut pizza into four slices? These watermelons were split into four sections by the skin, they were still connected. Back then it was dangerous to eat these watermelons as people couldn't tell if they were rotten or not. Many people died of food poisoning.

Even though I just love telling you guys about watermelon facts, my speech has come to an end. So, after hearing my speech, did your view on watermelons change? Well mine did, when I go home I’m going to try the watermelon and feta cheese combo! Thank you for listening.