direct link to October 7 article is:

https://www.delanceyplace.com/view-archives.php?p=4193

> The name and location of the store where Mary Hunt shopped are now forgotten, and the historic cantaloupe itself was not preserved: after the mold was scraped off, it was cut into pieces and eaten by the staff.

Well ain't that just horrifying by modern standards (both culinary and lab safety standards). It's funny how people speculate about the desperation required by the the first person to try various "challenging" foodstuffs... seems to me that revulsion is the unnatural, learned reaction.