8 ms·
We Might Be Eating Cactus in the Future
- mromanuk 9y agoI'm always amazed by the wide range and variety of food, we can consume. Never heard of edible cactus, I love to try them.
- 8ytecoder 9y agoNopal[1] is common in Mexican and TexMex cusines[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nopal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nopal [2] http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmexican.html http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmexican.html
- astura 9y agoIf you're in the US most Mexican places serve at least one dish with cactus, even here in the Northeast.
- wizardforhire 9y agoPrickly Pears are delicious! Both the leaves and the fruit. Most Hispanic grocery stores carry them. Well worth the adventure.
- suryamp 9y agoThey go amazing with tacos
- kyleblarson 9y agoAnd in margaritas!
- ars 9y agoI love them, but the seeds are a pain.
- always_good 9y agoJust swallow them. Same as a guava.
- vorpalhex 9y agoAlso delicious in frozen margarita form!
- has2k1 9y agoRemember the rule of paw, don't pick the prickly pears by the paw.
- pbowyer 9y agoSurely the title should be "We’ll All Be Eating Cacti in the Future Thanks to Climate Change"? Plural of cactus, as we'll be eating more than one.
- grzm 9y agoI'd say the jury/consensus is still out, or rather, hasn't even been convened. One could also conceive of it as a mass noun in the context of consumption, similar to corn, beef, or lettuce.
- scrooched_moose 9y agoThey both work fine, depending on how you meant to structure the sentence. "We'll all be eating rabbit" and "We'll all be eating rabbits" have slightly different connotations (generic term for the meat vs specific animals) but mean effectively the same thing. The former seems to be the more common usage, as it's more analogous to "We'll all be eating beef" instead of "We'll all be eating cows".
- Cursuviam 9y agoIf you are talking about the food substance itself, Cactus is correct.
- mrchucklepants 9y agoI ate cactus quite frequently when I lived in Mexico. It’s pretty good when prepared well.
- coldcode 9y agoUsed to eat a tasty cactus soup at my favorite Mexican place in Texas.
- edflsafoiewq 9y agoHow do you prepare it? I've only tried it once and I didn't much care for it.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoI had cactus and pork dumplings in china once. They were definitely tasty, with a sage-like bite to them.
- DoreenMichele 9y agoThe HN title is worse than the already bad article title as it loses the implied "some people already do this, but it may become a lot more mainstream/widespread as it works well as a solution to some of our current global challenges." How do you create a title conveying that without it being hyperbolic click-bait while keeping it at 80 characters or less? I have no clue. But that's the gist of this article.
- QAPereo 9y agoSome Already Do, But Eating Cactus May Become Mainstream Under Global Pressures. Not perfect, but it took me 10 seconds, and of course, is less inviting to clicks.
- curtis 9y agoI think I originally submitted it with the title "We’ll All Be Eating Cactus in the Future", mostly because I thought the "eating cactus" part was more interesting than the "climate change" part.
- Falling3 9y agoThe "Some already do" part seems awfully unnecessary.
- QAPereo 9y agoA fair portion of the world actually already eats cactus on a regular basis.
- ksenzee 9y agoCactus to Be More Common Food in Future
- notananthem 9y agoFrom chicago, cactus is super commonplace streetfood in tacos, same all over the US. Dumb article
- gwbas1c 9y agoI was hoping this was about some impending legalization of Peyote!
- ProfessorLayton 9y agoCactus-based dishes and prickly pears are common foods in Mexican cuisine, and hardly uncommon in the US, due to a large population of Mexican descent. Cactus is cheap, delicious, and can be found in your local Hispanic foods mart. Prickly pears are high in fiber, and only about 40kcal/100grams — Sprinkle a little bit of Tajín on them and you've got a guilt-free snack. I suppose it will become more common in the future, but the main reason for that will probably be due to the growing Hispanic population in the US.
- swampthinker 9y agoSounds ripe for an MBA to take it and brand it as a hipster snack discovered from Mexico.
- ProfessorLayton 9y agoStarbucks had a prickly pear Frappuccino this past summer: https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-beverages/berry-prickly-pear-frappuccino-blended-crème https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-be... Confession: I actually tried it out of curiosity, and it was pretty decent.
- jxramos 9y agoI love an example in this direction of `That Indian Drink`. When I first saw a label of it I read it in my mind as spoken by a Southern California Valley Girl accent. http://www.thatindiandrink.com/behind-that-drink/ http://www.thatindiandrink.com/behind-that-drink/ Pretty funny play on likely found ignorance by others mixed with self-deprecating humor.
- Insanity 9y agoMy thoughts exactly. The 'nopal'[0], which has kind of a weird texture to me but does not taste all that bad. Also, I just learned that it's called "Prickly pears" in English, so thank you for that. I always just called them 'nopal' even when speaking English :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nopal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nopal
- hcarvalhoalves 9y agoIn the northeast region of Brazil, which has arid climate similar to north Africa, cactus has been used for cattle and human consumption since forever. I know of four edible species, and one is even used for jam and liquor. It's the backup plan when the drought hits hard - which is basically every other year in that region.
- voyager2 9y ago"in parts of the world that are getting wetter, for instance, the cactus won’t thrive." They certainly thrive in northern Florida.
- obiefernandez 9y agoContext: Recently relocated to Mexico (July '17) As is common to newcomers, I was struck with bouts of diarrhea on a regular basis for the first few weeks. When I started eating "tuna" (which is the prickly pear fruit mentioned in the linked article) every morning as part of my breakfast routine, the intestinal issues went away. I don't know for sure that the two things are connected, but definitely has made living here a lot easier.
- equalunique 9y agoPrickly Pear is a source of N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC), an amino acid that helps the immune system function - it is the same amino acid abundant in chicken broth & the secret to it's efficacy as a remedy for colds/flu.