5 ms·
Greens: why we eat the leaves that we do (2013)
- Clewza313 6y agoI suspect most greens eaten worldwide fall within the same taxa as those described in the article. For example, the Chinese eat a vast variety of cabbage/mustardy plants, but botanically they're all Brassica rapa.
- throwawaygal7 6y agoThere are actually a lot of less commonly known greens that are in exotic taxa with few or no other eaten relatives. Strawberry spinach, for example
- Clewza313 6y agoI'm sure there are exceptions, but I'm talking about most. If there's a country/region with commonly eaten vegetables/greens that fall outside the article's listings, I'd be keen to hear about it.
- throwawaygal7 6y agoI think this has more to do with modernity and monoculture than it does with the types of greens a culture originally ate; usually the left behind greens are less tasty, more ... strongly flavoured, and harder to grow. IIRC small areas of japan have odd greens eaten as a customary thing, whether they make up a majority of foodstuffs i cant say. I believe greens were usually eaten only sparingly historically rather than the salad heavy diets pursued today. (lots of scary stuff on unwashed, uncooked greens)
- not2b 6y agoThe author mentions this, and expresses curiosity about what greens are eaten by peoples who had little to no contact with people from Eurasia (these may well be very different).
- throwawaygal7 6y agoTrue, also in the comment someone introduces some ... more novel varieties of greens and the author talks about how many are outside of her tree.
- zdragnar 6y agoFern fronds and young stinging nettle come to mind in some local places that serve local seasonal foods. They aren't bad, per se, but have a very short season and are really more of a "winter stores have run low and too early to harvest anything, but I am really hungry..." situation.
- danaliv 6y agoWhere does seaweed fit in here?
- twic 6y agoSpinach is the biggest exception i can think of - _Spinacia oleracea_, in the Caryophyllales, a different order to the Brassicales. I don't think Indian cooking uses a lot of brassicas as greens. Lots of spinach, plus amaranth, also a Caryophyllale, and fenugreek/methi, a Fabale. Mustard leaf is a brassica, though.
- jdxcode 6y agoI feel like (at least modern) Indian cooking uses quite a bit of cauliflower and broccoli
- vram22 6y agoCabbage is a brassica, right? Indians eat lots of cabbage, north to south. And a lot of cauliflower, also a brassica. Alu gobhi (a dry veg dish of potato and cauliflower) is a dish famous even in the West. I read somewhere that Bryan Adams enjoyed it on an India tour, some years ago. I don't like it much, personally (but don't dislike it either).
- twic 6y agoAll true. But cauliflower isn't a green!
- 6y ago
- oever 6y agoWhile Brassica may be the most eaten by mass, there's a variety of other leafs mentioned in the article. The phylogenetic tree show it. https://botanistinthekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/2013_04_05_greens_phylo1.jpg https://botanistinthekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/201...
- csunbird 6y agoIn Turkey, we eat grape leaves as well. Do they fall into same category? Edit: The article seems to refer that grape leaves are edible but it also says that grape leaves were not included in this article on purpose.
- burnte 6y agoThey're common in a lot of greek recipes also, but I think they didn't count in this article because they're used as wrappings rather than a pile of leaves like lettuce. I could be completely wrong, but I've never seen them just eaten, always as a functional part of a recipe.
- jfengel 6y agoIt happens, but not often. You can use grape leaves in salads, and even in pesto. I've also used them dried and crumbled as an accent. They've got a tannic bite that contrasts well with mild flavors like rice and soft cheeses. Even so, you usually don't base a whole dish around them the way you can with other leafy greens. The tannic bite easily becomes too much.
- 11235813213455 6y agoMy favorite green is not listed there: leek, I love the green parts (still eat the white part, but later), and raw. Onion leaves as well are excellent. Don't throw them away!
- vram22 6y agoI'm down for anything onion- or garlic-tasting. Not tried onion leaves. Will now. Shallots are great. In Tamil Nadu, called sambar vengayam (sambar onions).
- horns4lyfe 6y agoLeeks confit is one of the most delicious things you can eat. Takes a while, but worth it.
- steve_adams_86 6y agoI rarely have it these days, but back when I ate animals, leek confit simmered in duck fat used to be such a treat for me. They're great simmered in any fat really, but that one always struck me as such an awesome savoury combo.
- horns4lyfe 6y agoAs a meat eater, I need to try that. I've always done it in olive oil, which has the delicious side effect of leaving you with a jar full of leek-flavored olive oil.
- goda90 6y agoThis last fall I planted ramp(a type of wild onion/leek) seeds under some trees in my yard. They take 7 years to finally put out their own seeds, so in the meantime I'm looking forward to carefully harvesting a few leaves each spring, leaving the bulbs alive so they can come back the next year.
- yumraj 6y agoTry garlic leaves also, if you haven't already..
- dfxm12 6y agoI thought we ate the greens we do because we saw other animals eating them and decided they were safe to eat (from as the article puts it, chemical & physical weapons) based on that. From there, we probably selected seeds from the tastiest/easiest to harvest plants to replant, and thus that's how we ended up where we are today (or at least before we figured out more advanced GMO techniques). I thought that was the direction this article would end up going. I mean, could we or banana trees have evolved differently so that we wound up eating the banana leaves and not just using them as wrappers? Would our teeth have to look like a squirrel's? Would the bananas themselves have to be different for the tree to grow so that leaves are tasty to us?
- Ericson2314 6y agoA lot of animals are way better at eating greens than we are, I would not follow their lead. I am pretty sure besides migrating, we eat the leaves our parents eat, all the way back too...well..."other animals".
- mrfusion 6y agoI couldn’t see where the article addresses it but why can’t we eat oak or maple leaves? Or say palm fronds?
- vram22 6y agoSome are more edible than others. This includes taste, texture, fibrosity (if that's a word, else make it one), cookability (ditto :), digestibility, being non-poisonous, etc.
- ElijahLynn 6y agoAlso, all protein on the planet was created by photosynthesis in plants.
- goda90 6y agoWell actually, a lot of proteins become the proteins that they are in animals via biosynthesis. But yes, at the bottom of the food chain plants capture the energy of sunlight which supports everything up the chain.
- ncmncm 6y agoUltimately protein all starts with nitrogen fixed by bacteria in the roots. As animals have no ability to fix nitrogen, they get it only from dietary protein. Similarly, vitamin B12 is produced in prodigious amounts by bacteria in the colon, but never absorbed there. Lots of animals, notably rabbit and dogs, eat their own crap apparently to get B12 out. We mostly prefer to get it from meat and dairy.