[HN Gopher] Greens: why we eat the leaves that we do (2013)
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Greens: why we eat the leaves that we do (2013)
Author : jsnell
Score : 130 points
Date : 2021-01-26 09:40 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (botanistinthekitchen.blog)
(TXT) w3m dump (botanistinthekitchen.blog)
| mrfusion wrote:
| I couldn't see where the article addresses it but why can't we
| eat oak or maple leaves? Or say palm fronds?
| vram22 wrote:
| Some 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.
| 11235813213455 wrote:
| My 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!
| yumraj wrote:
| Try garlic leaves also, if you haven't already..
| goda90 wrote:
| This 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.
| vram22 wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| Leeks confit is one of the most delicious things you can eat.
| Takes a while, but worth it.
| steve_adams_86 wrote:
| I 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.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| A 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".
| ElijahLynn wrote:
| Also, all protein on the planet was created by photosynthesis in
| plants.
| goda90 wrote:
| Well 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.
| Clewza313 wrote:
| I 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_.
| twic wrote:
| Spinach 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.
| vram22 wrote:
| Cabbage 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).
| jdxcode wrote:
| I feel like (at least modern) Indian cooking uses quite a bit
| of cauliflower and broccoli
| vram22 wrote:
| Cauliflower even in older Indian cooking; see my sibling
| comment to yours. Broccoli is newer in India, AFAIK.
| vram22 wrote:
| Cauliflower _is_ even ...
| sharadov wrote:
| Not broccoli
| AareyBaba wrote:
| Malabar spinach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basella_alba
| which is a vine.
|
| Just learned about this one today. Purslane
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea
| throwawaygal7 wrote:
| There 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 wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| The 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).
| danaliv wrote:
| Where does seaweed fit in here?
| zdragnar wrote:
| Fern 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.
| throwawaygal7 wrote:
| True, also in the comment someone introduces some ...
| more novel varieties of greens and the author talks about
| how many are outside of her tree.
| oever wrote:
| While 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/2013/04/201...
| csunbird wrote:
| In 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 wrote:
| They'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 wrote:
| It 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.
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(page generated 2021-01-26 23:01 UTC)