I've learned a lot this summer.

[conuly]

First I learned that one can eat beet greens. That was interesting, certainly.

Read an article about a farmer at the farmer's market who gets frustrated with customers who ask for the greens to be cut off their beets, but then turn around and buy chard. Sure, it makes him more money, but beet greens and chard are the same thing, and it's so wasteful! (He ought to put a sign up to that effect, really.) I understand his feelings.

Then I learned that radish greens are edible. They're a lot like kale, but not quite as strong.

That was a little disturbing. When you buy radishes in the supermarket, you usually buy them in a bag, without the greens attached at all. It would never have occurred to me that you could eat them except that that was mentioned in my new cookbook, 660 Curries (which I really recommend).

Today, I read in my CSA papers that carrots are related to parsley and that the greens are totally edible.

And now I'm pissed.

Did you know that you can eat carrot greens? Did anybody? Because I sure didn't, and given that the most common way to buy carrots is with the leaves detached, it would never, ever, in a million years have made sense to me that I was buying carrots (and radishes, and beets) without a valuable source of nutrition. Like white wheat flour, with nutrients just removed from it altogether.

Not that I particularly *want* to eat carrot greens - if they're anything like the parsley they're related to (and they sure do look the part), I'm positive I don't, in fact - but why is it that I only just now found out that it is an option? How many more things am I totally, blindly ignorant of? Things that ought to be common knowledge?

It's like finding out how easy gluemaking is, all over again. It's not about making glue, or even knowing how to make glue - it's about not even knowing I had a choice. It's like being 11 years old again, and the only school-sponsored education about my period was in fact an ad for commercial products, so other, perfectly good ideas weren't even thought of - the choice was taken away from me. It's like all sorts of these little moments built up, until I'm actually very annoyed. It's not like that, it is that.

I am not a happy Connie.

(The carrots at the CSA also came sans tops. I *am* emailing to comment on it. I'd just rip the tops off, again, parsley, ick, but then I could put them in the swap box.)

Comments

This is a cultural thing:

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

You're buying veggies without the greens because the greens are considered to be poor food. If you were a Southerner, you'd have been eating the greens of mustard, goosefoot, wild sorrel, turnip, radish, beet, carrot, and other root vegetables and seed plants all your life, most often cooked with a dried ham hock for flavor. Mmmmmmm.

If the grocery stores near you carry them, pick up a can of "Mixed Greens" and read the ingredients. If you *really* want a long list of edible greens, gravitate towards Asian cooking sites; the recipes tend to be creative with a cabbage and a leaf of bok choy.

Re: This is a cultural thing:

[conuly]

I don't see how I can consider them poor food when I didn't realize they were food to begin with, and when I see introductions to them saying the same thing - "Wow, you can totally eat this!"

Maybe it used to be considered poor food, but if so it's been considered that long enough that it's moved into the realm of "not-food-at-all". Kinda like bugs.

Re: This is a cultural thing:

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

I don't see how I can consider them poor food when I didn't realize they were food to begin with

That's why I said it was cultural, not personal. I think your culture decided that it was poor food and so lost the knowledge of how to prepare and eat them.

In the southern US, I think *everyone* knows that they are food, because we've been poor since Reconstruction (or that's the cultural story we like to tell ourselves, anyway.) Cooked greens are a traditional Southern comfort food; I can order them in lots of nearby restaurants. Maybe it's not common knowledge for Yankees, but it's not like we're keeping it a secret. :)

Here (http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/CollardGreens.htm) and here (http://southernfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa031100a.htm) are some additional links you might want to check out.

Re: This is a cultural thing:

[conuly]

Ah, got it now.