Walking down the produce isle I come across the leafy greens. Lettuce in both green and red, spinach bagged or unbagged, green cabbage and red cabbage. What sounds good today? As I peruse a curly evergreen colored leaf stands out and don't recognize this plant. I look at the price tag. Kale. So this is what it normally looks like.
Brassica oleracea is a close relative to cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, rapeseed and collard greens, which all share a common ancestor, the mustard seed. It is coarse to the taste and some people find it non-palatable. Kale is well known for the large amounts of nutrients that it contains. Not only does it contain large amounts of Vitamin C and beta-carotene, it is rich in Vitamin K and calcium. It can be eaten raw, steamed, stir-fried, microwaved and even frozen. Freezing is actually said to make this somewhat bitter leaf into a sweeter plant. For this reason it is normally harvested after a frost. In Germany it is called gruenkohl, green cabbage, and in the Netherlands it is called the farmer's cabbage, boerenkool.
The first time Kale turned up on my plate was in Heide, Germany and came from a big pot. It had the appearance of canned spinach, shriveled and green olive in color. Its smell hung around the house. The family that I was eating with excitedly passed the white dish around that contained this slimy vegetable. I thought no one would notice if I didn't dish myself. But that was rude, being invited to someone's home and not eating what they had prepared for us. I felt a shiver creeping up my back as I plopped the gruenkohl onto my plate and passed it on. I dished two sausages out with it. Maybe these would help me enjoy it better, I thought to myself. Slowly scraping some onto my fork with my knife, I breathed slowly before I took the bite. Almost instantly, my umami taste buds flew off the scale of taste. It was not course nor slimy, but braised to perfection in what I later learned to be pig fat and stewed for at least a day with the pork cut of your choice. The longer it is stewed, the better it tasted. This quickly became my favorite dish in Germany, not the classic bratwurst or schnitzel. I never saw the plant in its original fresh cut form and didn't learn its name in English until shortly after my return to the States. When I go back to Northern Germany, this will be on my menu.
You take the reader on a visual journey from store, to dictionary, to plate. I am intriged to try the recipe!
ReplyDeleteMy only critique is the "green olive in color", I would change the word order to ... and the color of green olives.
You did a great job walking us through the history of the plant without it feeling weighed down by a dictionary definition.
ReplyDeleteThe scene part was also well done. I remember a similar reaction to being served Kale for the first time. Unfortunately mine was not prepared in pig fat... it was, well it wasn't a pleasant experience.
In the future, maybe consider ending on more of the essay portion rather than the memoir. It would bring it back to the original purpose and reaffirm that this isn't primarily a memoir scene.
I am not the biggest fan of kale, so it was very interesting to read this mini essay. I really like the tension that is present when you don't want to serve yourself the kale, but you also don't want to be rude. That part really engaged me.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the visuals your portrayed throughout. It was a very interesting piece. I didn't understand the purpose of the first scene in the grocery but you pulled it back in at the end for purpose which was helpful.
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