Why is it that all of a sudden and out of nowhere, there's this vegetable called kale? Growing up, there was surely no such thing; it most certainly did not exist 50 years ago, I am positive. I never saw it in a store, never heard of it on a menu in a restaurant, and FOR SURE never tasted it. The only leafy vegetable that did exist was spinach...and the five year old me remembers that it smelled when boiled eerily similar to scrambled eggs but was far grosser to look at and eat. Spinach was enough of a torture to humanity (or so I thought as a child), but when did they invent kale? And who came up with such an unattractive name for a vegetable with leaves that remind me of Dumbo's ears?
For some reason, this vegetable that came from nowhere, this behemoth that requires untold amounts of refrigerator space, is touted to be tres healthy and oh so chi chi. And it seems that I've lived on a different planet all my life, because this little relative of the cabbage has been around for ever. Go know!
Kale is one of those things that you never know about until you do, and then once you do know, you realize that everyone else knows about it, too, and always has (which makes you feel completely stupid). I don't remember where I first heard of it, but now, I hear kale talk everywhere I go! It's quite unnerving. I've even heard whispers of recipes involving kale in the staff room! Well, good for kale! I could happily live my life without it, or so I thought...and for quite some time, I was able to avoid the monster all together, until my daughter came home from university this past winter break.
The two of us were on a grocery shopping run, planning that night's dinner. "Why don't we make a vegetable soup, Mom", she had suggested, hence the trip to the vegetable aisle. My vegetable soup is generally a mix of whatever needs to be used up in the fridge, added to a Streit's Split Pea tube soup. I believe my thinking at the time we entered the store was that I had everything I needed at home (carrots, onions, potatoes, some frozen peas, some limp celery and parsley), except the tube soup. Obviously, I was wrong.
"Let's buy some kale to put in the soup!", my chipper little red-head gleefully announced. I stopped cold in the vegetable aisle, stupefied. All my lips could utter was, "Why?"
She then went on to explain that kale is a delicious vegetable to add to a soup, and that she uses it when she makes soup at her apartment in Montreal. She urged me to try it. "Fine", I acquiesced. But what does it look like? Do they even sell it at this store? Well, of course they did....it was right in front of me, staring me in the face. Dutiful mom stuck a bunch in the shopping cart, feeling quite uncomfortable about using this new vegetable, and most unsure as to how the soup would taste.
Once home, we made our soup with all of the above ingredients, including the kale, and some chicken stock (thank you, Osem). As the steaming richness touched my lips, I was reminded of the assurance my daughter had given me at the store. She was right; it tasted great. As they say in French, 'Kale' suprise!
And now, I hear kale talk everywhere. On Facebook, I received a recipe for Kale chips. In the newspaper the other day, there was a full page dedicated to restaurants that serve up kale in various ways (thegridto.com). Forget about the race to the American Presidency, the real talk is about kale. Kale is hip and current.
So, does the fact that I have cooked with kale once in my life make me hip and current, too? Alas, it does not. But it does make me want to experiment with fruits and vegetables I haven't played with before now. I can't wait to see what will be next to tickle my fancy and tastebuds!
No comments:
Post a Comment