Greens: why we eat the leaves that we do (2013) | Hacker News Reader

Greens: why we eat the leaves that we do (2013)

botanistinthekitchen.blog

138 pointsjsnell36 comments

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.

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

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.

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)

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).

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.

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.

Where does seaweed fit in here?

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.

I feel like (at least modern) Indian cooking uses quite a bit of cauliflower and broccoli

Cauliflower even in older Indian cooking; see my sibling comment to yours. Broccoli is newer in India, AFAIK.

Cauliflower is even ...

Not broccoli

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).

All true. But cauliflower isn't a green!

Sorry for late reply. (HN really should have a notification system for replies to comments.)

Not a botanist, but I think it may be considered as a green for practical purposes. Looked up Wikipedia. Technically the edible part is a flower or such. But is sold in greengrocer* shops alongside other greens of all sorts.

*British term, produce shops may be the US eqiivalent.

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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!

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).

Leeks confit is one of the most delicious things you can eat. Takes a while, but worth it.

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.

As 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.

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.

Try garlic leaves also, if you haven't already..

> Also, scallions are the only representatives on the tree from the genus Allium in the monocot order Asparagles, which includes many edible species, the leaves of some of which are regularly employed: garlic, leeks, ramps, and onions.

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?

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".

I couldn’t see where the article addresses it but why can’t we eat oak or maple leaves? Or say palm fronds?

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.

Also, all protein on the planet was created by photosynthesis in plants.

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.

Ultimately 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.

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