Kale

Americans love fads. Foods are no exception. At the current moment, the top celebrity foods are kale, bacon, technicolor sugar bombs known as “unicorn food” and anything without gluten. All are guaranteed to make one immortal, blissful or both.

These ingestibles have one thing in common: corporations can charge obscene prices for them. Just check out the price of a teensy bag of kale chips at Starbucks.

Not everyone, however, is buying in. I did laugh out load when this FB post popped up……”If you stir coconut oil into your kale, it makes it easier to stir into the trash.”

I think I’ll launch my own food fad. I’ll call it the Swiss Chard Fan Club. Like everything else I do, it will be a non-profit.

With the exception of not being Swiss, Swiss chard has a lot going for it. It’s wildly nutritious, low calorie, beautiful and IT TASTES GOOD. Plus, it is easy to prepare. Simply tear the deep green, red-veined leaves off the big red stem and cook them a few minutes.

Botanically, Swiss chard (scientific name Beta vulgaris cicla) is from the beet genus. Beetroots and sugar beets are relatives. The plant is native to Europe’s Mediterranean where it is widely used in the cuisine.

So if you are not completely smitten by kale, “the Lady Gaga of greens”, you might want to give chard a try. Bacon crumbles on top are optional.

Flickr: by godutchbaby
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2 thoughts on “Kale”

  1. I think Michael Pollan gives the best and most nutritionally sound advice on eating: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” He adds that your great- grandmother should be able to recognize the ingredients.

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