1 minute read
The Paradox of Green
from Going Green
BY MADISON WOO
“The best way to eat spinach is by eating it with your eyes”. That’s what my grandmother told me as I sat at the kitchen table, smelling the sesame oil and watching it coat the spinach leaves. Her spindly fingers gripped the plastic red chopsticks and she piled the nameul (sauteed spinach) into a small hill on a blue laced ceramic plate. My job was to sprinkle the sesame seeds over top and bring them to the table and it was a duty that I took the most pride in. Maybe that’s why my grandmother’s nameul was my favorite banchan.
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Green is such a fickle color. As children, we swing underneath the branches of trees during the summer and prefer to lie in the vibrantly colored grass than our own beds. But when seated at the dinner table, our noses turn up at the thought of boiled broccoli or steamed asparagus. And it’s because we’re eating the vegetables all wrong. The color green is so appetizingly vibrant. Think of the light translucency of cucumber slices or the almost black rainbow chard with veins of pink and yellow. We should be emphasizing the most delicious way to cook these vegetables to not only enhance their flavor but their color to the naked eye.
Vegetables have a soft spot in my heart. My family celebrated them and part of that may have been their stubborn determination in not raising picky children. So we enjoyed steamed cabbage leaves dipped in anchovies and peppers alongside crispy hearts of romaine lettuce; salads were always dressed in spicy red sauce and accessorized with watermelon radish. The trick to eating your greens is learning how to jazz them up. Rather than a chore it should be up to the person to find their personal preference. But always remember to start with your eyes.
