A salad
Bongi D D M Radipati | Monday February 20, 2023 06:00
It was late afternoon and the best time to eat lightly. Ahead of me was a young woman, say in her mid-30s, elegantly dressed and with a pair of boisterous school going children, in identical clothes, likely twin boys. She could have been their mother or close relative I assumed.
We kept inching forward in the queue, immersed in our thoughts. Soon, her turn came and she made her order across the counter. I could not help but notice that it contained almost everything edible except vegetables. Shocked, but unable to restrain myself, I took my chances with her,
“Excuse me and good afternoon. May I ask why you are not buying any veggies for these boys?”
Amid a furtive glance from one of the customers, she turned ever so slightly to me with a stiffened brow and a short penetrating look, “They would not eat them,” she deadpanned and turned to face the front again.
I had gone far enough with her so I left it there. But the encounter reinforced my views about our eating habits that appear to yield easily to what is available, or is familiar or may be a subject of successful dietary fads and marketing gimmicks. It need not be so. Actually, if we can watch what we eat, we can learn. If we can learn it, we can know it. And if we can know it, we can change it. At that stage, we would be ready to be our own food gatekeepers, by paying attention to what we eat and leading by example those under our care.
The starting point is to be wise to the possibilities of plants and never to underestimate a combination of fruits and vegetables as a meal. Around the 1st Century AD, the ancient Greeks and Romans, Persians and Indians, in their respective locales, collected raw vegetables and layered them with vinegar, oil and herbs to create the world’s first edible salad. During Roman times, a salad meant salted vegetables with vinegar and oil added to them as a dressing. Thus the Latin word, ‘sal’ for salt. The word was later Romanticized to French ‘salade’ and finally Anglicized to its current and common name, ‘salad’. Although a salad is available in every culinary culture these days, apparently it was only about 60 years ago that it became popular in the USA. (What about Botswana?) In 2012, a salad was the world’s most popular food, signifying that it had now become a global dietary mainstay. Regrettably, it isn’t so any longer.
A salad is the countervailing food that has different ingredients, a medley of colors, variations of textures, delightful tastes and delicious flavors - all combined in a single dish capable of supporting every dietary preference imaginable. It is no coincidence that it is the food of every major faith, where it is sometimes observed by the faithful; the homely desire of every careful mother, where it is often disregarded by all; and the exhortation of every health care professional, where it is usually derided. In any event, it is food that is simple as it uses ingredients just the way they are. (A salad dressing -other than a homemade seasoning of salt and pepper - remains optional. But it is best to disregard it so that the real flavor of the different plants is not overpowered by it.) Often it does not require any cooking since it requires only a thorough cleaning, and the drying and slicing of the ingredients. Notwithstanding your culinary skills, you will prepare a salad well. As an appetizer, it must be consumed before every other meal, although it can still be eaten after a main meal. It can be had at any time of the day. And since it is a healthy, vital meal, a salad will satiate you without leaving you bloated.
A fruit - a plant that has at least one seed and grows out of its flower - and a vegetable - the edible part of a plant - are botanically different. But for nutritional and culinary purposes, for grocery store placement at the front, and sometimes even for Governmental purposes, many fruits are classified as vegetables. The eyes and mouth equally make no such clear distinctions between the two. Taking cue from them, neither does a salad! A salad, made exclusively of fruits and vegetables, is consistent with nature and is thus healthier for consumption. In fact, it is an excellent source of dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins A, C and E, potassium and folate. Typically, it also has low fat, low cholesterol and low sodium levels. It lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke, lowers blood pressure, lowers the risk of eye disorders, prevents some types of cancer, and helps in the maintenance of a healthy gut and the control of appetite.
Against hype and dietary confusion, a salad remains the singular food that has a combination of lower calorie content, higher nutrient density and even the highest balanced taste. Comparably some of the rest of the food which is commonly consumed lacks the quality of a salad. This other food is often processed and prepackaged and then laden with preservatives and additives as a deviation from nature. Small wonder that this other food is often blamed for the high rates of obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and some metabolic ailments.
At a time of our country’s annual budget deliberations and in the teeth of global inflation pressures, curiously it is still possible to spend a little to prepare a salad or to buy its ingredients. In this context, and given its ubiquity, couldn’t a salad as well be in the food basket of other prices assessed in determining the level of inflation in this country? Couldn't a salad, replacing some unhealthy foodstuffs, instead be served more often in our homes and at all public functions? Doing these few things will be a symbolic gesture of how seriously we consider this essential food. Anyhow, it is about time that we returned to a salad as food so widely available, but so generally ignored and yet existing with such a wide range of possibilities. Bon appetit!
*Radipati is a Mmegi contributor