I was working at a farmer’s market in London today, braving the wind and rain,  that storm Freya has heaped upon us this weekend.  There were not many people out shopping today, but of the few who did brave the elements, as usual at farmer’s markets, i got to chat to a few very nice people about many interesting things.

One thing,a couple of ladies asked me about,  was : do we sell collard greens? Unfortunately we don’t, although we do grow, kale, cavelo nero, spinach, chard, and many many types of salad leaves; i had never come across collard greens.

When i got home, i looked up collard greens on the internet, and found they are very popluar in Brazil, Portugal, Southern USA, parts of Africa, Northern Spain, The Balkans and especially in the Kashmir  in India/Pakistan. Whenever i look something up, i come across the regional dishes which use the ingredients in question, and came across many classic dishes of India and Pakistan that use Collard Greens.

Many years ago, before i knew much about the wide world of vegetables , i used to eat much Indian restaurant/and takeaway food. The highly spiced and rich food we are so enamoured with in the UK, is not to my tastes anymore. I now eat plainer, healthier home-cooked  food, much closer to the real food that people of the Indian subcontinent might eat every day (or Italy, Portugal, Spain… ) .  Simple vegetable dishes, like the ones from the Kasmir, using Collard Greens, or the nettle recipes i heard from a Spanish lady last week, and many more simple, healthy vegetable based dishes from around the world, i have been told about from my, very cosmopolitan customers.

The point i am trying to make is, we in the UK, in the main,  have forgotten, our own culture’s many traditional everyday dishes – using seasonal fresh vegetables. We prefer to buy ready made meals, in plastic packets, with ingredients flown from the other side of the world. We have forgotten the virtues of buying fresh food, at markets, from the people who grow it.