06/28/08
My first crop of peanuts is in the bin. Peanuts are easy to grow and probably the most nutritious of my gardening attempts. They also can be stored without refrigeration. Yet for all their advantages, Samoans only seem to eat them as a snack or treat rather than incorporate them in their diet as a substitute for high fat imported meat. Most of the peanuts eaten are “Americana” canned variety from China.
As my peanuts dry in the sun, I need to protect them from passing children who want to “borrow” a few. These peanuts are to be distributed in the village to be planted, not eaten first. Just whether they make it to the soil as seed or feces remains to be seen.
Okra is my surprise test crop. Samoans have trouble when I pronounce it, confusing okra with “oka”, a favorite raw fish dish. I fried some up and let the neighbors try it. They all said they liked it. I am not sure if their compliments are just “Samoan Nice” or the fact that Samoans seem to like anything battered and fried in oil. I plan to let my current plants go to seed to distribute in the village.
One of the reasons why food of these foods seem logical yet difficult to incorporate into the Samoan diet is the same reason we all seem to fall into an eating pattern, habit. Why try something new when the tried and true will do even if it “is bad for you” (“makes you fat” doesn’t rhyme)?
My first crop of peanuts is in the bin. Peanuts are easy to grow and probably the most nutritious of my gardening attempts. They also can be stored without refrigeration. Yet for all their advantages, Samoans only seem to eat them as a snack or treat rather than incorporate them in their diet as a substitute for high fat imported meat. Most of the peanuts eaten are “Americana” canned variety from China.
As my peanuts dry in the sun, I need to protect them from passing children who want to “borrow” a few. These peanuts are to be distributed in the village to be planted, not eaten first. Just whether they make it to the soil as seed or feces remains to be seen.
Okra is my surprise test crop. Samoans have trouble when I pronounce it, confusing okra with “oka”, a favorite raw fish dish. I fried some up and let the neighbors try it. They all said they liked it. I am not sure if their compliments are just “Samoan Nice” or the fact that Samoans seem to like anything battered and fried in oil. I plan to let my current plants go to seed to distribute in the village.
One of the reasons why food of these foods seem logical yet difficult to incorporate into the Samoan diet is the same reason we all seem to fall into an eating pattern, habit. Why try something new when the tried and true will do even if it “is bad for you” (“makes you fat” doesn’t rhyme)?
Peanuts Drying in the Sun
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