Potato Greens

Potato greens regularly appear in the diet of Liberia and many other West African countries. They are a staple food to be cooked with palm oil and maybe a white meat and eaten over rice.

Having lived in Liberia for several years, the urge to try cooking them overcame me. It came after a fit of reading about the slow-food movement and wanting to be "intellectually cool" like the people who eat locally and make a living writing about eating locally.

The first step was purchasing the potato greens. The first step was a price inquiry. I like to ask a co-worker about the price of local items and they normally provide not only the fair-market price but also like to explain how to pick the best produce, where to buy it, and the different ways it can be purchased.

Potato greens can be bought on the stem, leaves picked off and washed, and leaves washed and shredded. A slight elevation in price accompanies each addition of labor. Being new to potato greens, I decided the unprocessed option would allow for the best learning and understanding of the potato greens.

I began my adventure by pulling off the leaves and washing them. They were tough and seemed inedible. I would have stopped but I knew they could be edible. With that as a goal, I forged ahead to my goal.

After careful washing, I started to chop up the leaves. This again made me question eating them. Many things on Earth are edible, not all of them I can cook. Certain items, like sushi and creme caramel are better left to the experts. Luckily, I live alone and can only poison myself.

After chopping came the frying. With oil, onions, and garlic, the main ingredients for everything, I stirred and waited. I stirred and waited several hours. An unlucky soul came to visit and thus was forced to try the uncooked leaves. While I did not poison the visitor, they did not ask for more. I stirred and waited again.

Two days later, my chore was done. I ate most of what I cooked. While I do not feel closer to Liberians for my effort, I do feel a bit cooler for trying slow-food.

My food was slow, two days slow, and that made me extra intellectually cool.