Traditional African vegetables hit the mainstream

It’s not really all that long since we brought together researchers on that overlooked portion of African agrobiodiversity that is its traditional vegetables for one of the first ever times. I wonder how many of us ever thought that in little more that 10 years we would be able to buy terere and managu and the like wrapped in plastic and barcoded in supermarkets in Kenya:

dscf7639

Or indeed buy nicely packaged and labelled seed from small agricultural suppliers in places like Limuru:

dscf7726

Preparation is time-consuming and fiddly, sure:

dscf7647

But the taste and nutrients are worth it, as more and more people are finding out. We had some Amaranthus for Christmas lunch, from grandma’s shamba. Can’t get much more mainstream than that.

3 Replies to “Traditional African vegetables hit the mainstream”

  1. neglected and underutilized crops are the future! They are full of nutrients, antioxidants… and adapted to the local conditions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *