The Rapini and the Amazing Abundance

I was recently challenged to try a vegetable I’d never tried before. My initial thought was "humph"! I’ve eaten a wide variety of veggies in my life — I don’t really need to try anything new.

But the concept — and, of course, the challenge (because I’m a notoriously competitive person) — itched in my brain. So, when I was in the grocery store yesterday, I did not follow my usual path through the produce section, flitting from carrots to celery to bell peppers to tomatoes to onions to garlic to salad, with the occasional glance to mushrooms if I’m feeling feisty.

No, this time I looked at the end of the veggie cooler, checking out the root vegetables, like turnips, and the varieties of broccoli and cauliflower. I am not a huge cauliflower fan (though I am rethinking that thought) and I prefer to buy frozen broccoli for ease of use and storage.

Down there at that end of things hide the leaks — who I get cravings for, sometimes — and other veggies I’d never really “seen” before. Likely, they’ve always been there, but I had never tried them, so I just didn’t see them. For the first time, I picked up broccoli rabe (also called rapini). It had that dark green look of broccoli leaves, interspersed with little green florets.

I decided that this would be my adventure. This, I would try — sautéed with garlic, as so many web recipes suggest. I am, I must admit, a bit excited.

But there’s another thing that has startled me: how huge the variety of foods that are available in the produce section. That fact, and also the startling truth of how set I had become in my ways, drifting always to the same things, especially in such a familiar setting.

I consider myself to be quite adventurous when it comes to food. But it seems I have fallen in a rut when it comes to my regular chore of moving through the grocery store. The variety of produce available is astounding — and I didn’t even see it.

This wealth of variety may be costly in many ways — both the direct cost and the indirect cost of transport, and the collective ignorance about the sources of our foods — but I assume that educating myself must include trying some of these veggies, right?

We are so lucky in terms of opportunities and options — I am so lucky — and I have fallen into the trap of taking it for granted. So, rapini, here I come. Let my eyes be opened, and the adventure begin!