Lawn Clippings

Like I wrote about a couple weeks ago, I didn't get a lot of junk food when I was a kid. Every now and again I'd get to eat at McDonald's when I'd go out of town for shopping with my mom, awesome greasy pizza when visiting the grandparents, and hot dogs and other crap for various other occasions. The phrase "You Are What You Eat" comes to mind, and I think my mom kind of got the hint while my siblings and I were growing up. Whole grains, lean protein, fad health foods out the wazoo, a whole lot of it came to the dinner table as a kid (including these pale, bland turkey hot dogs... we've never really gotten over those...), and as I've come into adulthood I've grown to appreciate the healthy crap I was fed.

Lately I've jumped on the bandwagon for kale. It's packed to bursting with vitamins A, C, and K, a pretty decent source of potassium, a good source of omega-3 acids that are good for the brain, and toted as a hipster superfood and the greatest thing to grow out of the earth in the history of everything. It's a relatively sustainable and versatile crop with a long growing season and resistant to pests and drought (there's a whole article on it here if you don't want to take my word for it), so overall it's a pretty great vegetable for a number of different reasons.

Personally, I like the taste and texture. That's why I eat it.

I was chopping up some kale and some red leaf lettuce earlier today, and threw the greens into a zipper bag with some spinach. I mixed up the leafy concoction and decided to grab some of its contents to throw on a sandwich for lunch. I was putting my lunch fixings away and, for whatever reason, decided to take a whiff of the contents of my super-wonderful salad mix.

It was kind of like a fresh cut lawn. Like I took a grass edger and tidied up around a wet sidewalk. It was reminiscent of when I used to mow lawns as a kid, and it was kind of funny that my "rabbit food" smelled exactly like what the jackrabbits munch around my dad's yard. Sure, leafy greens are just glorified lawn clippings that are socially acceptable to eat, but it makes sense why some folks won't eat salads without dressings.

Like I said, though, I like the way it tastes and its texture. Leafy greens are pretty great.