Buy all the kale you can right now, because like limes and quinoa before it, happiness is fleeting and the Food Gods are untrustworthy. Attention: There Is A Kale Shortage. Gird Your Grocery Carts!
Or maybe there might be a kale shortage? Listen, it’s all up for debate.
Over at Salon, Lindsay Abrams writes that the click-worthy news surrounding a shortage of America’s newest favorite green vegetable seems to be about as real as a Paula Patton and Robin Thicke reunion. Still, both scenarios should make us sad because kale is tasty (when cooked properly) however the problem with being the number one vegetable is, farmers can’t always grow enough of the food to support the demand. So with the American trend of It Vegetables, it’s only a matter of time before supplies fall short.
One chef named Dan Barber summed up this phenomenon:
“I came to the conclusion that the problem with all this is we root around looking for the diet or the food fad that’s going to make us feel healthy and look good and be sustainable at the same time,” he explained. “We have Paleo diets, and we have these cockamamie ideas of what the world can support because it’s in fashion or because it shows to be working for the short term, but that will last about as long as the conversation and then we’ll be on to something else. Unfortunately, the land can’t support those diets…”
What’s funny is brussels sprouts were the kale of about two years ago and I don’t ever remember there being a shortage. Probably because brussels sprouts are … brussels sprouts. The point is we foodies should celebrate all of the foods that are good for us and not just those that are en vogue. Fan-girling over things like kale leads to weird GMO tinkering and with the lack of proper supermarket labels identifying which foods were grown where, you won’t know whether your food grew in a lab or a field. No one wants that. So next time you’re fighting through the Trader Joe’s crowd, embrace variety. Pick up a new food that’s good for you but maybe isn’t heralded across the Food Network or the Cooking Channel, the earth will thank you.
Image via Getty.