A superfood fit for a pharaoh--Molokhia
"It's easy to swallow, so Egyptian mothers feed their babies on it after nursing," remarked Emad Farag, an employee at The St. Regis Cairo, as I slurped another spoonful of the mysterious moss-coloured soup. Of all the things I'd imagined I'd be dining on in Cairo's swankiest new hotel, "posh baby food" was not it.
But this uniquely gummy concoction is no ordinary baby food. Pronounced "mo-lo-h-i-a", but spelt innumerable ways, the unassuming green gloop was once the "food of kings" because of its curative powers. Originating from the word mulukia, which means "that which belongs to the royals", legend has it that a healing soup made from the molokhia plant nursed an Egyptian ruler back to health in the 10th Century. And so, a stew worthy of pharaohs was born, and a royal veggie was crowned.
"As far back as you can trace the roots, people ate what was local, and what is local along the Nile is molokhia," food historian-cum-food health writer Michelle Berriedale-Johnson said. To this day, 95% of Egyptians live along the fabled river's life-giving banks and arc-shaped delta.
"They were eating ful (a hearty fava bean stew) and molokhia in pharaonic times, and they're eating ful and molokhia now, because that's what grows and what suits their diet and the climate," Berriedale-Johnson continued. "You'll get leaves in some of the tomb paintings," she said of the saw-toothed leaf vegetable that belongs to the mallow family.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210802-a-superfood-fit-for-a-pharaoh
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Anyone ever had this? What does it taste like? I admit I'm not much for gloopy (don't like okra any way but fried or in gumbo) so...
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