To many people's surprise, I don't really eat all that much fruit and vegetables. I never really got into them. But as I get older I do try more of them and I've decided they are not all that bad. But, is our (or the normal persons) daily intake of fruit and vegetables really all that healthy?
This week ABC online reported findings from Dr. Dyno Keatinge, Director General of the World Vegetable Centre and Chair of the Global Horticulture Initiative, "Tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, ordinary cabbage - the truth of the matter is that they're not very nutritious at all. "
" Things like cucumber and cabbage are essentially just water standing up, " he said.
Dr. Keatinge explained to ABC online that we should be exploiting Indigenous fruits and vegetables far more. This would both improve our diets and the point of getting local fruits and veg would mean cutting back on CO2 that would normally be emitted due to produce transportation.
He explains how lesser known fruits and vegetables are actually a lot healthier, for example rich in Vitamin C rosella plant. This would increase diversity in our diets.
He states " It's not an issue of whether you should be eating Australian indigenous vegetables. If we can find ones from Africa or central America which are also good and healthy for you, why not try them? ". Therefore, he is a huge advocate for trying the lesser known fruits purely for their nutritional value.
Dr Keatinge oversees the largest vegetable seed bank in the world, growing over 60,000 specimens from 156 countries. Essentially means that " wherever you are in Australia, we can find a vegetable that can grow there. "
After hearing about this it made us interested to check out what Native plants are edible, here's what I found (info from Native Tastes of Australia ):
Muntries- Berries that taste like sweet apple
Native Passionfruit- Rare, edible passionfruit
Pigweed- When finely ground, the tiny black seeds can be used as a flour and are rich in protein, fat carbohydrate, iron & zinc. The juicy leaves (high in Vitamin C) can be used in salads and/or cooked like spinach.
Native Plum- The fruit are said to taste like salty grapes, and were a favourite of the tribal Aborigines of the area
Native Grape- Large, vigorous, attractive woody climber which can easily adapt to urban environments.
Warrigal Greens - Alternative to spinach. Commonly found near salt or brackish water.