I once knew a guy who knew a guy who had an odd food rule. It went something like, “No hot drinks / No cold meats.” Now, I’m a very tolerant sort who doesn’t like to criticize the food preferences of others — with one sole exception that I’ll write about soon — but I do think that any system that arbitrarily eliminates lattes and jamón is a little messed up.
Same thing for the “no blue food” rule espoused by at least one member of my family. Even though I’m drawing a mental blank and am having problems generating a list of blue foods beyond the obvious (blueberries), a life sans blueberries still seems to me to be a little .. well .. blue. Without blueberries, St. Paddy Cakes would never exist (St. Paddy Cakes are something I discovered a few years ago when we accidentally added frozen blueberries to cornmeal pancakes: blue + yellow = delicious, provided you eat with your eyes closed).
Which brings me to blue’s next-door-neighbour: purple. According to an article in a recent edition of Nation’s Restaurant News, purple-coloured foods are growing in popularity in restaurants south of the border as consumers “perceive the brightly coloured dishes as exotic, nutritional powerhouses” (you can read the full article here).
The jury seems to be out on whether or not purple foods are actually nutritionally superior, but when you consider that an all-purple menu could include açaí smoothies, roasted potatoes, steamed cauliflower, braised cabbage, a salad of baby beets, fresh plums, exotic rice and baked berry cobbler, the idea goes from curious to delicious pretty quickly.
I’m sure that the ladies from the Red Hat Society would approve.
