Oishinbo - Vol. 28 Ch. 262 - The Food for Longevity Showdown!! (Part 7)

[MangaDex]

 

[Mugiwara325]

And so ends the Okinawa food showcase. While the environmental message feels a little overbearing at points, I do like how the real world issue managed to find a satisfactory resolution. This doesn't always happen.

As a reminder, I will not be uploading a chapter tomorrow, mostly so I have a chance to replenish my buffer. The next chapter will be uploaded on 24th June.

 

[Another_Oni]

Goya is an odd vegetable. It's pretty bitter but it's revered because it's considered to be healthy. In Vietnam we have an idiom called "thuốc đắng dã tật, sự thật mất lòng", which means "bitter medicine cures illnesses, [and that] the truth is not forgiving" and because of that, goya is thought to be a good vegetable to consume, much to the dismay of the youngsters who definitely don't like the bitterness.

Goya in Vietnamese is khổ qua, which is the sino-vietnamese pronunciation of whatever it's called in Chinese. Funnily enough, the name of the vegetable is also a pun as khổ means suffering and qua means over, so the name can also mean [the] suffering [is] over. Therefore, some people will eat those as a charm for warding bad luck, and during Lunar New Year, goya is one of the main ingredients used for the feast.

There are 2 ways of eating goya that I love. The 1st one is to make a soup out of it. The goya is deseeded, and a mixture of minced pork, mung bean vermicelli and wood ear mushrooms is stuffed into it. Cook it in some pork stock or just water with bouillon powder with some thai bird eye chilli and done. The chilli can help reducing the bitterness of the goya, and the whole soup can be served with rice for a full meal.

The second way is to chill the deseeded goya to firm them up then slice into very thin slices then served the cold goya with some pork floss on top. This is mainly a snack or a salad side dish kind of thing but it's rustic taste is out of this world. Chilling the goya also help reducing its bitterness as well, or so they say that here.

 

[Mugiwara325]

Goya is an odd vegetable. It's pretty bitter but it's revered because it's considered to be healthy. In Vietnam we have an idiom called "thuốc đắng dã tật, sự thật mất lòng", which means "bitter medicine cures illnesses, [and that] the truth is not forgiving" and because of that, goya is thought to be a good vegetable to consume, much to the dismay of the youngsters who definitely don't like the bitterness.

Goya in Vietnamese is khổ qua, which is the sino-vietnamese pronunciation of whatever it's called in Chinese. Funnily enough, the name of the vegetable is also a pun as khổ means suffering and qua means over, so the name can also mean [the] suffering [is] over. Therefore, some people will eat those as a charm for warding bad luck, and during Lunar New Year, goya is one of the main ingredients used for the feast.

There are 2 ways of eating goya that I love. The 1st one is to make a soup out of it. The goya is deseeded, and a mixture of minced pork, mung bean vermicelli and wood ear mushrooms is stuffed into it. Cook it in some pork stock or just water with bouillon powder with some thai bird eye chilli and done. The chilli can help reducing the bitterness of the goya, and the whole soup can be served with rice for a full meal.

The second way is to chill the deseeded goya to firm them up then slice into very thin slices then served the cold goya with some pork floss on top. This is mainly a snack or a salad side dish kind of thing but it's rustic taste is out of this world. Chilling the goya also help reducing its bitterness as well, or so they say that here.

That's really neat! In Chinese, goya is called 'kǔ guā' (苦瓜), literally meaning 'bitter gourd'. The word 'kǔ' is also used in Chinese to refer to 'bitter experiences', so that part's pretty similar to the Vietnamese side. We even have our own idiom in Chinese, 'xiān kǔ hòu tián' (先苦后甜), which means 'bitter first then sweet', or more idiomatically, 'one must experience pain before one can experience joy'.

Now, while I am Chinese, I'm Malaysian Chinese, which means a lot of our cuisine draws influence from the Southern parts of China (Cantonese & Teochew populations). I don't know if bitter gourd is commonly eaten in China proper, but it's certainly common here, where you'll see it in stir-fries, or cooked in soup with pork slices. I've also seen it used as the stuffed ingredient in 'yong tau foo', assorted foods stuffed with meat mince or fish paste, then boiled in broth.