a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

I pass this fig tree every morning on the way to work and even if I forget about it, I'm reminded by a whiff of the creamy, almost ripe fruit which is a delight to the nostrils.

a block further on though is goya - a totally different kettle of fish. goya is, for some, another odd looking and foul tasting vegetable. with many a food intolerence, I'm simply a beggar who isn't a chooser and if I don't react to it - I'll generally eat it. to me goya tastes fine. I spotted this handsome specimen on a vine on the way to work the other day and it got me thinking about why we actually eat it. bitter melon, it's english pseudonym, goes a bit further to describing the intense flavour of the food we usually eat in chanpuru - a tofu and pork stir-fry dish.

but there's more to this than just dinner. goya has recently been the subject of a lot of medical research and in the Philipines and India it is already used as an anti-diabetic drug, lowering blood sugar levels with an insulin-like chemical. it's also good for recovery from viral infections and is even used in the US as an alternative therapy for AIDS.

so next time you pig out on a carton of ice cream - you might just want to finish off with a big ugly gherkin. itadakemasu.