A few weeks ago, my roommate and I decided to take a gamble on an interesting restaurant in our new neighborhood. Promoting raw and vegan friendly options, I thought the place might offer a memorable experience. I was right. While perusing the menu I notice such specialties as Raw Kelp Noodles, SunPower Burgers, and Superfood Shakes. Mmm ... ? Although these items aren't what you see everyday, I wasn't terribly surprised they were on the menu. However, as I continued to scan down the selections there was one item that made me do a double take. There, listed in all its glory, was Massaged Kale Salad.
Maybe I'm just behind on the curve, but massaging salad is new to me. Even though I read plenty of cooking magazines, blogs, and books, this was the first I’d heard of such a technique. I'm not used to giving food the luxury of pre-game rub down before it heads to my stomach. Is massaging the new boiling? I needed to know more.
After a few moments of ogling my google results, I learned from one vegan website the wonders of magically massaging kale. If you check out the above provided link you will see that I am, in fact, not kidding. Apparently, when you take out your inner aggression on a few leaves with a little kosher salt, the kale “magically” becomes soft and wilted. Next time I punch my brother on the arm I’ll have to tell him it’s magic when he feels a bruise.
But getting back to this kale business, since the lovely vegan website provided a recipe for this magical salad it was time for the store.
Thankfully, I live near the glorious NoHo strip-malls which provide ample opportunities for grocery stores and foot reflexology shops within spitting distance of each other. And since I was already buying kale to see how it handled being massaged, I figured I might as well stop in to see how my feet handled being massaged, too.
Glories upon glories, my feet seemed to like the massage. SIDE NOTE: If you don’t mind the somewhat creepy feeling of being the only customer in a foot reflexology place, try going to a brand new location. You’ll have three people wait on you and about 15 extra minutes of bliss. What? Have I returned for another massage? Well, no.
Anyhew, I took my kale home, followed the instructions, and my results were identical to the pictures posted with the recipe. If you beat something up enough it’ll eventually turn to mush. Incredible.
Not mush.
Mush.Although neither parties (my feet or the kale) have officially responded with comments, I’d have to bet that my feet enjoyed the massage more than the kale.
Special thanks to Vegan Dietitian for the pictures. I forgot.
