EDAMAME

Do you know “EDAMAME”? Did you know that Edamame is young Soybean? In other words Edamame is immature soy bean. To my surprise, not many countries eat soy bean as Edamame. If you live in America, you probably tried it at Sushi restaurant. They serve Edamame as one of the appetisers. Some people just buy Edamame to go at sushi bar or you can buy frozen one at store.
Edamame is a very popular food in Japan. We, Japanese love to eat Edamame with beer. That is the best combination for hot summer. I remember that my mom bought back a Edamame branch from a store and I helped to pick the pods when I was a small girl. She just boiled them quickly and put some salt on them. The picture of Edamame in a colander with steam makes me feel nostalgic.
Now I am in Malawi, my scientist husband who loves Edamame has a passionate idea to introduce Edamame to Malawi. Good new is Malawi grow soy bean already and we can buy dried soy beans at stores.
Have you ever concerned how much energy you need to cook your dinner tonight? To cook Thanksgiving turkey, probably need 5 hours oven energy. NO! NO! NO! In this country people use wood or charcoal for cooking and cooking time is very serious. I can see women carrying a enormous tree root which is just digged out from the ground put it on the head and bring it home. If I do that, I would not cook a turkey but a ear of corn.
Edamame could be a good food for Malawi people especially kids because lots of nutrition, quick cooking, everybody loves. Elementary school kids bring farming tools to school because the school has a garden and students grow veggies. Preschools (Child Centers) have gardens too. They grow corn, tomatoes, peanuts but time to time they are short of food. Jim’s idea is Edamame could be a supplementary food for schools and families.
I went to a sewing class yesterday and my teach (Japanese) asked us, “Anybody want to buy Edamame?” It made me surprised. She has already tried to grow them at her garden. Wow! They grow well! She says that they can pick them in 4 months and could be 4 times crops a year. That is a good news. She already proved it. She taught her house keeper how to grow Edamame and helps him to make extra money. It is a wonderful idea!
Some people are skeptical about Jim’s idea. But when corn was introduced into this country from America, who expected that this vegetable would be a main food for Malawian in the decades later.
Someone needs to try a new thing!