It was Apicius the Roman foodie from the 1st century who apparently coined the phrase “we eat with our eyes”. An aphorism that speaks directly to how food aesthetics and visual hunger directly impact our feelings of fullness, hunger and satisfaction.
And, in fact, there’s a growing body of cognitive neuroscience research that proves him right. But common sense tells us it’s true. The more beautiful and delicious something looks the more we hunger for it.
It’s why you can’t help but salivate at a beautiful looking cake, or a perfect Yorkshire pudding.
But visual eating goes two ways. It can increase our appetite or it can staunch it. As a child of the 90s, I remember when Heinz ketchup did a bunch of color-changing ketchups. They tasted exactly the same as the red ketchup we all know and love; but came in the exciting colors of purple and green.
My brother was quite tickled by them, but even then I knew they were an abomination. I couldn’t touch them. French fries that had purple sauce flecked over them seemed like a crime and it grossed me out. I could never enjoy the fad.
This is a longwinded story that brings us around to beetroot: on one hand, I LOVE the colour of beets. I love how vibrant and red they are. Red’s one of my favourite shades and I love it as a natural dye colour. On the other hand, food that’s that vibrant really puts me off. It’s why I can’t fathom eating some borscht recipes or even some smoothie bowls.
But recently, I’ve been conquering my queasiness of vibrantly coloured foods and embracing all things earthy and beatrooty. My most recent concoction is this beetroot and coconut curry.
Beetroot and Coconut Curry
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
2 onions, chopped
500 g of beetroot, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of dried ginger
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon of tumeric
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1 red chilli, chopped
1 tin of tomatoes
400 mL of coconut milk
1 lime
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Heat your oil in a large pan. Once the oil is hot, add in the onions and fry for about 10 minutes. Then add in the beetroot, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, tumeric, cinnamon, bay leaves and chilli. Stir for about 2 minutes.
Then add in your tin of tomatoes and coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and let simmer for approximately 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the beetroot is tender, take your curry off the heat, add a squeeze of lime and serve.
Notes:
I served mine over a bed of basmati rice.
How do you feel about beetroot? Do you understand where I am coming from with the vibrant food colours thing?
