The Least Useful Guide to Fukuoka

A nearly forgotten vegetable in modern “stylish” cookery.

Those who are born in the 1960s or before must be familiar with yardlong beans which can be as long as 50cm.  But even in my childhood, they were not prestigious at all I remember I was disappointed when my mother put this (boiled and dressed with grated ginger and soy sauce) on the table.  I used to wonder why she didn’t get ‘more trendy’ French beans.

But recently I discovered the beauty of this vegetable.

They don’t need parboiling, which means you can throw them into flying pan and they can be done very quickly. This hugely helps cooking in summer when we hope to cut our cooking time in front of hob. And in this way, they can stay crisp while adding a vivid colour in simple stir fries.

By the way, together with aubergines, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and so on, they used to be a part of offering for our late ancestors who are said to come back to this world in mid August. They say the souls of the dead use the aubergines and cucumbers as a means of transportation to travel around; these vegetables are transformed into horses and cows in their world (like Cinderella’s pumpkin coach?).

Then how would these long beans work in such a fantastic world?  

Whips to lash the cucumber horses?