The Berkeley Bowl had red amaranth the other day, which is a vegetable my mother raves about, but was unavailable when I was growing up. In Chhattisgarh it’s called Lal Bhaji, and my mother told me to fry it up with onions, turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin, chilies, and tomato. The taste is similar to spinach, but a little less sweet — I like it better than the more bitter greens. The only downside is the time spent taking the leaves off.

At the Berkeley Bowl it’s called “Yin Choy,” and it’s with the little section of Chinese Vegetables I Know Very Little About And Learn About From Blogging. One of the Chinese students in the lab said to fry it up with a lot of garlic, which also sounds tasty.