Kale makes it into The Scotsman

A fellow long-term cancer survivor sent me the link to a Letter to the Editor she wrote that was published in The Scotsman earlier this month, highlighting kale. Her letter was edited to omit the name of and link to this blog, but pointing people to www.365DaysofKale.com was her hope.

You should know that headline writers come up with the headlines, article and letter titles, and even the paragraph headers within an article, all designed to 'hook' you into an article, thus the deliberate use of the words like "cure" in the heading for this letter.

Here is both the link and the text:
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'Curious Kale Cure'. 

How heartening to read that the Scottish Government is sponsoring research at the Aberdeen Rowett Institute into health benefits of cruciferous vegetables, including kale (your report, 5 April). 

Kale used to be one of the staple items of a Scottish diet, when meat was only rarely eaten by the vast majority, and yet in these years Scotland produced some of its most famous sons.

I was lucky enough as a child always to have a garden, and wherever we lived kale was grown, and frequently eaten.

It is a vegetable I have grown myself as an adult whenever I could, so was fascinated some years ago to come across an internet site extolling the health benefits of this humble vegetable.

It was written by a leading dietician on diet after cancer. She said kale is one of the best foods you can eat to optimise chances of good health at any time, and especially for those who have endured cancer treatments.

Caroline McManus

Newmills Road

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In fact kale used to be so prevalent in Scottish kitchen gardens that the term 'kailyard' was synonymous with a cottage garden, and the term 'kale' even simply meant 'dinner'. 

So all hail kale, curious or not, a cure or not. Thanks, Caroline, for sharing the delicious and healthy news about eating kale in Scotland and upcoming research. I hope to visit your beautiful country again someday, the home to many of my ancestors. :)

Where kale is more than decoration on my plate!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD