If you often socialize and entertain, you will often encounter okra at the dinner table.

In the past two or three years, okra has almost become a must-order dish when entertaining guests.

In Japanese cuisine, okra has also become a heavyweight, including okra sashimi and cold okra appetizers.

I actually have no feelings about okra.

But a few good friends often “encourage” me to eat okra,

“Zheng Xiaota, even though okra is inconspicuous, its nutritional value is super high. It’s right to eat more of it. It’s good for your health, and it’s also good for men. It can replenish the kidneys and strengthen yang.”

I can only cope with it with "hehehe".

Speaking of okra, it reminds me of the first time I ate it.

A few years ago, I left Zhejiang and went to Yunnan.

I do financial work related to the machinery and mining industries, and I often have to deal with local small and medium-sized bosses.

The first time I saw okra was on the cold plate at a banquet.

A long and thin "bamboo shoot"-like thing is lying on the plate. It looks a bit like a green pepper, but it doesn't look like it if you look closely, so you can't tell what it is.

The local colleague next to me pointed at it and said to me, "This is okra. It is very popular in Kunming during this period. Just dip it in the sauce and eat it. It is very filling."

I picked one out of curiosity, dipped it in some sauce, took a bite, and saw half of the okra, with some sticky liquid flowing out, just like snot, which made me feel sick to my stomach. .

But I still ate it, and I couldn’t find any other adjectives to describe it except crispiness.

The small and medium-sized bosses who ate that time ate quite quickly. Each person took one or two chopsticks and the pot of okra immediately reached the bottom.

My colleague continued to tell me, "Okra, it is a very expensive vegetable now, Zheng Xiaota, why don't you eat a few more pieces."

I looked at him, and then I looked at the few left on the plate and couldn't think of anything good about okra.

I just think this should be a mysterious "Yunnan dish".

After returning to Hangzhou, it wasn’t long before I started to notice that okra often appeared on the dining table when I went out to eat.

At that time, I was surprised that "Yunnan cuisine" was included in "Zhejiang cuisine".

But at the time, I couldn’t understand it either.

Once, I had dinner with a friend from the food media.

I thought of this question and asked her why okra is so popular now.

Her answer was straightforward,

"It's rich in nutrients, and it can also control diabetes and help you lose weight. It's no wonder it's not popular!"

Indeed.

Okra is rich in minerals and vitamins, such as vitamins C, E, carotene, and some trace elements, such as selenium and zinc.

In particular, okra has a certain effect on blood sugar control.

The mucus in the middle of okra is actually very beneficial to the human body.

This sticky substance contains a high amount of "dietary fiber", such as cellulose, lignin, polysaccharides, pectin, etc.

After dietary fiber enters the human body, it can make people feel full, stimulate the peristalsis of the digestive tract, "clean" the stomach, and prevent constipation and obesity.

Moreover, it can slow down the rise of blood sugar in the human body after a meal, which is why it is said that okra is the "nemesis of diabetes".

However, this is only a certain degree of relief, and the rumored nemesis is exaggerated.

For girls who love beauty and want to lose weight, okra stimulates gastrointestinal motility and accelerates the removal of waste from the body. The mucus (fiber) in okra cannot be digested and absorbed by the human body.

You will feel full after eating, but you won’t gain weight. Isn’t this the best food to lose weight?

I also interrupted and asked, "There are rumors that okra can aphrodisiac?"

My friend laughed and replied, "There is a saying that okra is a plant Viagra. , but there is no scientific basis for it yet."

After that, she added lightly, "Anyway, my husband ate it, and I didn't feel any difference."

Okra, English Okra, is also called okra and lady's finger.

The okra we eat is actually a fruit.

It is in the shape of a long and slender strip with a pointed top, like the delicate jade fingers of a woman. Therefore, the British also like to call okra the beauty finger.

After okra is cut, it has a polygonal shape, similar to a hexagon or a seven-pointed star, with its seeds densely packed in the middle.

Ethiopia in Africa is its country of origin.

Later, it came to the United States with the slave trade, and then spread to Japan during the Meiji Restoration.

It was introduced to Taiwan in 1901 and has become one of the popular summer fruits and vegetables among Taiwanese people.

Okra likes to be grown in the tropics and is widely planted in southern my country. Among them, Pingxiang in Jiangxi and Liuyang in Hunan produce the most, and the price is around 30 yuan per kilogram.

On domestic dining tables, okra is mostly used to make cold dishes, eaten raw with dipping sauce, or eaten cold.

There are also dishes like okra scrambled eggs and tofu mixed with okra.

When eating Japanese food, you can often see cold okra, okra tempura (pictured below), and miso soup (with okra added) on the menu.

In the United States, okra is famous as a thickening agent for dishes.

There is a classic delicacy in the southern United States, Seafood Gumbo. You can try it when eating in an American restaurant.

Okra is also one of the standard ingredients in Indian curry cuisine.

Over the years, Zheng Xiaota, I have read many books on wine and food, and taken many certificates. I am also a sommelier of Japanese sake and whiskey.

I also often exchange food insights with some chefs in restaurants in Hangzhou.

One day, I finally realized the secret of okra’s rise among many fruits and vegetables.

The 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games made okra an instant hit, as reported in the picture below.

During the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, okra was the vegetable of choice for athletes from many countries and was known as the "Olympic vegetable" and "special vegetable." After being exposed by the media, it quickly became popular and the price skyrocketed. Heaven.

As early as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, viewers had seen scenes of foreign athletes eating okra on TV, but at that time, everyone had no big ideas about okra.

But after the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, okra was quickly promoted to the "fairy throne" by merchants and media.

With the effect of "curing all diseases", it was also labeled as a health-preserving food. From then on, okra became popular in China until now.

Later, I calculated carefully and found that the time I stayed in Yunnan was in the second half of 2014, when okra first became popular.

So, I was wondering at that time why I had never heard of okra when I was in Zhejiang.

It turns out that it caught up with its booming popularity in Yunnan.