I’ll Beet It Out of You

I love beets.  Maybe it’s because I wasn’t introduced to beets until I was a senior at university, or maybe I’ve watched too much of The Office and fallen in love with the idea of a somehow adorably creepy man such as Dwight taking so much passion in growing this delicious food of purple-red goodness, but I really really like beets.

I first had beets in a delicious goat cheese and balsamic salad.  I don’t know what, after twenty-two odd years of never eating a beet, convinced me to take the plunge and order beets.  I think it was the goat cheese, chèvre, and I don’t regret my decision.

Oh chèvre, something sorely lacking here in Togo.  For the number of goats running around you’d expect goat cheese to be a staple, but when I had asked my family if they ever milked their goats I got a response of “…no” with a tone and long enough pause to say “who in their right mind would milk a goat??”  Hello, I would.

Well anyway, since then I have gotten beet salad at nearly every opportunity.  Many people will tell horror stories of being force fed beets as a child; I never had such luck.  I probably appreciate them all the more for it.  When I discovered that I could buy beets in my marché, a nice big one for roughly twenty-five cents, I couldn’t resist.  I now make myself beets at least once a week.  Sadly without my goat cheese or balsamic vinaigrette I can’t make my ideal salad, but sweet and sour beets are pretty good.

Every time I prep my beets I stain my fingers and cutting board a deep purple-red.  I’ve heard people complain that it is this intrusive color that turns them off from beets, personally I love it.  Maybe I’m starved for the artificially bright colors of the food products you find in the US, but its outrageous color makes me happy.  I remember being a little put off when once looking at the ingredients in an organic strawberry yogurt and seeing beet juice as an ingredient to give it more color, I completely understand now.  FUN FACT: Did you know that if you eat a lot of beets it can turn your urine pink too?  Maybe a little unsettling if it happens, but harmless and very true.

Beets have very little to do with Togo except the fact that I can get them here.  I suppose I’m just glad I tried something new even though I had a bit of a bias against it.  Beets:  a food that so many turned a face at when they were kids.  Beets:  a food that makes me happy (or maybe I just like unhappy children?).  Definitely worth a second try.