How an unexpected observation, a 10th-century recipe and an explorer’s encounter with a cabbage thief upend what we know about collard greens’ journey to the American South

Over the course of generations, the total green formed an important part of African and African meals around the world.

Leafy vegetables Essential American food of African origin, south and “spirit” in the United States. The centers are also important in some regions of Africa: in Kenya, where they are called Sukoma WikiIt is one of the most common vegetables.

So far, and The consensus of a scientific presentation He saw that Collars came to the Americas in the early sixteenth century with Spanish Europeans, Portuguese, or British, who presented Colors as a garden factory that was eaten by slave Africans.

But our discovery of the championships that grow in the gardens of the southern Moroccan oases put us in the search for the best to understand the course that Collards took to reach the south of the American. our New search It is suggested that they arrived in Morocco with the early Muslim merchants, adding hundreds of years to stop in North Africa before they travel to North America.

Moreover, the similarity in the recipes from Morocco and the southern American supports the idea that the Moroccan oases may have been a stop on the Collars trip to America.

Green road

Green ColaDs belongs To species Prasica OlirishiaIt also includes broccoli, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi and brusseels. The huge genetic diversity within this species has completed research in the place where the centers were domesticated for the first time and how they were moved around the world.

Evidence indicates that the centers were possible Holded in the Mediterranean SeaFrom wild relatives It was also found On the coasts around the Mediterranean Sea. Their way from the Mediterranean to the south of the American is still unclear.

A new theory is justifying

like Ethnic scholars and Researchers interested in traditional corridorsWe were studying leafy vegetables across Morocco for 20 years. However, we have never seen guards growing in any of the other regions in the north and central Morocco in which we worked.

While working in Oates Palm in southern Morocco, we were surprised, therefore, that the square vegetables were found in the gardens of African diaspora societies that descend from the worshipers who were brought through the desert.

It is doubtful that the presence of centers in an important old commercial center may cast a new light on the history of the factory and its journey to the Americas.

The tracker was complicated: lush vegetables rarely appear in the archaeological registry, and historical texts use the same words to refer to cabbage – what most people call “cabbage” today – and unrestricted cavities such as squares and turnip, which were more common than varieties until recently.

Historical texts in English indicate both of them as “cabbage” or “Cole”. In the Spanish language, both are called “Cole”; And “Couve” is used similarly in Portuguese. Arabic texts “Kornub” is used to refer to both. However, this was one important idea of ​​the ancient Arab origins in Morocco. In Arabic, the cabbage is called “MKOUWER” or “Melfouf”, and is usually called “Chou-Fleur”-a word derived from the French. Moroccan “Coronp”, from classic Arabic, rarely used to refer to cauliflower.

Societies that grow in Morocco are called the old Arab “Kornub”.

When we searched, we were surprised to find a recipe in a cooking book in the tenth century of Baghdad. It was almost identical to How people are in Moroccan groups cooking. Moreover, the cooking book in detail describes a variety of cabbage with soft leaves called “Kurunb Nabati” or “Nabati cabbage”, where the leaves are eaten only. This, and the fact that the preparation description clearly indicates the leaves instead of the heads, provided additional evidence that this was referring to the choli vegetables.

We collected a possible historical road from Baghdad to Morocco from rare cases when historical documents included a specific description of the factory.

one A report from a British explorer Those who traveled across Algeria in 1860 included notes about finding different types of “cabbage” and about the man who stole the cabbage and hid it under his shirt – which indicates flat leaves instead of the heads.

Moreover, a colleague of the Oman Botanical Park told us that Colors had grown in the gardens of the one in the Al -Hajjar Mountains in Amman.

The Middle East to the south of the American

After assembling it together, our research indicates that Collars arrived in Morocco from Iraq and Oman with an early date Muslim merchants In the eighth century. These are the same people who founded the great city of Sijilmasa and managed the early trade methods that carried gold and human beings in the desert.

The presence of centers in the Moroccan oases also requires a review of the assumption that is currently enjoying how vegetables reach the Americas.

We were unable to find concrete evidence of the ties between Morocco and the Collars reaching the Americas, so it is impossible to say that the collective scientific opinion on the crude journey is wrong. However, the assumption that was currently considered is that Collars arrived in the Americas with settlers and adopted by Africans who used them as an alternative to the lush green recipes from Africa.

In fact, unlike common recipes, most lush vegetable recipes from West and Central Africa include fish, ground nuts, peanuts and palm oil. Compared to the lush vegetable recipes from West Africa, the Collerad recipes used in the United States today are remarkably similar to looking at Morocco and Baghdad in the tenth century. The similarity in recipes from Morocco and South America indicates that the Moroccan oases may have been a stoppage on Collars to America.

Collars in the Moroccan oases is an opportunity to consider the ways in which they have been tangled by the Atlantic trade systems with trade and systems in front of them, especially Trade roads across the desertWhat these tangles mean for the corridors of Africans and African expatriates all over the world.

This article has been republished from ConversationAn independent, non -profit news organization brings you facts and trusted analysis to help you understand our complex world. Written by: Bronen Powelland Pennsylvania State and Abderrahim ouarghidiand Pennsylvania State

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Bronwen Powell receives funding from the National Science Corporation, the United States for International Development and other research financing organizations.

Abderrahim Ouarghidi receives funding from Paul K. Feyeled.