An End to the Crunch?

I’m in Paris at the moment and during the last few days of cooking for a group of French people I have noticed the most perculiar thing. Day after day the bowls of fresh steamed vegetables I had lovingly prepared to go with each meal were, almost without exception, languishing untouched on the dining table. I simply couldn’t understand why my perfectly ‘al dente’ veggies were being rebuffed in such a cruel manner.

A couple of days later all became clear when one of the French chefs stepped up to make lunch and proceeded to cook the delicate little haricot vert I had bought in the market that morning for no less that 10 minutes! I looked on in horror and it took all of my powers of international diplomacy not to scream “Turn the beans off before they turn to soup”! However imagine my suprise when he served these limp, slightly off green little beans with lunch and the assembled crowd fell upon them like they were manna from heaven.Weirder still; they were delicious.

So, where did we get this idea that our veggies should retain their crunch or risk being branded overcooked? When I asked my french colleagues they shrugged their shoulders and jutted their chins in that way the French do, suggesting that what ever the question it was idiotic. They explained that “undercooked” vegetables will cause all manner of tummy problems and are basically indigestable.

So, if leaving some crunch in your veg is not a French notion who’s is it? Well, it turns out we have our American cousins to thank for this phenomenon and in particular the healthy eating movement that started in California in the 60’s and 70’s. For me, the jury is still out. The french beans I ate the other day were delicious but broccoli you can pass through the gap in your teeth? Non merci.