Wild Spinach in South Africa: the Gift from Rain

For years, I have seen people collecting a kind of wild plant in the park where we walk our Jack Russel, Ho Chi. My husband had told me that the plant was called wild spinach, but I never thought much of it.

That was until one afternoon, two months ago, when he went out for cycling, I walked Ho Chi to the park. As the sun dipped behind the hills, casting a warm orange glow, the air grew cool. I saw many people picking wild spinach, a common sight in this area at this time of year. I decided to come closer and have a chat with a lady in a bright yellow and black African-print dress. She was alone on this side of the veld separated from a cluster of her counterparts by a footpath. They were picking marog and chattering merrily on the far end of other side. The lady was very friendly. When I asked her what vegetable she was picking, she said she was foraging for marog. They were spreading all over the veld.

Two kinds of green marogs I foraged from my garden.

The marog the lady was carefully picking was the green one. I pointed out the bigger and taller marog to her, but she shook her head and said they were not nice. She preferred the smaller one which were tender and still low to the ground. I asked her how she liked to cook marog, and she said that she cooked it with tomatoes, potatoes and chilies. She added that I could cook marog according to my taste - adding any ingredients I like.

To my surprise, marogs are the plant I used to pick in my garden in Vietnam. After some rain shower, they would sprout up in abundance, and I would harvest them to make a tasty soup. We have two varieties in Vietnam — the red one and the green one — both of which are rich in nutrients. However, the red marog, with its deeper colour, is particularly prized for its ability to boost blood vessel health. This traditional knowledge has been passed down through generations. 

Marog in my pavement garden

Last month I was surprised to see red marog on sale in Pick n Pay, bundled with stems and looking beautifully fresh. It had been eight years since I'd last tasted it, but I could still taste its sweet and earthy taste on my tongue by looking at it. However, my appetite for it had waned, and my husband was unfamiliar with it, so I decided to walk away. 

Marog with smaller leaves in my back garden.
I let it grow and produce seeds. I believe I will have more marogs next year.

After knowing about marog, I see it everywhere I go. It's in the veld, on the pavement, along the lawn, and in my garden. When marog is in the garden, people consider it a weed and try to pull it out. Interestingly enough, I have marog in my back garden and pavement garden this year. I let them grow so that I will have organic vegetables without paying a fortune.

In other countries, marog is known by the name amaranth. 

Last week, I foraged marog in my pavement garden to make stir-fry. It was my first time cooking marog in South Africa, and I was excited to see how it would turn out. As I cooked, I could smell the familiar scent marog — earthy, fresh and slight sweet — wafting up from the skillet as it was being tossed religiously.

After reading about purslane in a magazine, I felt confident to forage for some in my new home in South Africa. As I wandered through the gardens and parks, I spotted the familiar succulent leaves and stems that I had seen in Vietnam. However, I was not sure if they were the same variety, so I did some further research and read an article about edible weeds in South Africa. Reassured by my findings, I decided to cook up a purslane stir-fry, and the result was a tasty and refreshing dish that I couldn't wait to share with my neighbours.

Purslanes along the edge of my pavement

Purslanes also grow in abundance after the rain in Vietnam. And they also come out like mushrooms after receiving showers of rain.

Those are the red and green purslanes I foraged for from my pavement garden.

Marog and purslane are considered weeds in South Africa, but they're edible. Only the Blacks forage for marog, while the Whites know about it but fail to recognise its nutritional value.

Now I can savour purslane and marog without growing and looking after them like other vegetables.

In Vietnam, we often use purslane and marog to make stir-fries and soups. However, our concept of soup is quite different from the thick, creamy soups that Westerners are accustomed to. Our soups are typically watery, with chunky vegetables. Interestingly, we even have a type of soup that students call 'ocean soup' (canh đại dương), which is served at cheap eateries. As the name suggests, this soup is extremely thin, with a scattering of grape-sized vegetable, making the bowl look like a miniature ocean. I used to eat ocean soup many times throughout my student life, which made me frustrated at the eatery owners who prioritised profits over quality.

A mixed stir-fry of purslanes (left) and marogs (right) I made
Purslane is a kind of succulent, so it releases a lot of moisture when stir-fried. That said, it is perfect for soups.
Purslane has a very lemony flavour, while marog is slightly sweet.

In certain part of Europe, purslane is eaten raw in salads.

Check out the purslane salad recipe and nutritional value of purslane in the video below.

Next time when I make salads, I will toss in some purslane shoots. I'm sure purslane will create healthy summer salads.

Eating what we find in our environment is what our ancestors did thousands of years ago. By doing so, they live in harmony with nature. Today, as prices rise and resources become scarce, adopting sustainable practices can be a valuable strategy. By embracing local, seasonal, and wild foods, we can reduce our reliance on industrial agriculture and promote a more environmentally friendly way of living.

That's all for now, as I bid farewell to 2024 with this final blog post.

Wishing you all the best for 2025.

Mai from Vietnam

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