Musashi-Itsukaichi City's local veggie and SF Chinatown

Itukaichi Farmers Center in Musashi-Itsukaichi (Tokyo) is located on Itsukaichi Kaido Way, which is where I found a local vegetable, or "ji-yasai," called "Norabo-na."

I boiled it and mixed with katsuo-bushi fish frakes and a small amount of soy source. Gee, it reminded me of the veggie I used to buy in Chiantown when I was in San Francisco. See the pic below: It has thick leaves, fat stems and white flowers, if in flowering season.

I have linked a pic of Norabo-na vegetable. It grows like this. Definitely, it belongs to the family of green mustard.

Chinatown in San Francisco has lots of veggies you've never seen in Tokyo. It's clear that Chinese people love veggies and eat a wide variety of them including those looked like ornamental house plants (which, by the way, I tried)!

I love chinese veggies because they have much more distinct vegetable tastes and smells than those available in Japanese and US supermarket in cities. Now having learned about a local vegetable in Musashi-Itsukaichi, I started wondering that many veggies in Chinatown are originally local veggies brought in to San Francisco by Chinese immigrants from their hometowns.

I liked「芥菜」in miso soup. It looks like takana, a popular Japanese veggie used in pickles. It could be takana really. In Chinatown, it has two varieties: thick and thinner ones. It has slightly bitter taste, which I love. It appears that Chinese people fry them in hot deep oil first and cook them with garlic. Or they make pickles with daikon-raddish and carrots. I saw them in Chinese restaurants.

It took me a long time to try Japanese-spindletree-ish thing or "Masaki" because it was as if it were trees rather than veggies, but once I eat its leaves (no stem), they were so delicious. It's only available short time in spring. I don't know the name.

I wonder whether or not those Chinese veggies in Chinatown might have been available some local areas in Japan, as Chinese people have migrated into Japan since 10th century. One thing it seems clear to me is that those veggies available in Tokyo and US supermarkets are select veggies among many because of their long-lasting characteristics after harvest, and we the consumer have come to believe that those in supermarkets are the only edible veggies.

Above pic is "oil plant" or "油菜" in Chinese. It might mean "Green mustard." It's sold almost all year around. It appears that the same veggie changes its name as it grows - just like buri. Smaller the better. It's possible that they look very similar to me but for those who know, small and bigger ones are completely different plants. Actually, I asked shop people but they said those veggies were all the same. I used to boil them and mix them with tomato and balsamic vinegar.