POWER ON YOUR PLATE
Traditional Vegetables
PACKED WITH NUTRIENTS!
WELL ADAPTED AND
CLIMATE RESILIENT!
TASTE SO GOOD!
BUT WHAT AREÂ TRADITIONAL VEGETABLES?
AMARANTH
Tasty leaves AND a versatile high-protein grain, all in one amazing plant!
JUTE MALLOW
Enjoy this outstanding source of vitamin C and iron.
SPIDER PLANT
Cleome gynandra adds tangy taste, plenty of vitamins A & C, iron, protein and much more to meals.
AFRICAN NIGHTSHADE
Young shoots and leaves can be steamed, blanched, boiled, or stir-fried to enrich meals.
COWPEA LEAVES
Leaves are a great source of vitamin E and other nutrients, young green pods can be eaten fresh, steamed or stir-fried, and the dried beans can be used in many dishes.
AFRICAN EGGPLANT
The fruit resembles eggs, the leaves are tasty and nutritious.
ETHIOPIAN MUSTARD
Tender leaves and stems enrich soups and stews…and add important glucosinolates to the diet.
OKRA
Some call it lady’s fingers; we call it delicious! Abelmoschus esculentus offers plenty of folic acid and antioxidants.
RECIPES
Make a new tradition in your household!
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African Traditional Vegetables: Recipes for health and good taste
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Légumes traditionnels Africains
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Traditional vegetables recipes from Cameroon: Amaranth, African eggplant, jute mallow, nightshade and okra
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Traditional recipes from the Northern Region of Ghana
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Légumes traditionnels Africains: Livret de recettes à base de quelques légumes traditionnels africains fréquemment consommés au Burkina Faso
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Dried vegetable recipes
African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum)
African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum) Common Names African eggplant, scarlet eggplant, bitter tomato (En); aubergine africaine, [...]
Chayote (Sechium edule)
Chayote (Sechium edule) Common Names Chayote, vegetable pear, choyote (En); chou-chou, chouchoutte, christophine, mirliton (Fr); [...]
Water mimosa (Neptunia oleracea)
Water mimosa (Neptunia oleracea) Common Names Water mimosa (En); neptunie potagère (Fr); carurú de agua, [...]
Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)
Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) Common Names Watercress (En); cresson d'eau, cresson de fontaine (Fr); berro (Sp); [...]
Moringa (Moringa oleifera)
Moringa (Moringa oleifera) Common Names Drumstick, horseradish tree (En); mouroungue, ben ailée, moringa ailée (Fr); [...]
TAKE ACTION
Eat more traditional vegetables!
1. Ask local farmers to start producing these nutritious crops for market sale.
2. Ask local vegetable vendors and supermarkets to include traditional vegetables at their stalls and stores.
3. Grow your own traditional vegetables!
4. Save seed of traditional vegetables.
5. Hold a traditional vegetable tasting party for your friends and family!
6. Support the work of the WorldVeg Genebank!
VIDEOS
Watch, learn, enjoy!
RESEARCH
Creating and extending knowledge
Researchers at the World Vegetable Center have been studying the distribution, composition, and use of traditional vegetables in Africa and Asia for decades. This is a brief sampling of journal articles and books produced by WorldVeg about traditional vegetable crops. We invite you to explore this fascinating topic further in HARVEST, the WorldVeg document and data archive.
DONORS
Investing in tradition
Investing in nutrition
- Long-term strategic contributions to WorldVeg research
- Project Hort4Nut: Improving nutrition and income of smallholder farmers in Eastern Africa using a market-driven approach to enhance value chain production of African indigenous vegetables
- Project: Improving the nutritional status and income of smallholder farmer households through scaling improved, nutrient-dense traditional African vegetables in the Zanzibar Islands
- Project: Tajikistan nutrition-sensitive vegetable technologies – Phase 2
- Project: Deploying Improved Vegetable Technologies to Overcome Malnutrition and Poverty in Mali
- Long-term strategic contributions to WorldVeg research
- Project: Unleashing the economic power of vegetables in Africa through quality seed of improved varieties
- Project: Improving production of Solanum aethiopicum in Africa