Alamat ng Ampalaya

One of the ways I entice children to eat vegetables is to read, “Alamat ng Ampalaya” (The Legend of the Bitter Gourd).

When I read the story, I introduce or familiarize them with the different kinds of vegetables available.  I ask them to name the vegetables in the pages of the book.  I also understand that one of the most difficult vegetable to eat is “ampalaya” and so this book proves effective.

Here’s how the legend goes:

“Ampalaya” was once a tasteless, colorless vegetable, unlike the other vegetables from “Bayan ng Sariwa”. This made him an envious, grumpy vegetable.  To solve his problem, he stole the colors, tastes, and beauty of the other vegetables.  But as all wrongdoings come with punishment, he was cursed to have all the colors, tastes, and beauty that he stole!  This may come off as a “weird” punishment but what happened was that all of them fought with each other.  When white, red, green, purple and yellow shouted at each other, dark green came about.  When sweet, sour, salty shouted at each other, bitterness emerged.  Hence, the “ampalaya” that we know now is bitter and dark green.

The story further encourages children to “forgive” ampalaya by at least tasting him when he is served on our tables. 

Fortunately, most children nowadays have come to eat “ampalaya” because of its health benefits.  Some parents have also learned to lessen its bitterness by soaking it in water with salt prior to cooking.  Others create different dishes with “ampalaya”: omelette, “ginisang ampalaya with bihon”, etc.