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Reading exercises. Part I

Read about the pandemic and answer the questions;

During Covid-19, people once again began to latch onto the benefits of moringa, a tree that's a highly
nutritious food, medicine and magical talisman all rolled into one.

"Look at how fine those leaves are," said Dika Nanta, pointing up to the
waving branches of a spindly tree. "They're so wispy that at first glance
it's hard to imagine why Balinese people sometimes call this tree 'the
broomstick of the gods'."

The moringa tree (Moringa oleifera) we were looking at really was quite
unremarkable – less statuesque than the rambutan tree nearby and far
less imposing than the mango trees on the other side of the road. Yet
moringa (daun kelor in Bahasa Indonesia) was once believed to have
such intense magical properties that a simple sprig of this "broomstick of
the gods" would be used to brush the evil spirits away from the resting
place of a deceased person.

Nanta, who graduated from Udayana University with a bachelor's degree

in landscape architecture, grew up in a village near Ubud (considered
Bali's spiritual heartland) and recalls eating moringa regularly as a child,
most often boiled in a spicy stew. More recently, in his official capacity as
"Botanical Guru" at the new Raffles Bali, he has become fascinated by
both the science and traditional beliefs behind what he refers to as "Bali's
tree of life".

1. How did people traditionally prepare moringa/?

"Moringa was traditionally a common part of the Balinese diet," he said.
"It began to fall into disuse long before modern science latched onto the
spectacular nutritional benefits of what is now known in the West as a
superfood."

According to a 2013 study on traditional uses of Moringa

oleifera published in International Journal of Phytotherapy Research, the
plant's dried leaves contain seven times the Vitamin C of oranges, nine
times more protein than yoghurt, 10 times more Vitamin A than carrots
and 15 times the potassium of bananas. It's thought to have 17 times
more calcium than milk and 25 times more iron than spinach.

1. Explain ‘latching’ onto something.

2. What is superfood?

Traditionally, most Balinese family compounds were protected with a

moringa tree. It was a highly nutritious food, medicine and a magical
talisman all rolled into one. Over the course of recent decades, it came to
be considered as merely peasant food – and as part of old mystical
superstitions. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the workforce
of Bali's crashed tourism industry returned to live off the land, people
once again began to latch onto the benefits of the marvellous tree that
grows like a weed.

Having heard about moringa's spectacular nutritional benefits, my wife

and I started eating it on a daily basis during the pandemic. It grows
freely in the west Balinese village where we lived, and we quickly
realised that it was incredibly versatile as a cooking ingredient.

Eaten alone, moringa leaves are reminiscent of peppery spinach but

Balinese cooks typically add a variety of freshly pounded local herbs and
spices to the simmering vegetables to serve as a leafy stew. We dropped
raw leaves into smoothies; cooked them in omelettes, soups, stews and
curries; and chopped them to create delicious, peppery seasoning for
egg mayonnaise sandwiches and salads.

I planted two 6ft cuttings and within a year and a half they were taller
than our two-storey house. Much of our fence line became a living,
edible fence of moringa.

1. How did moringa help in patients with Covid?

Despite the fact that the plant is freely available almost anywhere on the
island, you'd rarely, if ever, see it as an ingredient in warungs (local
eateries), let alone on a tourist menu. However, a few chefs, perhaps
tempted by a nutritious and flavourful ingredient that is freely available,
are reviving the tradition.

Moringa features on the ever-changing menu at the increasingly famous

tourist spot Rasta Café Medewi in the west coast surf-town of Medewi. "I
try to cook whatever local produce is in season and moringa is almost
indispensable in that it's available year-round," said Nafisha Dewi, the
café's chef, as she prepared soup made with moringa leaves, pumpkin,
aromatic ginger (known sometimes as sand ginger), garlic, shallots,
candlenut, chilli, coriander, lemongrass and coconut milk.

"That's right, we still also mash the leaves to put on cuts," Rasta
interrupted. As a hired driver, he often visits other Indonesian islands.
"The only people I know who don't eat moringa are the West Javanese,"
he recalled. "They believe so strongly in the magical cleansing power of
moringa that they use it to wash dead bodies before burial. They think it's
very strange that we Balinese eat it!"

Both Dewi and Rasta also agreed that witches and sorcerers – aspects
of Balinese belief that, even today, remain very real – can never eat
moringa: "Anyone who's involved in black magic must avoid the tree at
all costs," Dewi said. "It's so pure that just a handful of these tiny leaves
can cancel the effect of black magic."

While native to northern India, 13 species of moringa are found

throughout the world, from Bangladesh to Burkina Faso to Brazil, where
they are used as traditional cures for everything from conjunctivitis to
gonorrhoea to malaria. The tree is known in English as "drumstick tree"
(due to the shape of the seed pods) or "horseradish tree" (as its roots
taste similar to horseradish), but the fact that it's also commonly referred
to as "mother's best friend" and the "never die tree" would seem to imply
that its benefits were not entirely unknown to the British.

If there is one disadvantage to moringa, it's the high nitrogen content in

the leaves. Although this makes them excellent fertiliser, fresh leaves
begin to break down within minutes of being picked, which means that
distribution is really only viable in dehydrated form. While gardeners in
northern climes have lately been experimenting with growing this hardy
plant, it is most often available only as relatively expensive powder.

Known for its innovative approach to protecting the environment, Potato

Head serves "zero-waste" cocktails (enhanced with offcuts and
trimmings from fruit used in the kitchen) with moringa salt; while the
menu at the complex's Kaum restaurant boasts a Central Javanese soup
with moringa leaves, snake gourd and fresh coconut cooked in turmeric
broth.

"There's so much you can do with the leaves, but I've been
experimenting with other parts of the plant too," Hammond said. "Once
the flowers are dried you can even fry them as a delicious alternative to
mushrooms."

In fact, the Balinese use every part of the tree. While the leaves are most
commonly boiled for soup or jamu (a medicinal pick-me-up drink), the
sword-like seed pods can be stir-fried or used in a stew. It's said that the
root is poisonous but that a small section brewed as tea is a remedy for
intestinal worms.

Pick 20 words and build sentences with them.

Prepare a short presentation about moringa.

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