Eating Stinging Nettles

Stinging nettle risotto hit the timeline and the comments instantly turned into a family reunion meets food fight. Foragers and grandmas swooped in first: one user said their Polish grandmother, now 100, cooked nettles and it “tastes like spinach,” while another recalled mom’s nettle soup—basic taste, sure, but vitamin-packed. Nostalgia leveled up with the killer one-liner: “I haven’t had kale since WW2,” turning the thread into a ration-era meme. Meanwhile, the article’s claim that vegans actually eat a wider variety of foods detonated a spicy side debate. One commenter shot back, “That’s kind of the point—you do give up food,” while others argued variety isn’t the same as giving up meat, cue semantic skirmishes and eyebrow emojis. The nettle itself? The room split. Fans called it free, nutritious, and everywhere—like this plant is basically Britain’s backyard superfood. Skeptics rolled their eyes: yes, edible, but “bland and boring,” better to just buy greens. Humor also stung: the author’s “touch one to see if it hurts” had everyone giggling at the kitchen’s worst QA test, before boiling them to remove the sting. Verdict: nettles are the salad bar’s punk cousin—cheap, prickly, and wildly divisive—but the real heat is whether vegan “variety” beats meat’s comfort zone.