Mario Bautista
The Panama hat plant seriously looks good enough to eat. The stamens inside its leaves resemble “somen” noodles.
Such is the popularity of the plant at the Jindai Botanical Gardens in western Tokyo that the cafe at the metropolitan facility was inspired to add a somen dish to its summer menu.
The plant is known as Carludovica palmata among botanists and is native to Latin America. Its palm-like leaves are used to make Panama hats.
The stamens crumble overnight, revealing a bar-shaped cluster of flowers called spadix.
When the somen look-alike plant garnered attention on social media and elsewhere, the botanical garden in the city of Chofu started developing a special dish for its cafe, Green Salon.
It created leaves of the Panama hat plant with field mustard and basil sauce and its spadix with steamed chicken breast and nuts.
The dish has proved to be popular since it went on sale in mid-August.
It will be on the menu until Sept. 29.
“It is refreshing to eat it even on a hot day,” said an official of the botanical garden. “We hope visitors will enjoy it while thinking of the Panama hat plant.”
