By FMT’s Lifestyle Desk
The next time your sinuses are ablaze and tears are cascading prettily onto your Salmon Sashimi; or your face is crumpled inwards from the near-fatal tanginess of a mustard – and you’re loving every minute of it – take a moment to thank nature for caterpillars.
Not something you’d prefer to think of when you’re at the dinner table, the larvae of butterflies, moths and certain species of flies are, nevertheless, indirectly responsible for the terrific tang of our highly-treasured, palate-electrifying condiments of wasabi and mustard.
The origins of mustard, along with related foods like horseradish and wasabi, date back nearly 90 million years. But they didn’t just come into being, unannounced. As a new study explains, they’re the result of an ‘arms race’ between plants and insects that’s been going on since the age of the dinosaurs.
Despite our masochistic taste for mustard, it evolved, believe it or not, as a pest repellent. In response to relentless nibbling by butterfly larvae, mustard plants began making compounds that produced pungent oils when chewed or crushed. But the caterpillars evolved new ways to cut the mustard (so to speak!), and plants, in turn, had to up the ante — thus growing zestier and zestier over time. It was a tit-for-tat situation.
The new study, published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’, sheds light on the genetics behind the co-evolution of butterflies and Brassicaceae, a plant family that includes more than 3,000 spicy species. One interesting factor that allowed the symbiotic relationship to continue was the plants’ blossoms’ chemical composition never changed, which meant that the plant’s natural pollinators were not put off (thank heavens!).
The pressure of the millions of years-long rivalry led to more biodiversity, of both plants and insects, than in other groups without the same back-and-forth battles.
Despite their effects on insects, mustard and its relatives offer notable health benefits for humans. Mustard seeds are high in selenium and magnesium, for example, and research suggests the glucosinolates in both mustard greens and seeds may reduce the risk of heart disease and even fight cancer.
We are so conditioned to think of caterpillars as pests that this news is as eye-opening as a dollop of wasabi. Consider how bland many of our favourite dishes would be if the eternal struggle between plants and caterpillars had never occurred! (Shudder!)
* Based on an article published in the world’s first meat-free lifestyle platform, www.KindMeal.my