When Odysseus arrived at the island of the lotus eaters, he sent three men ashore to report on the locals. The men promptly got stuck into the lotus fruit, forgot their mission and desire to return home, and eventually had to dragged screaming back to the ship. Unafraid of the tales of Homer, I’ve been meaning to try some of these lotus heads ever since I’ve seen vendors balancing them on their heads down on the riverfront but never really knew how to open the things up and feast on the goo inside. Over the weekend, I ran into one of my work colleagues, a confessed lotus-eater, and he showed me how.
Firstly, acquire yourself a few lotus heads (1000 riel for three)
Secondly, remove the seed pod from the shower head and remove the outer green casing to reveal the white innards.
Lastly, eat the white part. It tastes like slightly astringent snow peas and is probably one of the lowest yielding snacks around.
I take it you didn’t forget your desire to return home?
I think this is not the same species or even the same plant(s) mentioned in the epic. Botanical candidates for the lotus tree include the date-plum (Diospyros lotus), which is a sub-evergreen tree native to Africa that grows to about 25 feet bearing yellowish green flowers,[2] as well as Ziziphus lotus, a plant with an edible fruit closely related to the jujube, native to North Africa and the islands in the Gulf of Gabes such as Jerba.