Reading up on spinach

A wrong decimal point may have made it Popeye’s power snack, but this leafy vegetable has a lot going for it

Spinach, I am afraid, has got bad press. Those who grew up reading Dennis the Menace thought there was nothing quite as bad as spinach for dinner. And then, of course, spinach stuck in one’s teeth was the ultimate faux pas that anyone could commit, especially on a date.

I, however, have always had a satisfying (albeit one-way) relationship with spinach or palak. There is nothing I enjoy more than palak paneer — soft cottage cheese in a green spinach sauce — eaten with fluffy rotis.

That is why when I learnt July 16 was World Spinach Day, I raised a happy toast to it. The leafy vegetable, after all, is green, healthy and tasty — and, to top it off, Popeye likes it.

In the West, it was the sailor with the incredible biceps who introduced spinach to children. In Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History, Fred M. Grandinetti tells us how the popular comic and animation film character gained strength by consuming a can of spinach. With that in him, he destroyed bullies and villains, saved a battleship from being hit by colliding missiles, eliminated spies and, in one memorable World War II animation, fought Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and the devil.

“Popeye would often perform feats of strength to assist people, but never wanted any reward in return. As time passed [Popeye creator Crisler] Segar revealed that spinach was the source of Popeye’s strength…,” writes the American author.

On a website called The Marginalian, I found an interesting bit of trivia about Popeye and spinach. In 1870, German chemist Erich von Wolf was assessing iron in spinach. In a 100g serving, you get 3.5mg of iron, he found. But the scientist placed the decimal point at the wrong spot, turning 3.5mg into 35mg.

“Once this incorrect number was printed, spinach’s nutritional value became legendary. So when Popeye was created, studio executives recommended he eat spinach for his strength, due to its vaunted health properties,” the site tells us. The error was corrected in 1937.