Pokémon meets Chinese veggies: Learn 'em all with these cards

The Cleaver Quarterly's launched a new Vegetables of China game

Ever thought about trading your bok choy for a lotus root, or your Chinese cucumber for that mountain yam you've been searching for? Well, this admittedly obscure scenario could soon become a reality with The Cleaver Quarterly's Vegetables of China trading card game.

Yes, you may well have been lord of the playground back in the day with your shiny Charizard and much-sought-after Mewtwo Pokémon cards, but now it's all about ginkgo nuts and sweet potato leaves.

For its latest venture, The Cleaver Quarterly – a platform covering Chinese cuisine as a global phenomenon and formerly known for publishing beautifully illustrated magazines and cookbook The Illustrated Wok – has entered the world of trading cards with a deck all about Chinese vegetables.

Designed by the husband-and-wife team of Heaven and Summer Lau ('he's the illustrator; she's our graphic designer'), the cards feature an illustration of each vegetable, their names in both English and Chinese, nutritional highlights, cooking tips, a fun fact and more.

Designed to both educate and inform you about Chinese vegetables (ever heard of amaranth greens before?) games that can be played with the cards include 'Dinner Challenge' where you deal out three cards at random and then challenge yourself to cook your next meal using all three vegetables and 'Veg of the Week' which would see you try a new vegetable a week for a whole year – conveniently, there are 52 cards available. Not into games? You can also just keep them in your bag for reference at the wet market or shops.

Watermelon radish 心里美 and bamboo shoots 春笋冬笋

If you want to secure your own set, you can pre-order by pledging 15USD or more on the official Kickstarter page (or go all-in and pledge 75USD or more for the deck, the weekly planner, three stickers sheets and a t-shirt). With the artwork already complete, the money raised is going towards the production and design of the cards. The aim is to have the first batch of cards printed by mid-November and available to be shipped in early December – perfect for a Christmas gift.

For links to the Kickstarter page so you can get your own set of cards, hit 'Read more'.

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