Anyone else? It feels like it’s causing 1000 micro-cuts to the inside of my mouth; a creepy sensation and these days they (who? I dunno-deli’s, restaurants) seem to want to stuff raw kale into everything.
What is this sensation?
Is it actually scratching or abrading you or does it feel like you’re having a reaction to it. Foods that, when raw, make your mouth (or throat or lips) itchy but don’t do it when cooked is a classic sign of Oral Allergy Syndrome. Does anything else do that to you? If it is OAS, it’s usually a bunch of things, usually all from one of these lists.
I don’t know where the idea originated that kale is good to eat raw. It isn’t, unless your goal is to strengthen your jaw muscles. It’s leathery and fibrous. I really like the stuff cooked, but to me it’s nearly inedible raw.
Kale, like spinach, is high in oxalic acid. Some people report a weird or unpleasant mouth-feel during and after eating raw spinach. Maybe your weird experience has to do with this?
No, it isn’t. Here’s a chart showing the oxalate content of various foods (Warning: PDF). Spinach has over 50 milligrams of oxalate in a 30-gram serving. Kale has only between 2 and 10 milligrams of oxalate in a 65-milligram serving.
Agreed! I don’t get a reaction to it, but I don’t like it raw either. Our store carries the curly kind, that seems to have a thousand sharp edges. Even when I chew it well, every few bites, my throat is scratched by one of those damn pointy, curly bits.
Shame, too. Cooked in a soup or even chips, it’s not a bad little leaf.
I have heard that massaging it with avocado helps, but I’m just not motivated to try that hard to make something inedible slightly less inedible.
I agree, it’s just fine cooked but no thanks on the raw.
Its good raw in salads but you have to cut it right. But then, I kinda like the chewyness of it.
Still, it is better sauteed with a little olive oil and balsamic.
I like kale (and greens in general) cooked, but raw is indeed chewy and fibrous.
I’ve read some raw-food articles on massaging kale before eating it, which seems vaguely creepy and unnecessary. It’s a fine green cooked. In fact I’m probably going to saute some tonight and have it topped with eggs and labne. 
I had a “massaged kale” dish at some friends house a month or two ago and found it surprisingly palatable. Surprising to me anyway because I’m another one that finds raw kale kinda unpleasant ( don’t much like non-tender raw greens generally, though I like most all of them all cooked ).