What's happened to vegetables?

[slowmotion]

Back when I was in short trousers and dodging white dog poo on the pavement, vegetables were a simple and enjoyable affair. Cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, spinach, sprouts, swedes.....even carrots. I'm sure there were more. I drew the line at broccoli however, and so did my mother. I still eat them all today but dose them with lots of pepper, butter and garlic.

Then, a few years ago, something went terribly wrong. All kinds of strange stuff with unpronounceable names started appearing. They were all supposed to be terribly good for you and would stave off cancer and heart disease. The problem is that they have all the culinary appeal of gnawing on tree bark.

Am I alone?

 

[classic33]

Back when I was in short trousers and dodging white dog poo on the pavement, vegetables were a simple and enjoyable affair. Cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, spinach, sprouts, swedes.....even carrots. I'm sure there were more. I drew the line at broccoli however, and so did my mother. I still eat them all today but dose them with lots of pepper, butter and garlic.

Then, a few years ago, something went terribly wrong. All kinds of strange stuff with unpronounceable names started appearing. They were all supposed to be terribly good for you and would stave off cancer and heart disease. The problem is that they have all the culinary appeal of gnawing on tree bark.

Am I alone?

Not yet!

It's the same stuff dressed up with fancy names. The "common" names deemed no longer good enough.

 

[slowmotion]

Not yet!

It's the same stuff dressed up with fancy names. The "common" names deemed no longer good enough.

I'm not sure about that. I think I'd need at least five stomachs to digest some of the newcomers. I think that tree surgeons are selling their chipped-up timber as healthy fare.

 

[mjr]

Not yet!

It's the same stuff dressed up with fancy names. The "common" names deemed no longer good enough.

Black cabbage has a new name. Cavolo Nero or something like that.

But conversely, Romanesque is now green cauliflower.

What else?

 

[Salty seadog]

Soon to be available in a squirty bottle for your convenience.....

 

[slowmotion]

View attachment 378274



Soon to be available in a squirty bottle for your convenience.....

Ye Gods! That thing needs to be preserved in a jar of formaldehyde and taken to a dusty corner of a medical museum.

 

[Salty seadog]

Ye Gods! That thing needs to be preserved in a jar of formaldehyde and taken to a dusty corner of a medical museum.

Waitrose if you fancy one...don't know what you're supposed to do to it though.

Tell your friends you had one I guess.....

 

[PK99]

View attachment 378274



Soon to be available in a squirty bottle for your convenience.....

Romanesco - form of Cauliflower but with a flavour closer to calabrese.

long grown in Italy since 15th century.

has a regular fractal like structure

very nice broken down to florets and roasted with olive oil salt and pepper

 

[TVC]

Some are good, some not. The one I can't get is Edemame beans, just marketing hype, a properly cooked broad bean is much nicer.

 

[Fab Foodie]

View attachment 378274



Soon to be available in a squirty bottle for your convenience.....

That’s not a vegetable, that’s a living fractal....

 

[Salty seadog]

That’s not a vegetable, that’s a living fractal....

Far out man....

 

[growingvegetables]

That’s not a vegetable, that’s a living fractal....

... and fine eating

 

[MossCommuter]

a flavour closer to calabrese.

Ok

Gonna need a little more help here

 

[growingvegetables]

Soom are good, some not. The one I can't get is Edemame beans, just marketing hype, a properly cooked broad bean is much nicer.

Edamame - immature soya beans. Can't be eaten raw.

From a crop developed as a "rotation filler" to maintain soil fertlity - a fallow rest year. And that's where they should have stayed - ploughed back in to feed the soil. Brilliant for the job.

But oh no - the bean-counters and marketers "created" a "fashionable" food item so they'd make a profit from the "wasted space".

Can't think of any other vegetable I actively dislike, and won't eat.

The rest? Bring 'em on .

 

[growingvegetables]

Ok

Gonna need a little more help here

Nearest I can get - tastes a bit like broccoli, but "greener", fresher. Superb eating - just don't overcook.

Easy to grow too - ime, much easier and more reliable than cauliflower.