Cabbage: A Global History

How could a vegetable be so beloved, so universal, and at the same time so disdained? One of the oldest crops in the world, cabbage has provided European and Asian peoples with vitamins A and C, and also babies - according to folktales about infants found “under a cabbage leaf’. It has appeared in senator’s speeches in ancient Rome and the luggage of South Korean astronauts. Cabbage is both a badge of poverty and an emblem of national pride; a food derided as cheap, common and crass, and an essential ingredient in iconic dishes from sauerkraut to kimchi. Cabbage is easy to grow because it contains sulphurous compounds that repel insect pests in the wild - and human diners indoors who smell its distinctive aroma. We can’t live without cabbage, but we don’t want to stand downwind of it.

In this lively book, Meg Muckenhoupt traces cabbage’s culinary paradox, exploring the cultural and chemical basis for its smelly reputation and enduring popularity. Filled with fascinating facts and recipes for everything from French cabbage soup to sauerkraut chocolate cake, Cabbage is essential reading for both food lovers and historians around the globe.