S3E6: C is for Cabbage, Celery and Cauliflower

The team return to the theme of vegetables for this episode. Neil champions the much maligned cabbage which he calls the ‘dog of vegetables’. Sam expresses her beef with celery and why it needs a lot of help from its friends to make it more palatable. And Allie delves into the anthropomorphic qualities of cauliflower.

Sources/Useful LinksCabbage

• Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book (1978)
• A Nievve Herbale, or Historie of Plantes by Dodoens (translated by Henry Lyte; 1578)
• Regula Ysewijn’s Cabbage Pudding on CKBK

Celery

• ‘Herbs in History: Celery’ on the American Herbal Products Association
• Apiaceae description on Britannica
• How to Grow Celery by RHS
• ‘Ancient Greek Funerals Were Decked Out in Celery’ on Atlas Obscura

Cauliflower

• The People of 1381 The website of an innovative new research project set to produce the most comprehensive interpretation of the Peasants’ Revolt to date.
• Opera dell’arte del cucinare. Bartolomeo Scappi (1570)
• The Art Of Cookery Hannah Glasse (1747)
• A Cauliflower in Her Hair (1944) by Shirley Jackson
• Mark Twain on cauliflower in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894)
• Roasted cauliflower steaks BBC Goodfood recipe

Don’t forget…

Sam will be discussing food in Shakespeare with Will Tosh, Sheila T Cavanagh and the actor Sir Simon Russell Beale at the British Library on Saturday, 13 June 2026.

Allie will be digging into food themes and motifs in a series of classic and contemporary gothic novels from the 19th century to the present day at the Brontë Parsonage Museum on 18 July 2026.

Coming up next is our Listener’s Choice episode. Which culinary C’s did we miss?