Vegetables. From the big history to small stories

Table of contents

Vegetables, fruit of the earth and the genius of mankind   

THE TASTE OF VEGETABLES, A VERY LONG HISTORY   

Did you say vegetable?  

Back to the origins  

Naturally wild and poisonous  

Cooking, then domestication, broadened the range of edibles

Agriculture and the birthplaces of vegetables

Vegetables in history  

French vegetable production and consumption

AN AMAZING DIVERSITY   

Fruit? Vegetables? Or both?

Say it with flowers-vegetables

Leafy vegetables, light but nutritious

In the vegetable family, I ask... bulbs

Root vegetables: knowing the difference between real and fake

Gourmet stems  

Vegetables with pods: the pea as an example

VEGETABLES WE OWE TO THE NEW WORLD   

The potato: an anti-famine weapon

The essential tomato  

Chillies and peppers: warm colours

Pumpkins and other gourds

Green beans: from seed to pod

VEGETABLES FROM THE PAST AND ELSEWHERE   

Parsnips... or the rehabilitation of a "pig's food" crop

Jerusalem artichoke, a Canadian cousin of the sunflower

Rutabaga, son of cabbage and turnip

Japanese crosne, a Chinese vegetable

Salsify or scorzonera?  

Parsley, chervil and nasturtium... but tuberous

Leafy vegetables from yesterday making a comeback...

The vogue for edible wild vegetables

Sweet potato: a cosmopolitan tropical delicacy

Cassava: the root that makes bread

Yam: a very African crop

Taro: another tropical source of starch

Exuberant chayote  

Okra: an all-purpose green fruit

Benefits for the body and... the mind   

Bibliography   

Photo credits