Food for the Fall: Root Vegetables

Tulip or turnip,

Rosebud or rhubarb,

Filet or plain beef stew,

Tell me, tell me, tell me truly,

What am I to you?

-- Duke Ellington, Tulip or Turnip

When I was in Helsinki a year ago, I read about a well-known local chef who, though trained in elegant continental European cuisine, always made sure that, during the winter, interestingly-prepared root vegetables appeared prominently on his menu. His reasoning for this choice was that, before the food industry became globalized so that people around the world could enjoy tropical fruits and vegetables all year round, the populations of more temperate countries, like that of Finland, had had to subsist for many months of the year on root vegetables and other easily preserved foodstuffs. He thus considered it a duty to his national heritage to offer his patrons the ability to maintain this practice.

I think that this excellent idea should be applied to Canada as well.

Roots by Suranika Dias

In anticipation of this development, here is a primer on a few of the more useful but lesser known root vegetables (I’m staying away from the common ones: potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.):

Beets: According to the Larousse Gastronomique, the beet or beetroot, is the name of several different varieties of one particular plant, all "with a fleshy root." This root is very commonly used in the Slavic soup borsch, or borscht. It is a very dark red vegetable, and is sometimes used as a colouring agent. It is also used with game or in soups, or can be served cooked and cold as an appetizer or with salads. The roots can be stored during the winter in silos or cellars to be sold year-round, either raw or cooked. Clotilde Dusoulier, the Parisian writer of the food blog Chocolate & Zucchini reports buying them from outdoor markets where they have been roasted over wood fires.

Though the most pertinent variety of beet for the purposes of this article is the common red, or vegetable, beet, there are several others, including, most interestingly, the sugar beet. It is a variant that was first popularized by Napoleon, when, during his campaign to conquer Europe, the British navy instituted a blockade against the French Empire, depriving the French of the sugarcane then cultivated in the New World. A wealthy Frenchman named Benjamin Delessert was encouraged to build and operate a refinery to extract the sugar from the 70,000 acres of beets that were ordered planted in Paris. There is now a Boulevard Delessert running through Paris from the Place du Trocadéro to the Place de Passy, near where the refinery used to be. (This anecdote is related in Waverly Root’s book, Food.)

Parsnips: According to Root, the parsnip was one of the most popular vegetables in Europe during the Middle Ages, when Catholics were forbidden to eat meat during Lent and on other fast days. It was especially popular served with salt cod. The parsnip was eventually supplanted in popularity by the potato. The parsnip made its way from Europe to the Americas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but today the carrot-shaped parsnip is more popular in America, while the more strongly flavoured turnip-shaped ones are more popular in Europe. Root notes that "no parsnip is avidly sought out these days, perhaps because it is hard to find really good ones." Nevertheless, it is still possible to find recipes for boiled or roasted parsnips, or stews, soups and casseroles, and some people advocate eating them raw. They have a sweet, nutty taste, and are high in nutrients. Most sources note that the parsnip actually benefits from being harvested after a frost, since the cold turns the starch into sugar.

(Here’s a link to Clotilde Dusoulier’s recipe for Chicken Udon with Cabbage and Parsnip: http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2004/02/chicken_udon_with_cabbage_and_parsnip.php.)

Radishes: These are a bit of an anomaly in this article, since radishes are not usually available during the winter. There are certain types, especially in Asia, that do keep well in colder months, but they are not often seen in Canadian supermarkets. The radish is, however, a vegetable with an extremely long and cultured history. Wikipedia cites references to it in Murder, She Wrote, The Simpsons, Harry Potter and Fraggle Rock. Going back farther in time, Waverly Root informs us that adulterers in ancient Greece were punished by having radishes inserted up their nether regions. There is also, apparently, a Night of the Radishes celebrated in Oaxaca, Mexico, every December 23rd, when people carve figures of animals and people out of giant radishes. Leaving aside the strange things people do with them, radishes taste nice and peppery and fresh during the summer, sliced onto salads or by themselves, with good olive oil and sea salt.

Turnips: For such a homely, solid, nutritious vegetable, the turnip has had a remarkably turbulent career. Waverly Root cites passages from an anonymous Parisian writer who stated, "Turnips are hard and cook badly"; and John Gerard, an Elizabethan-era Englishman, who reported that, in Cheshire, turnips were known as "’Madneps, [because] of their evill qualitie in causing frensie and giddiness of the brain for a season.’" There was also a survey in 1974, which found that turnips and eggplant were the only two vegetables that were among the most disliked among both children and adults in the United States.

Nevertheless, the turnip has for centuries been widely eaten in Europe, Asia and North America. The Larousse Gastronomique reports that It can be eaten raw (grated with lemon juice), as a garnish, a purée or in a soup, and that chefs are now "rediscovering its virtues and…preparing stuffed turnips, braised turnips in cider, turnip mousse with sorrel and chives, and sautéed turnips." The ancient Romans, according to Root, even made imitation anchovies out of pickled turnips.

The turnip was also used, in Great Britain and Ireland, to carve jack-o’-lanterns at Hallowe’en time, in earlier centuries, before the popularization of the pumpkin.

I find that a bit of context and a good story or two adds to the appeal of any dish or ingredient. Just like with people, there are some vegetables that look bland and boring at first glance - but pay them a bit of attention, approach them with an open mind and take the time to learn about their qualities, and they can turn out to be very welcome guests at any dinner table.

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