One of the oldest known vegetables, the cabbage seems to always have been with us. It grew both East and West, though the early cabbage was a weedy, loose-leafed plant. The firm head that we know today was a later development, most closely resembling kale, to which it is related. This was called wild cabbage, and is still called sea cabbage by the French.
In the East, pots containing cabbage that date back to 4,000 B.C. have been found in Shensi province in China. North China is probably the original home of Chinese cabbage. To the ancient chinese, it was considered a 'cooling' food in the yin and yang construct. Cabbage is favored for pickling and is considered ts'ai or suitable to go over rice. The pickled cabbage known as Kim Chee is a staple throughout Korea.
In the West, we hear of cabbage first from Greek myth and it gives us insight to the great story-telling abilities of the Greeks. The simple fact, one known to the Greeks, is that grape vines, source of wine, do not flourish when grown near cabbage. The Greeks converted this agricultural knowledge to myth. with apologies for abbreviation, the myth told of the god of wine, Dionysus, who wandered to Thrace accompanied by his loyal followers, the Bacchae. Thrace was the area of one Lycurgus. Threatened by Dionysus arrival, Lycurgus captured both Dionysus and all the Bacchae. To revenge this action, Dionysus had Lycurgus driven mad. Not in his right mine, Lycurgus mistook his son for a vine and cut his son to pieces. Learning what he had done, Lycurgus wept, and from the tears that fell to the ground sprang cabbage.
Further evidence of cabbage and its powers are discerned through the story of Diogenes, most famous for his fruitless search for an honest man. Diogenes was given to eating cabbage as a health benefit. Speaking with a foolish young courtier of the Hedonist school, one given to flattery of the rich, Diogenes advised the young man, "If you lived on cabbage, you would not be obliged to flatter the powerful." To this, the courtier replied, "If you flattered the powerful, you would not be obliged to live on cabbage. " We won't take philosophical sides in this argument, however, we will make note that Diogenes lived to be 90, quite old in any age, while his Hedonist friend departed from his earthly pleasures at age 40.
In Rome, both Cato and Pliny extolled the virtues of cabbage. Cato, who lived to be 80, believed it should be eaten raw with vinegar, surely a a precursor to coleslaw. Pliny had much to say about cabbage (see below). In his work, Natural History, he mentions cabbage under the classification 'Materia Medica', focusing on its medicinal qualities when taken internally and when used as a poultice. |
