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VEGETABLES
Vegetables are plants considered fit for human consumption, although they may alsodouble asfodder crops for domesticated animals. As cultural metaphors, they are firmlyembedded in all languages and emerge in such expressions as "hottomato" for anattractive woman, "cabbagehead" for someone who is not too bright, or "cool as acucumber " in reference to extremely calm nerves. However, from a scientificstandpoint,  the use of the term "vegetable" is highly subjective and is a term of convenience rather than one based on a neatly ordered scientific classification. This ambiguity evolved out of horticultural practice and to some extent out of cultural bias hinging on the key question:what is fit to eat? The vegetable of one culture may berepulsiveto another, as, for example, thecannibal's tomato
(Solanum uporo Dunal)
of Melanesia and Polynesia,which was formerly used in salsas for human flesh. On Fiji, the berry was actuallycultivated near sites designated for human sacrifice.Vegetable classification as defined by Western culture derives in part from prescientificattitudes about the mythic world to which those plants belonged in antiquity. Both theGreeks and Romans—and most other ancient Mediterranean peoples—differentiated between two types of edible plants,
holera
or 
olera
(cultivated plants) and
horta
(wild plants gathered as food). This dichotomy was presided over by different sets of deitieswho represented fundamental attitudes about human society and its relationship to nature.We have inherited this structural framework insofar as vegetables are now exclusivelydefined as oleraceous or esculentherbs, as cultivated in the
hortus oleritus
(kitchengarden). Thus the formal botanical term for growing vegetables is "oleri-culture."The idea that certain vegetables were suitable for boiling (or conversely that only boiling plants were "vegetables") was highly developed even in ancient Greece. The implicationarising from this was that these plants were also worthy of domestication. The ancientGreek physician Diocles of Carystus even went so far as to note that, among the
horta,
 beet greens,mallows,sorrel,nettle, orach, iris corms, truffles, and mushrooms were the most suitable for boiling. His beet greens were the ones found growing near the sea, notthose cultivated in gardens, presumably the wild ancestor 
(Beta vulgaris
L. spp.
maritima)
of the present-day cultivated sorts.In most romance languages this association with boiling or poaching is further reinforced by such cognates of 
oleritus
as Spanish olla (a cook pot or stewing pot), implying that thekitchen garden is designed to produce plants mostly earmarked for treatment in hot water.This connotation is clear in the word
Gemüse,
the German term for vegetables thatderives from the medieval German
Gemüsz,
amushor porridge.The idea of cooking or   boiling the plants is preeminently expressed in the French term
 jardin potager,
literally 'agarden for pot dishes: soups and stews.'The French have also provided English with the word "vegetable." Its most literalmeaning is plain: edible vegetation. The accepted origin of the word is that it derivesfrom Medieval Latin
vegetare
via Old French
vegeter 
(to vegetate). The classical Latin
 
root is generally given as
vegetus
(lively or active), although this line of linguisticevolution may be subject to revision as more research on French links to Gaulish comesto light. In any case, the old meaning of "vegetate" did not imply something in decline, acommon modernconnotation,but rather something that was springing to life, a profusion, a natural bounty expanding from seed almost to the extent that it could beheard rustling as it grew—the complete opposite of the gardens of Adonisdiscussed later in this essay. This concept of vegetalfecundityis quite in line with Celtic ideas aboutfood and nature and is especially characteristic in the obvious lack of definition betweenthe cultivated anduncultivatedworlds. Thus, in its root meaning, the English word ismore all-inclusive than the Mediterranean concepts of 
holera
and
horta.
This ambiguity is best exemplified by the vast range of plants that are called vegetablesin the English language. Tomatoes are berries, yet they are called vegetables. Garlic isconsidered a vegetable, yet one does not eat the leaves. And what aboutrhubarbstems,which are treated like a fruit (theleafy part is poisonous), or thesunflower,which is consumed as a seed or as oil? Where does edible vegetation fit in? Most garden booksdefine vegetables as annuals because they are grown to crop for one season only, yetmany of these plants are true biennials (celery, carrots, cabbage, leeks,turnips
 
), and someare even perennial (rhubarb, horseradish, sweet potatoes,asparagus,sorrel, peppers).Another method for defining vegetables was based on the part of the plant consideredmost esculent for consumption. Here we have the rather simplisticdivision of the plantworld into root vegetables (such asparsnips
 
), pod vegetables (cowpeas, for example), andleaf vegetables (spinachandchardto name two). Again, while it is easy to imagine carrotsas root vegetables, lima beans as pod vegetables, andcollardsas leaf vegetables, theunendingdiscovery of edible plants from exotic locales such as Africa and SouthAmerica has challenged all Old World definitions of this classification.In this category is the East African oyster nut
(Telfairia pedata),
a rampantly viningcucurbit that is normally planted at the base of trees large enough to support the heavyfruit. In fact, several vines—both male and female—are grown on the same tree and will produce large squash-like fruit for up to twenty years. But it is the seed, not the fruititself, that is eaten. Once established, the vines are not given much attention. While oyster nuts are intentionally planted around trees conveniently located near dwellings, this is avegetable crop based more on passive intervention than on formal horticultural practice.This is a pattern once common in hunter-gatherer societies, where certain patches or stands of useful wild plants were periodically tended and encouraged through selectiveweeding to produce higher yields.The yacon
(Smallanthus sonchifolius)
of South America is similarly outside the norm, for it producescrunchy, sweet-tastingtubersthat are eaten like fruit. It has been cultivated in the High Andes for so many centuries andreproducedby root division for such a longtime that many varieties can no longer produce fertile seeds. They areutterlydependenton humans for survival. Since it is low incalories, the tuber has been recently reevaluatedas a possible diet food.
 
This continuing botanical revelation has also altered dietary schematics. Old peasantforaged foods like dock have been rediscovered as biodynamicor macrobiotic, synonymsfor well-being,longevity, and psychological balance. In this way the vegetable hasrepeatedly inserted itself into the most radical of lifestyle movements—but this is hardlynew, sincevegetarianismand the dietary signification of plants has played a key role in philosophical approaches to nutrition since the days of Pythagorasor even since Adamand Eve, the original vegetarians.Vegetables in the Fertile CrescentEden was said to be somewhere in ancient Mesopotamia. About the original garden weknow little, but theMesopotamianpeoples left vast heaps of cuneiform tablets that revealdetailed information about the vegetable plants they once cultivated. As the climate grewhotter and drier many thousands of years ago, avividvisual distinction evolved betweencultivated and uncultivated ground. In fact, the vegetable gardens of that era wereenclosed by walls both as protection from wandering livestock and as a means to containand define the area where precious water would be distributed. Furthermore, it is clear from most of the records, whether Assyrian, Babylonian, or of any of the other culturessharing the Fertile Crescent, that vegetables were commonly grown around date palms or fruit trees. The palms filtered the blasting sunlight and gave the garden the appearance of a welcoming grove. Thus the garden was also a place where socialization took place andindeed became a place sanctified by its own gods and protective forces.Archaeological remains (mostly seeds) from this region also support what is documentedin clay tablets. The range of vegetables included many still familiar: cucumbers, chards,gourds,onions, garlics, leeks, melons,chickpeas,lentils,cress, kales, and sesame—both for the seeds and for the oil. Colocynth melons, which resemble small watermelons, weregrown primarily for medical applications. Some modern Arabic words, such as
kurrat 
for a type of leek , can be traced to ancient texts from this period, proof of the long continuityof many of these vegetables. Indeed, even the Arab word for vegetables,
baql,
traces toancient Aramaic
buqul.
Tablet inscriptions also point to another feature of vegetable culture that suggests highlydeveloped horticultural practices: specialization. There are numerous references to the"cucumber place" or to the "garlicplace," which implies that entire beds were devoted toone type of vegetable and that in many cases this was the sole crop raised by thegrower. Garlic was especially valued in this respect and even was used ascollateralin financialagreements. In texts where a year-to-year continuity can be reconstructed, it is evidentthat a garlic place may change into a chard place, so some system of crop rotation musthave been in effect. This concept of agricultural specialization was thought to have been perfected by the Phoenicians and codified by Mago, whose great work on agriculture(lost in the original Punic) was highly respected by the Romans.The Phoenicians were also great middlemen in trading vegetables and seeds throughoutthe Mediterranean. They are thought to have spread the culture of shallots and artichokeswell beyond the eastern Mediterranean, and are known to have introduced the intensive
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