We didn’t eat much cabbage growing up; what I knew of cabbage was mostly through my uncle who went on an ill-advised cabbage soup diet, losing several pounds and perhaps his sanity in the process. The soup, a term I’d use loosely, was simply cabbage boiled in a large vat of water until soft. The collapsed mass was removed after, leaving a potent brew to be downed unceremoniously for the promise of a trimmer waste line. This, my friends, is not the type of diet I can recommend.
In our house cabbage extended no further than sauerkraut, which my father employed on his Reuben sandwiches, the sharp, acrid aroma of fermented cabbage filling the air. You can imagine a boy’s reaction: cabbage did not rank high on my list of favorites. (The Reuben, I must admit, was very good.)
I recall in later years enjoying cabbage rolls, an Eastern European treat wherein cabbage played the vessel for a stuffing of ground beef and onion. And finally a hero emerged in the form of Okonomiyaki, a Japanese style pancake made of shredded vegetables (mostly cabbage) very lightly breaded and pan fried.
I began to see that cabbage could be something worthy of space at the dinner table, and in the last several weeks I’ve had this side dish among my heavy rotation. As with most things I highlight in this newsletter, it is easy, delicious, and one could argue - healthy.
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