Spade, Skirrets and Parsnip

The couch potato is an idler, the cabbage-head a dunce, Swede-bashers are stupid and you may as well give up life if you become a vegetable. A vegetable existence may imply dull monotony, but the humble vegetable has sparked protests, threatened to topple a British government and almost triggered a revolution. From the Scottish Presbyterian campaign against the sinful potato to the class act that turned the carrot into a propaganda tool, from garlic inscriptions on Egyptian pyramids to Neolithic broad beans and medieval cabbage, and from the Dig for Victory campaign to their use in perfumes, Spades, Skirrets & Parsnip shows vegetables in a fascinating new light.