{"product_id":"9781493099443","title":"The Secret Life of Vegetables: The Hidden History Behind the World's Most Unassuming Foods","description":"\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor\/Contributor(s):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eLeyland, Simon\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePrometheus\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDate:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e4\/6\/2027\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eHardcover\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eNEW\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cb\u003eA lively, erudite, and delightfully digressive tour through the secret lives of vegetables, revealing how humble plants have shaped our culture, cuisine, superstitions, language, politics, and even love.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe think we know our vegetables. We chop them, roast them, forget them in the crisper drawer. But beneath their humble surfaces lies a world far stranger, funnier, and more consequential than anyone imagines. In \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Life of Vegetables\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e,\u003c\/b\u003e Leyland uncovers the wildly unexpected histories of the plants that populate our gardens and dinner plates—transforming carrots, cabbages, pumpkins, and potatoes into unforgettable protagonists in the human story.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith wit, scholarship, and a talent for irresistible digressions, Leyland reveals how: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe potato\u003c\/b\u003e sparked revolutions, saved nations from famine, and changed the fate of Europe.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe carrot\u003c\/b\u003e was engineered, yes, engineered, into its iconic orange form, and later weaponized as wartime propaganda.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe onion\u003c\/b\u003e became a symbol of eternity, a medicinal cure-all, and a mythic ingredient revered across continents.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe cabbage\u003c\/b\u003e inspired philosophers, disgusted revolutionaries, anchored peasant diets, and quietly steered the course of Western cuisine.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eHorseradish and wasabi\u003c\/b\u003e became botanical cousins of chaos, fueling ritual, punishment, and culinary bravado.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe melon\u003c\/b\u003e, long associated with decadence, fashion, and aristocratic obsession, blurred the line between fruit, vegetable, and cultural fixation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoving from ancient Rome to medieval monasteries, from Victorian dining rooms to modern kitchens and scientific labs, Leyland shows how vegetables have shaped literature, medicine, superstition, empire, and everyday life. In his hands, the cabbage becomes a philosopher; the beet, a romantic; the pumpkin, a seasonal celebrity; the turnip, a folkloric trickster; and fennel, leek, cucumber, and rhubarb emerge as historical characters overflowing with secrets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFunny, urbane, and deeply informed\u003c\/b\u003e, this is food writing at its most original, not about recipes or chefs, but about the tangled human histories rooted in the vegetables themselves. Leyland celebrates curiosity and digression while grounding each chapter in rigorous research, botanical insight, and cultural imagination.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhether recounting Pliny the Elder’s cabbage cures, Lewis Carroll’s culinary nonsense, Diogenes’ vegetable-based philosophy, or the biochemical sorcery of fermentation, \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Life of Vegetables\u003c\/i\u003e transforms the vegetable patch into a grand stage where folklore, science, appetite, and absurdity collide.","brand":"Prometheus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48698878066943,"sku":"9781493099443","price":28.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0452\/0886\/2873\/files\/9781493099443_s600x595.jpg?v=1781632035","url":"https:\/\/massivebookshop.com\/de\/products\/9781493099443","provider":"MASSIVE BOOKSHOP","version":"1.0","type":"link"}