Monday, February 23, 2009

First Review, Cabbage, And Keats

It is very good of Tony Williams to give The Opposite of Cabbage its first review. Thanks Tony!

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The book is now on the Salt home page, as is Andrew Philip’s The Ambulance Box. You can find Andy beneath Vincent de Souza. I am below Keats, which is certainly the place for me, although I shouldn’t really be within touching distance:

Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of the mind,
Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,
Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind

(from Ode to Psyche)

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Useless Cabbage Fact no. 1:

Did you know that Cato the Elder praised the humble cabbage’s health-giving properties and declared it to be ‘the first of all vegetables’?

3 comments:

Tony Williams said...

Hi Rob,

No problem - I enjoyed the book. I'm giving it a few days before I go back for more.

Regarding Romans and cabbage, Diocletian, one of the most successul Emperors, retired to grow cabbages in Croatia. When Maximian (co-ruler whom he had forced to abdicate at the same time) later wanted to assume the reins of government again, Diocletian replied, 'If you could only see the cabbages which I myself have planted with my two hands, you would no more desire the heavy burden of service to the Republic'.

Word verification: 'avalingu', language of the birds

Colin Will said...

Pompeii was well known for its cultivation of cabbages, including a special variety developed in the area.

I'm delighted by the number of P1 children in my 'Five Alive' workshops who say that they like broccoli. Brassicas Rule!

Word verification 'cancom', Canadian Communications

Michael Peverett said...

"Cabbage is also used as toilet paper in more primitive cultures" according to Wikipedia, with its usual vague Gee Whiz about any other culture than a Dallas shopping mall.

Word verification: 'forse', as in Cordelia's forgiveness misremembered as "noe forse, noe forse" and Old Forse, an unreconstructed language of horrifying primitivism.