BACK TO YOUR ROOTS

Root vegetables are food for the soul. Mike McShane wrote in Eate Collective, “there’s a strange primal comfort in a root vegetable.” They “anchor” plants into the ground, provide water and nutrients when the weather isn’t cooperating, and they have been part of our diet for as long as humans have been around.

People could always count on them.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Travel back hundreds of thousands of years. Maybe you lived in a cave or in a shelter at the mouth of a cave. Perhaps “home” was a simple hut or teepee. Your family was nomadic until you switched from hunting-gathering to farming. It was a slow transition, beginning in the Neolithic Revolution, about 12,000 years ago. Human lifestyles changed dramatically as groups joined permanent settlements that tended crops. People no longer had to forage for food at the mercy of nature.

Food was always a priority.

Whether gathered or cultivated, roasted or eaten raw, root vegetables have been a part of the diet since the beginning of human history.

According to Michael LePage in New Science, remains of roasted root vegetables were found in the 170,000-year-old Border Cave in South Africa. “Seeds of root vegetables and other plants have [also] been found at an 800,000-year-old site in Israel” where early humans lived.

What’s a root vegetable? Everyone has eaten them, from potatoes, parsnips, and carrots to onions, garlic, and beets. If you want a kick, try spicy roots like wasabi, radish, ginger, and horseradish. There are dozens of different kinds, colors, shapes, tastes, and sizes.

Basically, root vegetables are the underground edible part of a plant. The above-ground plant depends on them for nutrition. Sometimes the above-ground stems and leaves are edible, like carrot tops, beet greens, and sweet potato, turnip, and radish greens. But it’s the root that counts.

Root vegetables are powerful sources of good nutrition, are drought resistant, easy to cultivate, and can be stored for a long time. It’s no surprise that they have been on the menu since the dawn of human civilization.

The most popular root vegetables have traveled around the world. Check out cassava (see below), also known as tapioca, manioc, and yuca. It’s the sixth most important crop in the world, and a staple for over 500 million people. Cassava was first domesticated in the southwestern Amazon of Brazil and Bolivia, 8,000-10,000 years ago.

Cassava is a woody shrub that can grow up to 12 feet tall. While more popular outside of the United States, you’ll find it “hidden” in breads and baked goods, tapioca puddings, soup, chips, tortillas, and healthy snacks. Just check out the ingredients.

Cassava is only one root vegetable that is a staple in the human diet. Consider what Hektoen International calls “The Tuber that changed the world” – the potato.

What would life be like without French Fries, latkes, and buttery baked potatoes?

How about the delicious stews and soups that include rutabaga, turnips, and celery root? Or the trendy beet that is now featured in many health foods. You can also find beet sugar (made from the roots) in many of today’s popular commercial foods from snacks, cookies, and crackers to sodas, gravies, and ice cream.

Root vegetables are categorized based on their structure. True root vegetables are when the edible part of the plant is the root – many have a tapered shape like carrots and parsnips.

Tuberous root vegetables are highly developed storage organs, like sweet potatoes and cassava.

Tubers are stems that grow underground like potatoes, yams, and jícama.

Rhizomes are modified stems that look like roots, such as ginger, wasabi, and turmeric.

Corms are also modified plant stems like water chestnuts and taro.

Bulbs are compressed underground stems composed of layers of fleshy, modified leaves that store nutrients, like onions and garlic.

Can you imagine life without roots?

Chow down on a few root vegetables today. Eat them roasted, in a soup or stew, baked, fried, or raw. If you’re can’t choose, ask Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. They have all the answers.