Cabbages. Matthias Böckel / Pixabay.com / 2021 / CC0 1.0
The 17th of February is Cabbage Day — a day to celebrate all things cabbagey!
Cabbage is a very humble vegetable that has traditionally been looked upon as a vegetable for the very poor. Now, we are starting to realize what a nutritional powerhouse it is. There’s not really any such thing as superfoods, but cabbage sure is a lot less humble than we used to think. It is a very good source of fibre and of many vitamins, including vitamin C, while also being low in calories.
Cabbage is a really good value vegetable: for a little bit of money you get a lot of vegetable that goes a long way. It comes in a variety of colours, textures and leaf shapes, and is very flexible in how you use it. It can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled, baked, fried, stir-fried, or pickled.
Here are some ways you could consider enjoying it on cabbage day:
- cabbage rolls;
- coleslaw;
- steamed cabbage;
- cabbage soup;
- sauerkraut;
- learning how to safely make your own sauerkraut;
- pick out some cabbage seeds to grow this summer;
- try a variety of cabbage you haven’t eaten before.
Probably no restaurant is going to offer an “all you can eat cabbage” special today, because cabbage is still firmly lodged in the unexciting category of foods. But it’s probably just as well, because cabbage can make you very windy, so it’s probably a not very good date night food anyway!
If you are in the area of Cleveland, Georgia, you could go to the BabyLand General® Hospital there to watch Cabbagepatch Kids being born.
In 2019, the Washington Nationals started a tradition of celebrating Cabbage Day by smashing cabbages.
“The defending World Series champs started the first full-team day of spring training with a relay race, punctuated by the closers smashing leafy vegetables on the concrete. On the winning side, closer Sean Doolittle spiked the cabbage and let out a battle cry. “The boys like their cabbage,” manager Davey Martinez told the Washington Post last year, when the tradition began. Third base coach Bob Henley started the competition last spring training when he discovered that Feb. 17 was National Cabbage Day and decided to use the vegetable race to encourage players camaraderie. The team brought the cabbage along on the road and raced in clubhouse rematches to celebrate wins. Since then, “Washington Cabbage Club” tank tops have been sold, and writers have uncovered baseball’s century-old ties to cabbage—Babe Ruth was known to place chilled cabbage leaves under his wool cap during games… And so, at this year’s spring training, the so-called “Cabbage Smash Kids” put dinner and money on the line, tossed the cabbage from hand to hand like quarterbacks on a goal-line rush, and continued the one-year-old tradition with childlike joy, all in the pursuit of team chemistry and another title.” [1]Roberson, Jeff. Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg laughs during spring training baseball practice. DCist. American University Radio. 17 February 2020. Accessed February 2021 at https://dcist.com/story/20/02/17/washington-nationals-are-at-spring-training-and-smashing-cabbages/
#CabbageDay #NationalCabbageDay #WorldCabbageDay
See also: Cabbage
Recipes
- Braised Pork Chops, Bacon and Cabbage
- Braised Red Cabbage
- Bubble & Squeak
- Cabbage & Nut Pie
- Colcannon Recipe
History
Man has been using cabbage for thousands of years. It is an old world food that reputedly first came to North America in 1541 with French explorer Jacques Cartier.
World Cabbage Day on the 17th of February was mentioned in a Canadian newspaper in 1999: “And by the way, did you know that February 17th is World Cabbage Day.” (Brown, Mary. Cabbage both good — and good for you. Windsor, Ontario: The Windsor Star. 25 August 1999. Page B4, col. 3.)
Two years earlier, on the 12th of February, 1997, a few days before the 17th of February, a writer for the Arizona Daily Star mentioned World Cabbage Day, but did not assign a date to the day. Instead, she referred the reader for more details to a web page which is now long-since defunct, so we may never know exactly what date the writer said Cabbage Day was on: “StarNet news link: There’s a lot to learn on the cabbage home page, including recipes, links and what World Cabbage Day is all about.” (Thomas, Cathy. Cabbage has numerous uses and ways of preparation. Tuscon, Arizona: The Arizona Daily Star. 12 February 1997. Page E3, Col. 5.)
Sources
Beaulieu, Marc. These hearty recipes make National Cabbage Day worth celebrating! Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 February 2017. Accessed February 2021 at https://www.cbc.ca/life/food/these-healthy-hearty-recipes-make-national-cabbage-day-worth-celebrating-1.3989209
Lewis, Deborah. Happy Cabbage Day!!! Riverside County Master Gardeners. 21 February 2015. Accessed February 2021 at https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=16865
National Cabbage Day. Springbank House Care Home. Chesterfield, England. 19 February 2019. Accessed Feburary 2021 at https://www.carehome.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1605956/national-cabbage-day
National Cabbage Day. Gauteng, South Africa: Roodeport Record. 17 February 2018. Accessed February 2021 at https://roodepoortrecord.co.za/2018/02/17/national-cabbage-day-2/
Today is National Cabbage Day. KTBS News. 17 February 2019. Accessed February 2021 at https://www.ktbs.com/news/today-is-national-cabbage-day/article_d397385e-32c7-11e9-899f-3fe8499b81d1.html
References
↑1 | Roberson, Jeff. Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg laughs during spring training baseball practice. DCist. American University Radio. 17 February 2020. Accessed February 2021 at https://dcist.com/story/20/02/17/washington-nationals-are-at-spring-training-and-smashing-cabbages/ |
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