Several months ago I had accepted an invitation for dinner at a friend's home. Your average meat and potatoes affair? Not even near. In fact there was not a potato of any disguise to be had, nor were there any carrots, peas, or broccoli, on the table. Instead, to accompany the main dish, Margaret served a bowl of brown, knobby tubers I recognized to be Jerusalem artichokes and I realized I hadn't eaten these in several years.

Also served up, with a flourish, was a vegetable that looked like it could have been fried onions but it possessed a subtle licorice flavour. It was fennel. A pungent, flavourful, green leafy offering turned out to be rapini.

Piles of potatoes, mounds of broccoli, bags of carrots, and trays of tomatoes are an expected and common sight at any supermarket or green grocer. These fresh foods, along with a dozen or two other familiar vegetables, are the staples found in most North American households today.

But what about all those other veggies that haven't made it onto the list of favourites – the underdog vegetables? These are the ones that merit only a small tray set aside at the end of a display case or found at farmers' or specialty markets. Some of these are okra, kale, endive, escarole, collards, mustard greens, radicchio, choys, tomatillo, and daikon radish.

Before the advent of plant hybridization and large-scale agribusiness, many more varieties of vegetables were available to the discerning consumer than are grown commercially today. It is estimated that forty percent of vegetables that existed in 1900 are no longer available because no one is growing them.

It's a supply and demand world. I had to ask myself: Do I want a continued wide variety of vegetable choices for my dinner table? What can I do to help ensure a supply? One obvious answer is to grow my own, and to a small extent I do. But not everyone has an interest in gardening, nor does our Canadian climate lend itself to growing the wide range of fresh produce we've become used to.

After Margaret's dinner party, I have found myself becoming much more adventurous in the food market, introducing myself to new and exciting tastes from the produce section. I also support my local health food store that carries a selection of fresh organic foods. Farmers markets are excellent sources of heirloom and more uncommon vegetables. Ethnic and specialty shops are also wonderful places to discover that out-of-the-ordinary veggie.

So here's my challenge to you: Next time you're standing in front of a colourful array of vegetables in your favourite market, choose one that you haven't tried before. Ask someone in the market (an employee or a customer) how to prepare it. And the following week, choose  yet another variety. Ask the manager to bring in a particular vegetable you want to try. Then, wouldn't it be gratifying to see our choices in vegetables begin to increase rather than decrease, because of consumer demand?

Cathrine Gabriel has worked in the natural health field for over 30 years. She managed her family's health food store, is past administrator of Health Action Network Society and
former co-host of the Healthy Living Show with Croft Woodruff. She now lives in Alberta.

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