CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Vegetables In and Out of the Garden

CHAPTER ONE
In Which Asparagus Seduces the King of France

CHAPTER TWO
In Which Beans Beat Back the Dark Ages

CHAPTER THREE
In Which Beets Make Victorian Belles Blush

CHAPTER FOUR
In Which Cabbage Confounds Diogenes

CHAPTER FIVE
In Which Carrots Win the Trojan War

CHAPTER SIX
In Which Celery Contributes to Casanova’s Conquests

CHAPTER SEVEN
In Which Corn Creates Vampires

CHAPTER EIGHT
In Which Cucumbers Imitate Pigeons

CHAPTER NINE
In Which An Eggplant Causes a Holy Man to Faint

CHAPTER TEN
In Which Lettuce Puts Insomniacs to Sleep

CHAPTER ELEVEN
In Which Melons Undermine Mark Twain’s Morals

CHAPTER TWELVE
In Which Onions Offend Don Quixote

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
In Which Peas Almost Poison General Washington

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
In Which Peppers Win the Nobel Prize

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
In Which Potatoes Baffle the Conquistadors

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
In Which Pumpkins Attend the World’s Fair

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
In Which Radishes Identify Witches

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
In Which Spinach Deceives a Generation of Children

CHAPTER NINETEEN
In Which Tomatoes Fail to Kill Colonel Johnson

CHAPTER TWENTY
In Which Turnips Make a Viscount Famous

GENERAL SOURCES

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX