I am having an existential memory moment. The Gardening topic got me to thinking. I grew up on a farm, sometimes a full on vegetable farm, near the end a soybean farm. Vegetables to market was our everyday life.
I remember when buying celery included the leaves on the stalks. The leaves are my favorite part, so much more flavor than the stalks. We used it in salads and soups. But then the celery in markets got scalped, no more leaves. I use the asian celery now so I get the leaves. It's a different flavor profile, but it's close enough for me at the moment.
Parsley, I could swear used to be sold as the whole little plant with the root attached. We would use it just that way in soup, I loved the root the most but I would commandeer that whole parsley in my bowl because I loved it as a stewed green.
Broccoli suffered a sad fate when it got mangled down to the florets and the stalk, the best part IMHO, was no longer included. A few swipes with a vegetable peeler on the stalk revealed the sweetest part of the broccoli.
I've talked to the local "artisan" backyard farmer's market people about leaving on the roots, or leaves etc...people just won't buy it because a whole generation got used to the supermarket versions of vegetables and don't recognize the original plant.
I guess this my version of "old person yells at clouds" . 🙂