Character

Talking about Brussels sprout and vegetables with a character, a few other edible plants come through my mind.

What I mean is, on one hand we have ipomoea (蕹菜) and Don lettuce (唐萵). Their flavor is unique, and you either like it or not. Nonetheless, their application in cookery is limited: to most of us, ipomoea is only for stir frying with fermented bean curd (腐乳), and Don lettuce only appears in hot pot dinner.

But, on the other, there are Chinese cabbage (大白菜) and bok choi (小白菜). They have their own sweetness and taste good. Most people like them, but they lack the zest to make them stand out from a crowd. But, probably also for that reason, they get along well with many other ingredients – pork, brisket, ducks, fish, and almost everything that can appear on your dinner dish.

Well, we see the same two groups of people around.