Turnips and swedes....

[Welsh_Dragon]

Last week I ate at an English pie restaurant. The pies were served with an assortment of traditional root vegetables, including swede, turnip and parsnip. I overheard an American at another table exclaim that in the US turnips, swedes and parsnips are only used for pig fodder and not eaten by people. Is this true? If so, I wonder what else ‘Brits’ eat that others do not..... .

 

[Brian_WDW74]

This is absolutely untrue. It could be that Americans eat less of those particular vegetables than do people in the UK, but I guarantee you that they are indeed eaten here. I think it's possible that the person you overheard was just expressing their own personal opinion about those vegetables.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Personal opinion was spoken.

 

[lorenae]

Where I live, swedes (we call them rutabagas here, or rutabaggies) are really common, turnips less so. We grow parsnips in our garden.

So, no, they are available in grocery stores and many of us grow them in our gardens.

I think that people that only eat fast food or dine in chain restaurants have no idea about them, but that's true of many foods as well.

People who cook or enjoy better dining will be very familiar with them!

 

[ronandannette]

Root vegetables grow very well in northern Canada. Turnips (white and purple skin) are mostly eaten freshly picked and raw, rather than cooked. They don't keep super-well. Rutabaga (what I think the OP refers to as swede), parsnips and carrots will keep all winter when properly stored. All of them were staples during my childhood on a farm and even now I buy and cook them for my own family very regularly.

 

[barkley]

trader joes in the u.s. carries a frozen root vegetable medley that sells out very quickly when it hits the shelves around us. i love it b/c the only other place i can get a hot, mixed variety prepared is at a local restaurant during certain months of the year.

 

[Christine]

That person was incorrect. While I don't think those particular root vegetables are a main staple, they are eaten here, mainly in winter, hearty type dishes.

You also may find it to be very regional in the U.S. with people in the the colder, northern U.S. climates having them as a staple and people in the much warmer climates, never having them at all.

 

[Sandeep1]

Interesting thread. I thought this was going to be about people in Sweden loving turnips.

 

[RUDisney]

When my kids were growing up and I'd put these roots into soups or I'd mash them, my DS would tell me that they were the best potatoes he'd ever eaten. lol

I didn't tell him that they weren't potatoes until he got older.

Same thing for meats... everything but beef, to him, was chicken.

 

[luvsJack]

That person was incorrect. While I don't think those particular root vegetables are a main staple, they are eaten here, mainly in winter, hearty type dishes.

You also may find it to be very regional in the U.S. with people in the the colder, northern U.S. climates having them as a staple and people in the much warmer climates, never having them at all.

They are very much a staple in the warm south. Rutabagas and/or turnips cooked with turnip greens are a part of most southern Sunday dinners. And are in most southern fall gardens.

I don’t like turnips so that’s not one we have but rutabagas are on the table most of the winter and sometimes beyond.

 

[RedAngie]

I generally avoid turnips and rutabagas, but I love roasted or stewed parsnips.

 

[Christine]

They are very much a staple in the warm south. Rutabagas and/or turnips cooked with turnip greens are a part of most southern Sunday dinners. And are in most southern fall gardens.

I don’t like turnips so that’s not one we have but rutabagas are on the table most of the winter and sometimes beyond.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking of the south as they seem very veggie centric--maybe the warm areas of the west (Arizona, California, etc). I feel like people I know from those areas have never heard of the root veggies much less eat them, but maybe it's the circles I run in!

 

[karmic]

Mashed turnip is one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes.

 

[BrianL]

Turnips are quite common here as are turnip greens. They are pretty much a staple of a southern Thanksgiving table though I personally do not like them (greens are okay if made right). Parsnips are probably less common, but certainly eaten and generally available. I love fried parsnip chips!

 

[Anchored]

Maybe they were a local
I am a Floridian and I have never been served any of those root veggies. Not at a home, not in a restaurant, nowhere.

 

[ImDMous]

I'm in Southern California and I've never seen any of these show up on any menus. Occasionally I see turnips at the grocery store, but to see rutabagas or parsnips you'd have to go to a specialty produce market (Sprouts or Frazier Farms or something around here). You are much more likely to see produce that grows well in Mexico then produce that grows well in cold climates.
Around here our winter crops are chard, kale, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
We had a CSA for a few years where we would get boxes of fresh produce from the local organic farm and I don't think we ever got any parsnips, rutabagas or turnips. I just don't think it's cold enough to grow them or they just aren't that popular.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I love turnips mashed with a little butter and cream, or roasted with other root veggies.

We have a selection of UK foods at my local supermarket. I had heard of Marmite but never tried it so I bought a jar. OMG, I should have just eaten a salted dog turd. It would have tasted much better.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Rutabagas, turnips, and parsnips are cold weather produce that I think come out of the ground close to Thanksgiving and thus are frequently found on the holiday table throughout New England, in the upper Midwest, and probably, at least NE Canada.
The growing season differs in warmer climes of the Southern areas of the US but the veggie is known as witnessed by the love of turnip greens there.

It is fed to both livestock and people in the US.

 

[cabanafrau]

I'm in Southern California and I've never seen any of these show up on any menus. Occasionally I see turnips at the grocery store, but to see rutabagas or parsnips you'd have to go to a specialty produce market (Sprouts or Frazier Farms or something around here). You are much more likely to see produce that grows well in Mexico then produce that grows well in cold climates.
Around here our winter crops are chard, kale, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
We had a CSA for a few years where we would get boxes of fresh produce from the local organic farm and I don't think we ever got any parsnips, rutabagas or turnips. I just don't think it's cold enough to grow them or they just aren't that popular.

What about what's referred to as winter squash? Those are frequently found in grocery stores and on restaurant and home dinner tables here in the fall as well. I'm talking about along the lines of acorn, butternut, delicata, dumpling, hokkaido -- and my personal favorite hubbard.

Michigan's climate and soil is some of the best in the world for growing crops like root vegetables and a wide variety of winter squashes. Across the river in Leamington, Ontario they specialize quite a bit in growing some of the best and most prolific tomato crops, which many people have probably tasted in many, many of the mass produced canned and bottled tomato sauces and products on store shelves.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Winter root vegetables can be fed to livestock, but that doesn't mean that people don't eat them, too (just a different grade). People feed carrots to horses, but the last time I checked, many people enjoy carrots, too. I remember being served swede often in the UK, but never having seen it before in CA, it took me a while to realize it was cooked rutabaga. Turnips and parsnips are more common around here, especially parsnip chips.