The cabbage revival
Once the villain of school dinners, cabbage is enjoying an unlikely cultural revival
Every so often, a plant long appreciated for its practical virtues is rediscovered. This year, rather unexpectedly, it’s the cabbage.
For years, cabbage occupied the unfashionable end of the vegetable spectrum.
Dependable, productive and capable of feeding households through winter, it was rarely glamorous. Somewhere between school dinners and cabbage soup, it lost the cultural spotlight to flashier vegetables. Kale became a wellness icon. Cauliflower reinvented itself as pizza. Avocado built an entire brunch economy. Cabbage, meanwhile, remained stubbornly ordinary, forming tight green heads in allotments and kitchen gardens across the country and appearing mostly in contexts that did little for its public image. Now, somewhat improbably, cabbage has entered the spotlight.
Cabbages on display at the RHS London Festival Show 2012
© Heidi Egerman![]()
Green cabbage (Brassicaceae) exhibited at the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show 2025
The reputation problem
Green cabbage (Brassicaceae) exhibited at the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show 2025
Cabbage has spent years labouring under a reputational burden not entirely of its own making.
Its public image in Britain was shaped less by the plant itself than by what was done to it after harvest. Entire generations encountered cabbage not in its crisp, sweet form but as a limp, overboiled accompaniment to school lunches and other institutional meals of uncertain ambition. This, it turns out, was not the cabbage’s fault.
Why cabbage, why now?
Part of cabbage’s current appeal lies in the fact that it suits the moment rather well. It’s affordable, nutritious and adaptable. It stores well, grows readily and lends itself to a wide range of modern cooking styles, from slaw to stir fries to kimchi and caramelised wedges presented as “steaks”.
Perhaps part of its appeal lies in how global it has always been. In Germany, it becomes sauerkraut; in Korea, it’s transformed into kimchi. Across the Middle East, it’s rolled into dishes such as malfouf, while in Japan, delicate leaves layer soups and hotpots and in Britain, it’s boiled.
In 2025, The New York Times declared that “London’s sexiest produce star is a cabbage”, with hispi now a staple on menus.
It is also, importantly, photogenic.
Red cabbage, in particular, has benefited from the social media age. Slice one open and its interior reveals a marbled geometry of violet and white. Savoy cabbages have their own appeal: all ripples and folds, as though they have been pleated by hand. Even the simplest green cabbage forms a satisfyingly complete sphere.
A photograph of a savoy cabbage exhibited at the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show 2025
Growing cabbage
Sow in February or March for summer cabbages‚ April for autumn and red varieties, some of which store well into winter. May is the moment for winter cabbages and savoys, and a final sowing in July or August can provide plants to overwinter for spring harvests.
A green cabbage head at RHS Garden Harlow Carr
Its main enemies, pigeons, caterpillars and a small supporting cast of insects who tend to regard cabbages as a shared resource, are familiar to most gardeners. A fine mesh covering is usually enough to keep the peace.
Harvesting, at least, is straightforward. When the head feels firm and solid, it’s ready. If it never quite gets there, it can still be cut and eaten as greens. Cabbage, unlike some more temperamental vegetables, is mercifully difficult to waste.
Ornamental cabbage (Brassica oleracea), grown for its decorative foliage and vibrant colour
Varieties worth growing
Among summer cabbages, ‘Caraflex’, ‘Caramba’ and ‘Primero’ produce sweet, compact heads well suited to modern cooking and feel worlds away from the dense, pallid memories many people are still recovering from.
For autumn, ‘Red Jewel’ offers both colour and flavour, while winter gardeners might look to ‘Alaska’, ‘Marabel’ or ‘Noelle’ for reliability.
Savoy remains among the most rewarding, its crinkled leaves bringing both texture and depth of flavour. ‘Providence’ is particularly good.
For those dealing with clubroot, resistant varieties such as ‘Kilaton’ and ‘Cordesa’ are well worth considering.
Cabbage 'Red Jewel'
Cabbage in fashion and design
The cabbage’s drift into style and interiors is less surprising than it first appears.
In recent years, so-called “cabbagecore” has emerged as a small but enthusiastic design trend, fuelled by social media, Pinterest moodboards and a renewed appetite for playful, vegetable led decoration. Cabbage-leaf ceramics and leafy table settings have begun appearing everywhere from styled dining tables to fashion campaigns, proving that somewhere along the line the brassica acquired aesthetic credentials.
And yet, for all its recent internet life, cabbage in design is not new.
The tradition continued. The Portuguese ceramicist Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro made cabbageware a signature, while in the 20th century, Dodie Thayer’s handcrafted cabbage pottery became a cult favourite in interiors.
There are grander examples still. The Jadeite Cabbage, a 19th century Qing dynasty carving, remains one of the most celebrated objects in Taiwan’s National Palace Museum – proof, if it were needed, that a cabbage can carry considerable cultural weight.
Bok choy (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis), the same type of cabbage depicted in the Jadeite Cabbage
More than a trend
What makes cabbage’s return so pleasing is not simply that it has become fashionable, but that it has done so without changing very much at all.
Close-up of a cabbage head at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2010
That the rest of the world has finally noticed is welcome, if faintly overdue. In any case, cabbage wears its new status rather well and unlike many trends, it’s unlikely to disappear next season.
