For her third Slow Food Fast contribution, Ms. Bloomfield shares a recipe for a nourishing root vegetable soup.

WSJ: April Bloomfield's Hearty Root Vegetable Soup | Slow Food Fast

The first synthetic maize was released in Kenya in 1961 and even lowly cassava, a starchy root vegetable, benefited from genetic embellishments in the 1970s.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

He explained that later in the year when it is in season, he will return to pick the yellow gorse flowers (which have a distinct coconut taste) to use in meat marinades and Thai curries, as well as burdock root, which is popular in Japanese cooking and can be used for vegetable soups or mixed with dandelion to make a root beer-like soft drink.

BBC: The wild taste of Wales

Mashed, shaped into batons and boiled, or even French fried, celery root can provide a winning accompaniment to a fresh green vegetable or salad and anything roasted or grilled.

NPR: The Vegetable World's Ugly Duckling: Celeriac

The vegetable's most classic employment is in the cold French salad celerie remoulade, in which the root is peeled, grated, "cooked" in lemon juice (or blanched briefly in acidulated water) to lose a bit of its rawness, then dressed with a mustardy mayonnaise.

NPR: The Vegetable World's Ugly Duckling: Celeriac