Root vegetables are the underdogs of the culinary world, the downtrodden and forgotten in a world of shining stars. They will never be fashionable, never hip. They will not achieve the fleeting popularity of quinoa, farro, pork bellies or even kale.
They are, and will always be, just root vegetables.
They do not know the joy of growing in the sunshine. They burrow instead into the dirt. They can be a little hard to cook and a little hard to eat. And if truth be told, they tend to be kind of ugly.
And yet they taste so, so good in soups and stews or fried into chips.
For the recipes, read Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Style section.