My Bubbe used to say that cabbage was the perfume of the shtetl.  How she knew this growing up on a farm in Pennsylvania, I’ll never know, but there is no question that stuffed cabbage, braised cabbage and stewed cabbage are Jewish culinary staples. After all, cabbage is cheap, and even when it cooks down and releases its liquid, it stays pretty bulky (if not actually that filling).

My memories of cabbage are stuck firmly in my freshman year dorm, circa 1996. That was the year of the Cabbage Soup Diet, the most bizarrely regulated diet I’ve ever faced. It promised rapid weight loss in seven days, and although I am not and never have been good with culinary deprivation, that was the year I was working three days a week in the school cafeteria, and there was an unlimited supply of curly fries.

Enter cabbage soup. The recipe wasn’t bad, actually. I mean, seven days of it was bad, but the recipe in moderation is kind of a keeper. It was the strange regulations surrounding the bottomless pit consumption of cabbage soup that baffled me.

In celebration of National Cabbage Day, February 17, come join me on a trip down memory lane.

Day One: Eat unlimited fruit, except bananas, but no juice except cranberry juice. You can eat the cabbage soup too, but nothing else.
Day Two: Eat leafy vegetables all day. Or any vegetables except peas and corn. Eat a baked potato with butter for dinner. No fruit today. No nothing, actually. Except cabbage soup.
Day Three: Lucky you! You get to eat fruits AND vegetables today. And cabbage soup, but no baked potato.
Day Four: If you can stomach eight bananas today, you can eat eight bananas. Or six. Or four. And cabbage soup. You can also drink skim milk!
Day Five: Beef and tomatoes, beef and tomatoes, beef and tomatoes. And cabbage soup. You must eat soup at least once today. Even if you’re sick of it. Oh, and drink a ton of water, otherwise your body will be steeped in uric acid, whatever that is.
Day Six: Sick of beef yet? Tough. Eat some more. Plus leafy green vegetables. But don’t forget your soup.
Day Seven: You get brown rice today. Mazal tov. You can also drink unsweetened fruit juice and vegetables. This is the last day that you have to eat that drat soup. Again, mazal tov!

And here's the soup:

Flashback Cabbage Soup

• 2 Tbs. olive oil (okay, the original recipe doesn’t have this, but come on—can it hurt?)
• 2 tsp. chile powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 3 cups yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 Tbs. garlic, minced
• 1 cup fennel bulb, roughly chopped
• 2 cups red bell peppers, diced in ½-inch squares
• 28 oz. can good Italian plum tomatoes in juice
• 1 cup carrot, peeled and diced
• ½ cup celery, diced
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (shiitake or button)
• 4 cups cabbage, sliced thin
• 6 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)
• 2 Tbs. fresh marjoram, chopped
• 2 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• Plenty of fresh black pepper
• 1-2 Tbs. red wine vinegar.

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Add spices, stir quickly. Add onion and garlic. Stir fry for two minutes. Turn off heat. Add all remaining ingredients except fresh herbs, salt, pepper, and vinegar. Simmer on low for 2 hours until vegetables are tender. Season with salt, pepper, fresh herbs and vinegar to taste.

Banner image of cabbage by Epukas (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.