Abstract Vegetabling resulted in the development of a unique food source comprised of highly immature plant organs that delivers desirable textures, flavors, and nutritional diversity to human diets. In contrast to some dry‐seeded crops, perishable vegetables require enormous inputs of energy and technology during the postharvest period to preserve their quality. A vast cold chain to preserve fresh produce and myriad technologies designed to dry, salt, freeze‐dry, can, pickle, freeze, juice, and irradiate vegetables consumes enormous financial and human resources that must be deployed quickly before vegetables rot. This gave us purpose. But despite our efforts, estimates indicate up to 45% of vegetables are wasted due to spoilage. While perhaps unanticipated during domestication efforts, the consequences of vegetabling have resulted in far‐reaching technological, energetic, and societal complexities that extend to the ability to control microbial growth, significantly reduce water activity in moisture‐filled plant tissues, and stop time by producing a shelf‐stable vegetable product that can last for years. Successfully processing perishable plant products represents a triumphal consequence of the vegetabling project for at least two primary reasons: a dramatic increase in both food security and economic value. Yet vegetabling can only continue as long as humans are willing to consistently provide efforts to preserve vegetable tissues, a situation that is not required for dry‐seeded crops. By creating them, humans have entered into a bargain with vegetables that is Sisyphean in nature. Vegetables without us would revert to non‐perishable, mature plant organs and limit our dietary diversity; vegetables with us require Herculean efforts at preservation, providing us with purpose, but not allowing us to rest.
Irwin L. Goldman (Sun,) studied this question.