Ken Stuart wrote:
  About 20 years ago, I
> toured throughout Europe, and very rarely encountered any lettuce, celery,
> broccoli or any other vegetable matter other than tubers and legumes....

Where in Europe and what season?

In Scotland in Spring and winter you would have seen potatoes, turnips ,
cauiflower, cabbages , leeks and carrots [occasionally brussels sprouts
around Xmas] . Apples and what we used to call "bullet" pears - pears
that were hard and rubbery and not much sweeter than the turnips were
the fruits though all sorts of berries were collected in huge quantities
in late autumn and preserved as jam, jelly or cordials
Veg was a seasonal thing - lettuce wasn't eaten in great quantites,
though it did appear in the summer along with radishes, cyboes [spring
onions] , water cress, peas -eaten raw mostly , baby carrots, leeks and
onions.
I think I was about 15 when I first saw broccoli and celery.

Alison