When found at salad bars, the yellowish-green, crinkled, leafy vegetable is often dry, gnarled, brown on the edges, starchy and stiff. In the ubiquitous coleslaw offered as a side dish in fast food joints, it’s hidden by a cloak of mayo. For St. Patty’s Day, it’s boiled a very long time, filling the house with unpleasant odor. For many, cabbage conjures thoughts of sour smells and uninspired cooking. Many disdain it as lowly, cheap and stinky. It’s a vegetable for the masses, food for hard times. But it doesn’t have to be this way. This practical, hardy, versatile, inexpensive vegetable suffers unfairly from a poor image. At peak season, fresh cabbage can be so much more! Plump, sweet and crisp, it needs little cooking and is great raw in salads. Properly prepared, cabbage is a sweet, mild, delectable treat. From Europe to the Orient, it is known as a delicious, healthy and common staple, and it’s a chief ingredient in many ethnic dishes.