Inexpensive, versatile and very nutritious — how to fall in love with cabbage

Vogue named 2026 as the year of the cabbage but this nutritional and delicious leafy green has always been popular in Ireland. Cherie Denham, author of The Irish Kitchen, talks to Caroline Hennessy about the uses of cabbage, from traditional to new Irish cooking

Vogue named 2026 as the year of the cabbage. Picture: iStock

When Vogue named 2026 as the year of the cabbage, there was a collective shoulder shrug from this angle of the world. When exactly hasn’t it been a cabbage-focused year in Ireland? In the local market, the greengrocer, and supermarket, there’s always a section piled high with glorious examples of this leafy brassica, be it a simple green head, the crinkled savoy variety, a pointed cabbage like hispi, or tightly furled balls of red or white.

Why the green light for cabbage?