Celery: Stalking the history of a forgotten status symbol

Celery, the fibrous vegetable that has long been a bit player on crudités platters, has a new gig: wellness superstar. But it’s not celery in its roughage-filled stalk form that has been [showing up in your Instagram feed]( in the past few months—it’s celery juice, a pale green potion that’s the latest buzzy wellness elixir credited with treating a slew of ailments. From its humble beginnings as a vegetable that is [95% water]( celery has climbed the ranks of aspirational vegetables with staggering speed over the last few months. The funny thing is, this isn’t celery’s first go-round as a cultural obsession. In fact, the reason celery has a bad rap to overcome today is because for more than a century it was all the rage. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Celery March 12, 2019 A new leaf --------------------------------------------------------------- Celery, the fibrous vegetable that has long been a bit player on crudités platters, has a new gig: wellness superstar. But it’s not celery in its roughage-filled stalk form that has been [showing up in your Instagram feed]( in the past few months—it’s celery juice, a pale green potion that’s the latest buzzy wellness elixir credited with treating a slew of ailments. From its humble beginnings as a vegetable that is [95% water]( celery has climbed the ranks of aspirational vegetables with staggering speed over the last few months. The funny thing is, this isn’t celery’s first go-round as a cultural obsession. In fact, the reason celery has a bad rap to overcome today is because for more than a century it was all the rage. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( A new place to talk about the news --------------------------------------------------------------- We’re tired of all the shouting matches and echo chambers on social media. On the new Quartz app, we’ve gathered a community of curious thinkers and doers to have high-quality discussions about the most important stories each day. It’s like an ongoing conversation with CEOs like Richard Branson, Punit Renjen, Arianna Huffington, and many more. [Try the Quartz app]( By the digits [454%:]( Increase in US celery juice sales on the payment platform Square from October 2018 to January 30, 2019 [3x:]( Growth in the number of retailers using Square offering pure celery juice in the same time period [4x:]( Factor by which celery juice is selling over kale juice since October [16 oz:]( Quantity of pure celery juice that “Medical Medium” Anthony William suggests ingesting daily on an empty stomach [#10:]( Amazon ranking at print time of William’s book Medical Medium Celery Juice on Amazon, a few slots behind Michelle Obama’s Becoming [#3:]( Rank of celery items on menus on the New York Public Library’s What’s on the Menu online archive of 17,000 historical menus, after coffee and tea Origin story When celery was a fashion icon --------------------------------------------------------------- In the wild, celery grows best in muddy, marshland soils. It’s been cultivated as a vegetable since ancient times, starting in the Mediterranean, but it wasn’t until the early 1800s that farmers began growing it in damp, chilly eastern England. “It was fussy to grow and difficult to obtain—and this made it irresistible to the Victorian upper classes,” [Heather Arndt Anderson writes at Taste.]( [celery seller]“The Seller of Celery,” John Ingram (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Originally, there were dozens of varieties, according to reporter Maya Kroth, who went deep into the celery rabbit hole [for the podcast Proof](. Unlike the uniform bright-green stalks of today’s supermarkets, celeries could be yellow, red, or striped, with leaves that varied in curliness. The Victorians were particularly obsessed with white ones, cultivated by painstakingly shielding the roots from the sun to prevent the development of chlorophyll. By the late 1800s, the craze had spread to the US, where Kalamazoo, Michigan had the ideal marshy soil for cultivating it, soon becoming [known as “Celery City.”]( There, “the streets were littered with hucksters peddling celery from street corners and train stations,” Anderson writes. Americans were charmed by the [fancy new vegetable]( with a growing season that ran November through March, it was also one of the only bits of fresh greenery available in the winter, which earned it a central position in holiday celebrations. For the better part of the next century, it was the [exotic duo of celery and olives]( that best typified a proper Thanksgiving spread—turkey optional. (Celery only started to slide off the Thanksgiving menu in the 1970s, when Weight Watchers co-opted it as a diet food, according to [Boston.com’s definitive history]( of celery’s culinary applications.) Simultaneously, industrial farming made celery cultivation widespread—especially the now-ubiquitous bright-green variety, Green Pascal, which was hearty enough to ship. By the mid 20th century, the vegetable was so commonplace that it had lost the luster of exoticism. Giphy Quotable “There is a crispness about celery that is of the essence of October. It is as fresh and clean as a rainy day after a spell of heat. It crackles pleasantly in the mouth. Moreover it is excellent, I am told, for the complexion.” —[A.A. Milne, “A Word for Autumn”]( “Never miss a party. Good for the nerves—like celery.” [—F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Camel’s Back”]( before there was instagram Showing off celery --------------------------------------------------------------- Victorians also made it trendy to [display celery in a special vase]( having one on a dinner table was a status symbol. After all, if you managed to obtain such an exotic fresh vegetable, you’d want to display it prominently. [celery vase]An American-produced cut glass celery vase circa 1827–35 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) But celery vases weren’t purely decorative. In between courses, guests could grab a stalk to nibble as a palette cleanser. [Hobnail Celery vase, 1886–1900]A “dewdrop” pattern celery vase circa 1886–1900 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Eventually the style shifted from the impractical, stuffy celery vase to the flat, seemingly more sanitary [boat-like celery dish](. Elite glassware, like all fashion, is fickle. Brief history Celebrated celery recipes --------------------------------------------------------------- [1830s—early 1900s:]( Celery becomes a popular standalone menu item, served au naturel, braised, au velouté (in a light gravy), or à la Espagniole (in a rich demi-glace). [1843:]( Charles Dickens publishes The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, in which a character enjoys a snack of celery and cheese at a pub. The pairing was already well-established in England and would eventually evolve into cream-cheese stuffed celery sticks around the turn of the century. [1865:]( An upscale Boston hotel lists “plain celery” and “dressed celery” on its salad menu. A taste for celery au gratin develops soon after. [1868:]( Brooklyn soda company Dr. Brown’s first produces Celery Tonic—“sugar, carbonated water, and crushed celery seeds specifically to nourish Jewish immigrant children in New York’s Lower East Side and Williamsburg,” [according to Atlas Obscura](. After the FDA objected to its being called a “tonic,” the name was changed to Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray in the 1900s and today remains a staple in Jewish delis. (Pairs well with pastrami.) [1883:]( The Boston Globe suggests pairing celery and roast turkey “with an exotic new delicacy known as ‘macaroni.’” [1895:]( New York Times prints a Thanksgiving recipe for “mayonnaise of celery:” diced celery, covered with mayonnaise, garnished with… celery. Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Celery? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – Origin story Why is everyone drinking celery juice now? --------------------------------------------------------------- The rise of celery juice appears to originate with one man. Many of the Instagram posts, YouTube videos, and Google search results surrounding the health benefits and anti-inflammatory properties of celery juice tag or mention the “Medical Medium.” That’s the persona created by Anthony William, a New York Times bestselling author who [describes himself on Instagram]( as the “Originator of Global Celery Juice Movement.” William, who also [hosts a weekly radio show]( and is a contributor to [the controversial wellness website Goop,]( is not a doctor. Nor is he a nutritionist, dietician, or researcher, and he freely admits he holds no formal qualifications of any kind. His books include no citations, sourcing, or reference to peer-reviewed studies. [His bio]( says he “was born with the unique ability to converse with Spirit of Compassion who provides him with extraordinarily accurate health information that’s often far ahead of its time,” and recounts the time when he accurately diagnosed his symptom-free grandmother with lung cancer, at the age of four. In a phone interview, William told Quartz that he has advocated for celery juice for years, but his fourth and [most recent book]( released in October, could have something to do with the recent spike in interest. So if not from existing science, how did he come to the assertions about celery’s healing properties that led to the juice’s ascent in popularity? William explained that the same voice that has been sharing health information with him since childhood tipped him off about celery: “I receive my information unconventionally…. It’s through the gift of hearing the information…. So it’s not like I woke up one morning and said ‘I’ve got too much celery in my fridge. Let me just use that by myself. Hey, I feel better today—now, let me go tell the world.’ That’s not it at all. The information was given to me.” Charted Google Trends data charting celery juice’s growth in searches over the past five years does indicate a dramatic spike in interest, concentrated in the last few months of 2018—and those searches track closely to a rise in searches for “Medical Medium.” Million-dollar question Are there really health benefits? --------------------------------------------------------------- Proponents like William say that a daily glass of pure celery juice is beneficial for an extensive list of chronic illnesses and autoimmune diseases, including eczema, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, migraines, vertigo, celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diabetes, and many more. (Many of these are ailments or conditions that are tricky to treat and often go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed by the medical establishment, [especially among women]( William’s site has a [lengthy and legalese-filled disclaimer]( asserting that it “is for informational purposes only and should not be considered to be healthcare advice or medical diagnosis, treatment or prescribing.” He also says celery’s healing properties are largely due to “sodium cluster salts,” a nutrient that isn’t evident in medical literature. William says he discovered these clusters himself, and on his website claims they “work symbiotically and systematically to flush out toxins.” William may be the most vocal at the moment, but he’s not the first to claim celery as a cure-all. Around 1900, celery began to be [marketed as a remedy for]( a variety of complaints, from pain and anxiety to kidney disease and rheumatism. Celery-inspired gums and tonics, like Dr. Brown’s, were touted as remedies for [insomnia, malaria, and headaches](. As for modern science, the jury is out until more evidence is in. “In the case of celery, there are lots of people claiming it’s helped their symptoms… [but there are] no reliable sources of evidence (like randomized controlled trials) which show that drinking celery juice works any better than a placebo,” Helen West, a registered dietician and co-founder of the evidenced-based nutrition hub The Rooted Project, told Quartz by email. Drinking celery juice certainly isn’t going to hurt you; it’s a great source of vitamin K. However, if you forgo other forms of treatment in favor of one that hasn’t been endorsed by doctors, it could mean you don’t receive the most effective care. Giphy Poll Are you riding the celery bandwagon? [Click here to vote]( Anything to stay hydratedSticking with kaleTrolling eBay for a celery vase right now 💬let's talk In yesterday’s poll about [the Little Ice Age]( 48% of you said climate change will be bad—but we’ll also adapt. 📧 Mary wrote: “I thought that it was because of the Little Ice Age that Northern Europeans became beer drinkers. The hops did better in the cold than did the grapes so people began to switch to beer. Is that not the case?” Nope, that’s true! [Philipp Blom writes in]( Mutiny]( that beer established a stronghold as wine got worse and more expensive—wheat, hops, and malt were less sensitive to the weather than grapes. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20celery&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Rosie Spinks]( and [Jessanne Collins]( edited by [Whet Moser]( and produced by [Luiz Romero](. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! If you click a link to an e-commerce site and make a purchase, we may receive a small cut of the revenue, which helps support our ambitious journalism. See [here]( for more information. Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States [Share this email](