Arugula, Rocket

A friend from the South cannot believe that catfish is virtually unknown in New York City (neither can I). When I leave the city I am astonished to find that the nippy leaf I dote on is often a curiosity. Raised in Greenwich Village, where most greengrocers were Italian during the time I was growing up, I never realized that arugula (pronounced ah-ROO-guh-lah) was a specialty grown nearby for my neighbors in Little Italy. Although it has finally done some spreading out in this country, arugula has never really traveled far from the Mediterranean area and western Asia where it originated, except to accompany those who grew up on it.