Peas

Believed to have been cultivated as far back as Neolithic times, peas have veered in and out of fashion. In the Middle Ages dried peas were commonly used in cooking, particularly meat and fish dishes. In seventeenth-century France Louis XIV became addicted to fresh peas, consuming large platefuls of them and causing his mistress to confide to her diary, ‘This passion for peas is a madness!’ The fashion spread to England and peas became a rare delicacy.