So I read with interest the list compiled by the national vegetable industry, Ausveg, of the top 10 most popular vegetables for the first quarter of this year. The measure is how many Australians buy the vegetable each week, which might disadvantage potatoes given that many people buy them in big quantities less often than every week. Here's the list, from the top: carrots, potato, tomato, onions, lettuce, capsicum, mushroom, broccoli, pumpkin and zucchini.

There must be a lot of people out there eating a lot of carrot! And who eats zucchini these days? Well, my wife makes a great zucchini slice, which is zucchini at its best, but how it made the list ahead of sweet potato or cauliflower should be the subject of an inquiry!

It's fascinating how the vegetables in our diet have changed, although the above list suggests they have not changed as much as I'd believed. I mean, carrots, potato, tomato, onions and lettuce would probably have been top of the list half a century ago, and pumpkin would have been there too. The traditional cabbage, peas in the pod, beans and cauliflower would have completed the list 50 years ago. Capsicum and zucchini arrived later, broccoli later again and buying rather than gathering mushrooms is also a recent development.

We've changed the way we cook many of these vegetables, too, and as an example of that I'll tell you of one of my faves, stir fried lettuce. In a small bowl mix a couple of teaspoons each of soy sauce (preferably Kikkoman) and Chinese rice wine and a teaspoon of sugar, and chop an iceberg into wedges then into smaller chunks. Heat a slurp of oil in a wok (or saucepan), add two minced garlic cloves and two teaspoons of minced ginger, then the lettuce chunks, stirring for a couple of minutes. Pour in the soy mix, stir for two minutes more, tip into a warmed bowl and mix in a scant teaspoon of sesame oil. Easy, especially if your other half cooks it, and beautiful.