Eggplant was an important vegetable in the Old World, with roots that reach back to their first known cultivation in fifth-century China.

How it ended up on American dinner tables depends on who you’re talking to. Some say Spanish and Portuguese sailors brought the nightshade veggie — which is botanically a fruit — to North American shores in the 15th century. Others claim President Thomas Jefferson brought eggplant seeds from France in the early 1800s to grow in his gardens at Monticello.

Cabbage would seem to check a lot of boxes for what’s prized these days in Western food circles. It’s nutritious and inexpensive. Seasonal. Colorful. Climate-hardy. Fermentable.

So why does it still struggle for respect?

“It’s about how you cook it. People tend to overcook it, not letting it express all its potential,” says Alissa Timoshkina, whose new cookbook, “Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe,” celebrates cabbage as one of the backbones of the region’s cooking. (“Kapusta” means cabbage in many Slavic languages.)