The Dear Green Bothy - So help me, Cabbage

As part of the The Dear Green Bothy, Matthew Fox, Sophie Carabine, and Rachel Adams took an unconventional look at the humble cabbage, exploring its production, the power of its image, even its ideology.

Though nowadays granted little theoretical elaboration, in antiquity, discourses concerning cabbage were considerably more elevated. Cabbage was granted a bewildering range of medicinal virtues, and was even regarded as a kind of deity, causing some to use it when taking oaths: “So help me, Cabbage”.

The event was a conversation, illustrated with short films, between an expert in sustainable food production, a contemporary artist working with cabbage motifs, and a classicist researching the ancient roots of ecological materialism.

Matthew Fox, Professor of Classics, University of Glasgow
Sophie Carabine, OBE, PhD FICFor. Member of faculty, MBA Sustainable Food and Agriculture Royal Agricultural University. Former Chair, AHDB Potato Board
Rachel Adams, visual artist – www.rachel-adams.com | www.urpflanze.co.uk | Instagram: @radical_atoms


Marking Glasgow’s hosting of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP26 – in November 2021, The Dear Green Bothy is a programme of free public events and activities demonstrating the vital role played by the arts and humanities in understanding and addressing climate emergency.

Led by the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts, The Dear Green Bothy is an open space where researchers, artists and communities can gather to respond creatively and critically to the challenges of the ecological crisis.

www.deargreenbothy.gla.ac.uk