Cress is a small green plant with little round leaves that people eat raw — you do not cook them. In Britain the famous use is the egg-and-cress sandwich: soft bread, mashed egg, and a handful of these tiny, slightly peppery leaves. The plant grows very fast; children often grow it on wet paper or cotton in a dish and cut it after a week or two. Though actually, English uses cress for a small group of related plants, not just one. Garden cress is the tiny sandwich kind. Watercress grows in streams and has a wetter, stronger taste. They are cousins, not the same plant. If someone in Britain just says “cress”, they usually mean the small garden kind.