Kohlrabi is a vegetable in the cabbage family. It looks a bit strange: a round, pale green or purple bulb sits above the ground, with long leafy stems sticking out of it. You mostly eat that bulb. It tastes mild, a little like cabbage and a little like a broccoli stem, and you can eat it raw or cooked. The leaves are food too. It is ordinary, not slang and not fancy — a kitchen and market word. You will hear it more in German and East European cooking than in everyday Taiwan English; in a Taiwan market you are more likely to meet the Chinese name. It is not spicy, and it is not a root hiding under the soil, even though it looks like one.

球莖甘藍、結頭菜（別隨便當成「大頭菜」：台灣「大頭菜」常指醃芥菜頭）