Over the month's ahead, we will spotlight different countries and their cuisines, to show how they use the world's most nutritious and versatile vegetable.

Watercress in Great Britain

Watercress has long been associated with the English. However, common American perceptions that watercress was the fair of the elite and privileged is a bit askew. In fact, Watercress was initially a food for commoners.

This delicious and natural "super food" has been grown commercially in the pure spring waters of southern England since the early 1800s. Commercial production in the United States began in about 1850.

In England, watercress used to be a staple part of the working class diet, most often eaten for breakfast in a sandwich. If the family was too poor to buy bread they ate it by itself and so watercress became known as the "poor man's bread."

In England, street sellers would then buy it from the market and add their own value to the watercress by forming it into bunches. In those days, bunches were handheld and eaten ice-cream cone style.

One of Britain's best known dishes, watercress soup, became very popular in the 17th century when it was claimed to cleanse the blood.

Watercress is believed by many to be an aphrodisiac. In the 1970s, an Arab prince was reputed to have had special consignments flown out from the UK, presumably to help him satisfy his harem! And in Hampshire England, its special powers are part of folklore.

Watercress made front page news in the summer of 2001 when Liz Hurley revealed that she relies on watercress to maintain a nutritious diet while trying to keep her figure in trim.

Victorians thought the plant was a cure for toothache, hiccups and even freckles!