Atriplex hortensis, a plant of the goosefoot family which grows wild throughout Europe as far east as Siberia and all around the Mediterranean coast, is also called mountain spinach. It is a tall, spindly plant with small, generally arrowhead-shaped leaves, which grows well in sandy or poor soil. Several of its closest relations, known as saltbushes because of the salty taste of the leaves, display similar characteristics in various parts of the world, but are rarely used for human food.
From the time of the rise of the Mediterranean civilizations orach was cultivated as a green vegetable, to be used as spinach now is. Its taste is like that of spinach but the leaves are less succulent.
There are varieties with red, white, and green leaves. Green orach was used in Italy to colour pasta. Another use was to mix orach and sorrel, thus alleviating sorrel's acid flavour.
Orach was used in England in the 16th century, but its popularity declined with the increasing use of spinach throughout Europe and it is now seldom grown.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
