Just like nose to tail eating for animal foods - A vegetable can be eaten from crown to root. Give it your own taste test.. it is different for every individual.

I know people who would not eat a radish (root bulb) but saute the leaves and then some others who will wait for the radish to flower and eat the buds roasted/fried.

Historically, in traditional cultures you will find vegetables, like meat, prepared in different ways from various parts of the plants.

Waste not, want not.

I eat every part of my food simply because I'm frugal. It certainly can't hurt. I even eat the bit of greens on my head of cauliflower, and re-grow my beet greens. :)

I never considered broccoli stalks to be inedible. After pealing, they are tender and taste pretty good. I would only avoid the stalks if I were making a special dish (like for the holidays) and was worried about aesthetics.

I love broccoli stalks dipped in dressing. Remember that any stalks you don't like can be saved and used for stock (there's a bad pun in there somewhere) or soup depending on what it is (I would use broccoli stalks in a broccoli soup and say, carrot tops and onion skins, in chicken broth). I keep a couple of different scrap bags in the freezer for that purpose.

broccoli stalks make the best faux tater salad!!

Stalks don't taste as good. There's probably a lesson/reason behind that. For years, I forced myself to eat the stalks, but since going paleo, I figure my budget is not so tight that I really have to eat stalks. Instead, I target the portions that both taste better and that I suspect of being the heathiest and most nutritious.

The sweet and tasty part of Chinese kales (gailan, kai-laan) are the stalks. The leaves are kind of laethery, it's better to eliminate most of them. The stalks should then be slightly cooked, so as to retain their crunch.