In spite of all those obstacles, arugula persists in quiet superiority as the best tasting, most versatile, and easiest to prepare of the common greens. All it has ever done is help make things delicious: It’s great as a crunchy topping for sandwiches, piled atop a Neapolitan pizza, or as a nutritious base for a salad. It shouldn’t have to provide all that pleasant, peppery flavor just to reside in a vegetal purgatory between the broad commonality of spinach and kale’s trendy coastal dominance. The vegetable has brought more than enough to the table to earn the ubiquity it’s never had.

Arugula was put through the wringer during the 2008 presidential election because Obama’s opponents claimed that it was intolerably fancy. In reality, it just lacked broad American name recognition, which might make something seem more exotic than it really is. It was also vaguely associated with Europe, which is not the same thing as “fancy.”

The plant has been around for approximately a zillion years, and it’s even mentioned in the Bible and the Talmud. Geographically, that makes sense: Arugula originates in the coastal Mediterranean. Rocket, roquette, or rucola, as arugula is more commonly known outside the United States, is widely eaten in Europe, and especially in Italy. That commonality translates to America, to a certain extent: Google Trends data suggest that the most interest in the vegetable is concentrated in states with significant Italian American populations.

Price-wise, arugula isn’t any less accessible than any other fresh green in the country. At the grocery store in my neighborhood, which is so unimpressive that it regularly lacks at least one essential ingredient for my favorite chicken soup, both the organic and conventional varieties of arugula cost the same per pound as baby spinach, kale, and “spring mix” greens. I don’t know how it compares in price with frisée; there wasn’t any in the store, probably because no one has ever wanted to eat frisée.

Arugula also offers something none of those greens do: It has a distinctly pleasant flavor all its own, even before you dress it, sauté it, or layer it on top of a burger. The plant is frequently described as peppery or even spicy. That might be overstating it a bit, but it still provides more than just a bit of crunchy nutrition to the meals it joins. Even better, it doesn’t quickly get limp and soggy, unlike chopped romaine. Arugula’s small, tender leaves and thin stems are ready to eat with just a quick wash, unlike kale, which requires the preparer to dismantle it and beat it into submission.

Arugula should be such an easy sell, if not tarnished by political backbiting. To understand what was holding it back and what could be done, I spoke to Darby Hughes, the brand-strategy director at Quench, a marketing agency focused on the food and beverage industry. He said the solution might lie in the foreign markets where the plant is already a dietary staple: a different name. “What if we embrace the name ‘rocket’? That might very well destigmatize it,” he says.