Chicory in hiding

The Great Big Vegetable Challenge had to take a snack break last night with vegetable crisps - delicious,fried, salty slices of beetroot, parsnip and carrot. For Freddie, the notion that these might be vegetables didn't even enter his mind. Serving him crisps isn't something I am proud of but it really isn't all my fault. I tried to find chicory but clearly it is in hiding in West London. At the first supermarket, I spent 20 minutes playing hunt the chicory, scanning the shelves for their albino white leaves. I asked the shop assistant who said back, "Chicky? What's that then?" And he pointed over at the meat counter. Then followed an embarassing episode in which I attempted to spell the word chicory out loud to the poor man, watched by a small crowd of shoppers who clearly thought I was on day release.
So I left and in the next supermarket asked the same question; only to be quizzed by the store manager, "Is that produce then?" In the third and final store, a rather doleful manager told me he had asked Head Office three times to stock it but the promised leaves had never arrived. Conspiracy theories have been started on subjects of lesser importance than this.
So I gave up for the day and bought vegetable crisps instead. Tomorrow we will try again. Meanwhile, if you have any good recipes for the elusive chicory send them our way.