In English, when we’re feeling comfortable or tranquil, we might say “to be as cool as a cucumber”. Spanish employs a different vegetable, as in “estar mas fresco que una lechuga”. The literal translation is “to be cooler than a lettuce”.
Here are two idioms using “rabano”, which means “radish”. “me importa un rabano” literally means “it doesn’t matter a radish to me”. The colloquial translation is “I couldn’t care less” or “it doesn’t mean anything to me”. “Tomar el rabano por los hojas” literally translates to “to take (grab) the radish by the leaves”. The idiomatic equivalent in English is “to get hold of the wrong end of the stick”.
“Agarrar la cebolla” literally translates to “To grab the onion”. The colloquial meaning is “To seize power”.
In English, when things don’t go right we might say that someone “Got the wrong end of the stick”. In Spanish, the counterpart is “Tomar el rabano por los las hojas”, which literally means “To take the radish by the leaves”.
In English we employ the phrase “to earn one’s daily bread” to describe our work efforts. A related saying is “to bring home the bacon”. In Spanish, there are at least three equivalents using vegetables, as in “ganarse los garbanzos (las habichuelas) (las lentejas)” The literal translations are “to earn the chickpeas (beans) (lentils)”.
A couple of vegetable related idioms. “Una trufa” is “a truffle”. The idiomatic meaning is a “lie” or a “fib”. “El que quiere la col, quiere las hojas de alrededor” literally translates to “He who loves cabbage loves the leaves around it”. The equivalent in English is “Love me, love my dogs”.
