Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
LEEK, a bulbous vegetable like the onion, a particular species of which has been cultivated in Egypt from a very early period. Num 11:5. It is eaten raw with bread. In the passage cited it is supposed that lettuce, salads, or savory herbs generally may be intended, as the original word in the O.T. is twelve times rendered '"grass" and once "herb."