How are beets described in the opening pages of the novel, Jitterbug Perfume?

"The beet is the most intense of vegetables" (Today's Special, p. 1). This is the line that opens the whole saga of Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Beets are different than other vegetables. Beets are not lusty as tomatoes. They are melancholy and can suffer; they can also be guilty, such as the murderer who returns to the scene of the crime.