2. After the roots are cooked, they can be eaten with cream, and the leaves can be used as salads. Sometimes it is used to color, thicken and add bitterness to coffee. Chicory is a perennial herb in the genus Cichorium of Compositae, with tender leaves, bulbs and buds as vegetables. It is a variety domesticated and bred from wild chicory, and its origin is in China, central and northern Asia.