In Elizabeth David's "French Country Cooking" (published in 1951)
there are several recipes for stuffed whole cabbage. In this
technique, a whole cabbage is blanched then "you proceed to unfold the
cabbage leaf by leaf, gently, until it looks like an open flower." The
stuffing mixture is spread on each leaf, after which "when all the
stuffing is used up, press the leaves of the cabbage gently together
and tie it into its original shape with tape." The stuffed cabbage is
usually cooked in a very slow oven for several hours. Finally "when
the cabbage is cooked, [you] take the tape away very carefully."

What sort of "tape" could they have used for cooking purposes in early
1950s Britain?

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com