Although all parts of a chicory plant are very bitter, the whole plant is edible. Plants are cultivated or harvested in the wild and often also grown as an ornamental.

Chicory has been cultivated since ancient times, as far back as 300 BC. Some of the earliest references to chicory eaten as a vegetable, was by Horas (a Roman lyric poet) who lived around 65–8 BC. The bitterness of the plant is reduced by cooking it and discarding the water. It can then be used as a leaf herb cooked with food or shredded in salads and served with oil and vinegar.

The best known use of chicory root is as a coffee substitute. It started in 1766, when Fredrich the Great banned the importation of coffee to Prussia, which lead to a large industry in Brunswick and Berlin, to produce chicory. During times of war when coffee was scarce, chicory was mostly used.

Chicory roots are baked, roasted and ground and used instead of coffee or blended with coffee. Chicory does not contain caffeine and has gained popularity with people allergic to caffeine or wanting to cut down on caffeine. It also helps digestion.

In South Africa, chicory is cultivated mainly in the Eastern Cape around Alexandria, where around 20 000 ton (4.0–4.5 ton dry) is produced annually.

Chicory is well known for its toxicity and often used to get rid of internal parasites in animals, by mixing the plants with their fodder.

The boiled mixture of chicory roots and leaves, is used medicinally as a relief from liver problems, treatment of gout and rheumatic conditions, to treat the lack of appetite, diabetes and many other ailments.