Fibonacci's favorite food?

October 18, 2005 4:57 PM

The coolest broccoli/cauliflower you will see today. Those with a green thumb can grow their own but I would be content to merely eat it.
posted by hindmost (32 comments total)

Thanks! I had seen a picture of this a while ago and forgot about it, I wanted to try finding one.
posted by substrate at 5:12 PM on October 18, 2005

That is one cool vegetable. This is one cool FPP.
posted by oddman at 5:20 PM on October 18, 2005

This looks like something you'd find at Worth 1000, but I couldn't find it there after a bit of searching.
posted by zardoz at 5:21 PM on October 18, 2005

Is this what happens when you add LSD-25 to the broccoli's normal plant food? :-)
posted by clevershark at 5:25 PM on October 18, 2005

This actually is intelligent design.
posted by billysumday at 5:25 PM on October 18, 2005

clevershark: That would be a Mandelbrot Dinner Set.
posted by VulcanMike at 5:27 PM on October 18, 2005

I have one of these in the kitchen right now, though the farm shop who sold it to me told me it was called Romanesque, not Romanesco. They are delicious.
posted by Hogshead at 5:30 PM on October 18, 2005

BFD, I've been tripping out over these things during every visit to the supermarket for over a decade. Is this news to people with shitty produce selections at their markets? If that's the case then it's yet another reason to love California.
posted by redteam at 5:37 PM on October 18, 2005

That does look like a yummy veggie, particularly after it's smothered in cheddar cheese sauce.
posted by skeeter1 at 5:40 PM on October 18, 2005

If that's the case then it's yet another reason to love California.

Except for the elitist pricks that seem to live there.
posted by Eekacat at 5:48 PM on October 18, 2005

Very cool...

Anyone ever see that photo of a bacteria-covered petri dish, on which the bacteria had grown into a fractal-ish snowflake pattern due to stress?

Something similar to this..Bacterial Growth in Stressed Environments
posted by Brian James at 5:48 PM on October 18, 2005

I grow it. It's got a milder flavour than the big white vegetable most people are familiar with. Most fun are the teeny little flowerettes that come after the main head is cut; it's like eating fractal arrowheads.
posted by reflecked at 6:13 PM on October 18, 2005

OH wow! My molm bought one of these years ago, cooked it up and while I ate it, I remarked something about it's fractal-like quality. This is bringing back memories.
posted by piratebowling at 6:21 PM on October 18, 2005

I, for one, can't wait to eat our new broccliflower overlords.
posted by Balisong at 6:26 PM on October 18, 2005

I am *so* going to grow my own fractals!
posted by dejah420 at 6:30 PM on October 18, 2005

They are nummy! I got some frozen, with yellow carrots. I've not seen fresh romanescos in our grocery store.
posted by Savannah at 6:50 PM on October 18, 2005

All I needed to know about fractal florets I learned from Vidiot:


posted by muckster at 8:07 PM on October 18, 2005

Re: California "Except for the elitist pricks that seem to live there".

No elitist pig here: I thought we had them corralled down
south in LA, Hollywood, Orange County, Newport beach,
La Jolla, and there abouts.


"Most fun are the teeny little flowerettes that come after the main head is cut; it's like eating fractal arrowheads."


Sounds painful.

I've eaten this type cauliflower. It's okay nothing to cause you to go screaming naked around the neighborhood flinging cauliflower into the mailboxes of your neighbors.
posted by bat at 8:17 PM on October 18, 2005

I asked the other Romenesko about this once, and he said his friends were growing some in his honor, IIRC.
posted by paul_smatatoes at 8:31 PM on October 18, 2005

Bat, I didn't mean to insuate that everyone there is an elitest prick. Having spent the first 30 years of my life there it just seemed to me that it attracts more than its fair share.
posted by Eekacat at 10:19 PM on October 18, 2005

err insinuate
posted by Eekacat at 10:20 PM on October 18, 2005

...particularly after it's smothered in cheddar cheese sauce.

I once knew a restaurateur who said something to the effect "People will eat a buffalo chip if you melt some cheese on it."

I would love to try one of those broccoli. I haven't seen them in the SE.
posted by wsg at 11:20 PM on October 18, 2005

BFD, I've been tripping out over these things during every visit to the supermarket for over a decade. Is this news to people with shitty produce selections at their markets? If that's the case then it's yet another reason to love California.

Because, you know, eating locally grown food is just some mad ecologist's idea.
posted by Citizen Premier at 11:59 PM on October 18, 2005

Today's over! Where's Tuesday's cool broccoli/cauliflower?
posted by brundlefly at 12:02 AM on October 19, 2005

Spooky, came across a romanesco for the first time yesterday. Having one delivered tomorrow so thanks for the recipe - I've got leeks coming too so it's a perfect choice. Cheers hindmost.
posted by biffa at 2:37 AM on October 19, 2005

Brundlefly, you are a demanding master. Sadly, the only thing I can offer you is the purple cauliflower, which just seems mundane in comparison. Please don't ask tomorrow as I would have to debase myself with a post about broccoflower.

In other news, someone actually calculated the fractal dimensions of broccoli and cauliflower. Pdf link here.
posted by hindmost at 3:21 AM on October 19, 2005

We had one of those!!! My flatmate is in some crazy organic veg club and they sent us one, we mostly just stared into it, tasty though.
posted by Good Sir Johnny at 4:11 AM on October 19, 2005

We've had Broccoflower here in Mizzouruh for several years; research seems sort of vague on whether it is Romanesco or not. It definitely has fractal qualities. I wish I could find the picture of some I took when I first noticed its fractal nature.
posted by zsazsa at 6:06 AM on October 19, 2005

People will eat a buffalo chip if you melt some cheese on it

Make mine a fractal buffalo chip.
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:23 AM on October 19, 2005

I have grown these, now I guess I need to grow them again since I had kinda forgotten about them. Next year I suppose.

I have mad cow.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 10:53 AM on October 19, 2005

C'mon! Get outta here! My Gosh! Amazing. What a beautiful piece of super-intelligent design.

Turning a big bang of dust into a fractal handsome broccoli is a definitive proof of God. (and that He's veggie, like His son) (lol)
posted by nandop at 4:02 PM on October 19, 2005

It also happens with meat
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:30 PM on October 19, 2005