I bet you've never seen THIS vegetable before

Cafe Society
1

I just came across this awe-inspiring vegetable at the local grocery store (in Jakarta, where I live):

Imgur

It is truly quite beautiful. It seems like one of those broccoli-cauliflower crosses, but the fractal pattern is absolutely amazing. It was labeled “bunga pagoda”, which just means “pagoda flower” in Indonesian.

If you google the name you get a red flower which is quite common in these parts, but I don’t think it is any relation to this striking plant. The only reference I can find to it on the internet is an expat blogger from Jakarta who posted a photo with pretty much the same question (which no one answered).

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

2

That’s romanesco.

3

It’s very pretty.
However, I don’t want to eat it.

4

Fractalicious!

5

Agreed, romanesco. Very common in CA, I get them in my veggie box all the time. Ours are usually a brighter green.

6

Yep - I get them in my summer CSA boxes at least once a year.

7

I’ve definitely seen it before. The old catering company at my university used it in a lot of dishes, and I never knew what it was before. Can’t stand the stuff.

8

That was quick. I’m really surprised that I’ve never seen this before since it seems like it isn’t THAT uncommon.

Anyway, I look forward to eating it. I will steam it and serve it with a cheese fondue.

9

Looks like an out of control crystal garden.

10

I think I saw Nemo hiding in its fronds.

11

I have grown it

12

I’ve been impressed by it in a local wholefood shop here in Edinburgh. I think their veg is all locally sourced, so someone must be growing them here.
We already had plenty of greens at home though, so I didn’t but one.

13

WTF is a veggie box? Or a CSA box?(confederate states of america?!)

14

A veggie box is a box, or bag, of semi-random vegetables you can get delivered weekly from a local grocery. You can sometimes specify exactly what you want, but it’s more fun seeing what turns up! There’s usually a core selection (potatoes, carrots, onions, maybe) plus whatever’s good or in season at the time.
CSA I don’t know.

15

Probably the same as I get once a week; cardboard box with a mixture of seasonal fruit and vegetables delivered to my door. There’s at least two companies in London that do this; Abel & Cole and Riverford.

My local greengrocer also does it.

16

zoid is a co-OP member, as are we - Community Supported Agriculture.

Also, it turns out we do have romanesco occasionally, but it’s way more expensive than the usual.

17

CSA = Community-supported agriculture. You pay some amount (perhaps a membership fee plus a monthly fee) and you get a regular supply (usually weekly) of fruits and veggies (could be honey or herbs or other stuff). All of these come from local farmers. (see the link - looks like usually pay for the season in advance)

The idea is by cutting out the middleman farmers get more $ per veggie, and you are lowering the transportation cost.

Brian

18

Hmm thanks guys, that actually does sound kind of cool.(especially the random grab bag aspect).

19

Let us know how it turns out, I’ve never seen one around here and I’d be all over that. It’s so amazing looking, how could you not try it?

I spent a few hours recently looking for CSAs in my area, we’re behind the curve in Metro Detroit apparently. There are a few around, but none deliver and I’m not sure I’m willing to sign up for something I’ve got to drive 10-15 miles to make a weekly pickup. None of the grocery stores do anything like it, but hopefully we’ll get there soon.

20

Yes, it’s in lots of seed catalogues. We always consider growing it, because broccoli is so easy… then we remember that cauliflower is really hard to grow, and don’t get it.

About a month ago my grocery store had cardoons. That impressed me.