# What is a rabe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562 "2007-08-06T01:50:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562/21 "2007-08-08T01:59:36Z")
I found the website for the guy who was using it on the show: [http://www.tonylukes.com/menu.htm](http://www.tonylukes.com/menu.htm) He seems to really like using the stuff, but expects everyone to know what it is I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562/22 "2007-08-08T13:42:15Z")
[QUOTE=neorxnawange] Broccoli rabe is formed from the Italian _broccoli di rapa_, which translates as _flowering tops of the turnip_. So says my unabridged Merriam Webster. [/QUOTE] thanx! ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562/23 "2007-08-08T15:43:48Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Culinarily, yes. Taxonomically, they’re as different from vegetables as we are, but by that definition, the bun is a vegetable too. [/QUOTE] Hey, I was just ribbing you a little. But seriously, I have no idea what you mean about the bun being a vegetable. I’m sure it’s quite simple, but it has eluded me completely. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562/24 "2007-08-08T15:55:33Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Hey, I was just ribbing you a little. But seriously, I have no idea what you mean about the bun being a vegetable. I’m sure it’s quite simple, but it has eluded me completely. [/QUOTE] What’s the bun made out of? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562/25 "2007-08-08T16:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] What’s the bun made out of? [/QUOTE] It depends. Certainly parts of it are of vegetable origin, I doubt that all of it is. Is sodium a vegetable? Are you suggesting that anything that has vegetable material as part of it’s component structure is a vegetable? Is a hemp shirt a vegetable? Not trying to be a smartypants here. I just don’t see how, taxonomically, a bun is a [vegetable](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&rlz=1B3GGGL_en _____ 213&defl=en&q=define:vegetable&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title) . ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562/26 "2007-08-08T16:45:04Z")
Extraordinarily tasteless joke warning: It’s sexual assault when you have a cold. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562/27 "2007-08-08T21:11:42Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] It depends. Certainly parts of it are of vegetable origin, I doubt that all of it is. Is sodium a vegetable? Are you suggesting that anything that has vegetable material as part of it’s component structure is a vegetable? Is a hemp shirt a vegetable? Not trying to be a smartypants here. I just don’t see how, taxonomically, a bun is a [vegetable](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&rlz=1B3GGGL_en _____ 213&defl=en&q=define:vegetable&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title) . [/QUOTE] Not taxonomically, but in a round of _twenty questions_, a bun and a hemp shirt would be ‘vegetable’, I think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-rabe/414562.md?page=1)