# What was this food?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-food/299317>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 14, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-food/299317 "2005-04-14T18:01:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-food/299317/1 "2005-04-14T18:01:08Z")

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We went to a really great Italian restaurant last night, and accompanying our pancetta appetizer was some sort of pickled vegetable that was quite tasty. They were small and green, about the size of a gumball or small jawbreaker, with lighter green stripes from top to bottom, except more drop shaped. When I bit into one it was mostly tightly packed little seeds inside. Any idea of what these might have been? I forgot to ask the waiter.

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-food/299317/2 "2005-04-14T18:07:37Z")

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My guess is [Caperberries](http://www.mexgrocer.com/13239.html). I can buy them at my local grocery store, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so you probably can too.

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**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-food/299317/3 "2005-04-14T18:48:04Z")

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> [@Athena](#):
>
> My guess is [Caperberries](http://www.mexgrocer.com/13239.html). I can buy them at my local grocery store, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so you probably can too.

That’s exactly it! Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-food/299317/4 "2005-04-14T18:54:52Z")

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Luurve capers. Any mention of them, of course, leads to a story about them.

I was eating Chicken Piccatta at a small Italian joint in Dallas. I had pushed a few of the capers aside to savor them slowly. The owner walked by in his usual manner to greet all the guests. When he came by my table and noted I had a pile of capers going, he must have assumed I didn’t like them.

“Eat those things,” he said with a wink, “they’re expensive.”

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-food/299317/5 "2005-04-14T19:47:45Z")

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Capers are different than caperberries, though. A caper is actually the bud of a caper plant. If allowed to mature (rather than being picked and eaten) it grows into a flower, which then produces a berry - the caperberry. They’re similiar in taste to capers, but milder and with a different texture. If you like capers, try the caperberries. More capery goodness!