Old Retired Guy Blog
November 3, 2007
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Fractal Food at the Farmers' Market
We didn't buy much but I got distracted by a crazy looking vegetable that seemed to be right out of a math book on fractals*. The young woman behind the table told me it was Romanesque broccoli. When I asked how to cook it she turned around and said "Ma, this guy wants to know how to cook the Romanesque broccoli." Her mother kindly told me that you could just steam it for 15 to 20 minutes and it should be fine. We bought a head of the stuff and tried it out. I thought it was pretty good. Since I tend to consider vegetables to be not much more than peas, beans, and corn, my liking such an exotic looking vegetable was quite amazing. I thought that it tasted kind of like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. I didn't get a good picture of it but here's one that I found on the internet. If you see one in a store you should try it.
------------- * How do I explain fractals in a few words? It has to do with things that look similar at all different scales. In other words, if you look at something up close so that you see only a small part of it, and then look at that same thing from further back so that you see a larger part of it, both views look very similar. You might want to Google the term fractal and see what you can find. In fact, when I Googled Romanesque broccoli to look for a picture, I found links to several math articles that used it as an example of fractals and similar mathematical properties. |
We decided to enjoy the nice fall weather
today by visiting the
last outdoor farmers' market of the season on the Capitol Square. This has
been a regular event for many years in Madison. We used to go when we lived
here in the '70s but have not been there since we moved back. In
addition to flowers and the usual fall produce like apples, pumpkins and squash we saw vendors
selling cheese (of course), meat (sausages, venison, and other items), and
bakery (you can't go wrong with this stuff). 
