Are you smarter then a Romanesco broccoli?

Last week at the farmers market a farmer gave me a sample of a Romanesco broccoli. It was sweet and crunchy and it looked complicated and mysterious. I loved the taste and contemplated buying it, but seeing as Chef was away I decided I would buy it next week. As I stood over the vegetable studying it I remarked, "This is an ugly guy." The farmer replied "Some people say it is beautiful." I felt shallow. Anyway, this week we bought the broccoli and I decided to do some research.



This vegetable could only be made by nature, its shape and patterns are so unique, so dizzying, if I lived in California or in the 1960's I would describe it as trippy. As an edible it is oddly alluring, and quite hypnotic. It looks like a pine cone, a bud of some sort, or a wedding bouquet for an alien. Texturally the stem is crisp like broccoli. The flower is more porous and finer then cauliflower. I found that raw, it is quite agreeable, sweet and pleasant. Far less bitter than broccoli and without the chalky tendency of cauliflower. No, the Romanesco is superior to all other members of the cauliflower family. In fact, it is superior to me. If you have math education past algebra then you know what a fractal shape is. Apparently the Romanesco is known as the fractal vegetable. How excited are you? This is the thinking mans broccoli. Apparently the spirals are logarithmic. I know I'm so excited too!

I have no idea what fractal or logarithmic are because while I was technically enrolled in geometry class.... it seems I am not smarter then broccoli. I may as well be a root vegetable, they are so dumb looking. As Michael Jackson once passionately sang in the song Wanna be Startin' Somethin';
"You're A Vegetable, You're A Vegetable
Still They Hate You, You're A Vegetable
You're Just A Buffet, You're A Vegetable
They Eat Off Of You, You're A Vegetable"

Sigh
I'm going to eat the Romanesco and then we'll see who is smarter.